OUR PEOPLE

The Late Mr John Chen

Founder (1920 – 1993)

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The Late Mr. John Chen was born in Shanghai, China, in 1920. He had received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering just prior to the start of WW2. Being a patriot, he volunteered to serve with the Chinese Air Force, and flew with the Flying Tigers Fighter Group during the war. After the war, he was honourably discharged from the service, and lived and worked in Hong Kong. It was while there, that he signed a contract with the British government to serve for 3 years as an engineer in the Public Works Department of Singapore in the early 50’s.

At the end of the contract with PWD, Mr Chen elected to stay on in Singapore, and while working at Metalbox, he designed and invented a pineapple pealing machine and a tobacco drying machine, both of which he sold the rights and patents to manufacturers, and subsequently, with his earnings, started the first John Chen Co – John Chen Engineering Service Co – in 1958.

His idea of a business was to fill the gap and void that was found in Singapore… there was a need and want, but no one knows of a vendor or supplier who could fulfil the requirement. It was Mr. John Chen’s ideal to have a company that was a one-stop-shop so that the customer’s needs can all be fulfilled by one company, the John Chen Co. and this was exactly what the company was able to do.

Mr Chen became known as the man who could when others couldn’t. His customer base grew, and so did the company staffing, and business coverage. The company was able to provide solutions from custom engineering design and fabrication, to specialized materials handling equipment, automated and conventional storage systems, retail equipment, etc, moving through the decades.

Mr Chen took an active role in the company right through to 1989 when we was stricken with cancer and had to undergo major surgery almost immediately. He went into semi-retirement after remission from the disease, while mentoring his eldest son, Carl Chen, who took over the helm of the company. He passed away peacefully in 1993 six months after an aggressive relapse of the illness. He was 72.

His legacy lives on in the company, with his goals and policies still observed since the foundation of the company. This legacy can be seen in our company tag line…

“We know more than products and services… We understand business.”

Carl Chen

Executive Director (Since 1988)

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Being the eldest son of the company founder, the Late Mr John Chen, Carl join the company in 1988 after completing his university education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with Honours in Industrial Engineering. Carl subsequently received further training in Europe and the United States at the various technical and sales training facilities of the factories which are partners of John Chen Pte Ltd.
Carl took over the reins of the company in 1989 when Mr John Chen was diagnosed with cancer from which he subsequently succumbed to and passed on in 1993, and have continued to lead the company and the team with the objective to steer the company with his team of managers in the direction of providing outstanding and efficient service and equipment to all customers.
Being a hands-on person, he has been able to take charge of many projects that the company has undertaken over the years. He also led the sales team in the marketing and sales of the products and services represented and offered by the company over the past years. He is currently the Executive Director of the group, which comprises the holding company, John Chen Pte Ltd, and the wholly-owned subsidiaries, John Chen (Singapore) Pte Ltd, as well as John Chen Engineering Service Sdn Bhd incorporated in Malaysia.
Under Carl’s stewardship, the Group has embarked on new directions while continuing with the existing businesses. The new businesses include professional equipment for the HORECA industry, RFID tool tracking systems, automated-storage & retrieval systems, inventory control software’s, and pneumatic waste management systems, among others. The passion of John Chen Team allows the company to move forward as the company completes its 62th year of operation and enters its 63rd.
Carl loves music of all kind, especially jazz and blues. He plays a bit of guitar, bass, drums and leads the PA/AVA Crew at his church where he serves as a deacon, assisting in the taking care of estate and logistics needs of the church.

Jason Kua

Manager, Technical and Operations (Since 1989)
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Jason joined the Company as an assistant engineer in 1989. At this position, he assisted the company's senior engineer in the continued expansion of the Company's engineering design and fabrication business in the new-found niche in the aerospace maintenance industry.

Subsequently, he took charge of the Company's Technical & Maintenance Team as the company's technical & operations manager, looking after all the equipment purchased by our customers on a long term support basis. He has received the highest level of training from our Principal's factories in Germany and Cyprus to help him in this very crucial role. He now leads a team of 11 engineers and technicians who are based in Singapore and Malaysia.

He is an excellent multi-tasker, able to take care of the many projects and maintenance sites that often have ongoing works occurring simultaneously on the same day or period of time. Together with his team members and our regular sub-contractors, they take care of all our customers' after-sales technical needs.
Having served the company and her customers loyally for over 20 years, he is trusted member of the Company's higher management team.

Steven Ng

Manager, Engineering (Since 1990)

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Steven joined the company in 1990 as an assistant engineer. Some of the key projects that he was involved in included overhead conveyor system for abattoir, passenger embarkation/disembarkation auto-height levelling steps for sea-going passenger ferries, forklift loading ramps, etc.

Over the years, Steven has developed a special flair in the Custom design, fabrication, installation, and maintenance of aircraft maintenance dockings, access steps, engine stands and trailers, etc. This was in line with the niche that the company was concentrating on in the engineering business. Working either with aircraft manufacturers’ technical manuals, and/or with our customers’ facility and technical engineers, he has design, fabricated, installed, and continues to maintain many aircraft docking systems, and other aircraft maintenance steps and platforms that cover commercial aircrafts from Boeing, Airbus, Fokker, as well as military aircrafts like C130 Hercules transporters, F16 & 15 fighter aircrafts.

Apart from the occasional joint-work with overseas equipment consultants, Steven has made a name for himself to be about the only local engineer in the industry who is able to design and build such aerospace maintenance equipment in-house and locally.

With over 20 years tenure in the company, he now co-leads the John Chen technical & operations department with Jason Kua, and is a key trusted member of the company’s higher management team.

Lawrence Koh

Manager, Sales & Marketing – Retail Equipment & Solutions (Since 2000)

Lawrence joined our company as a technical executive to take care of our retail customers like supermarkets, departmental stores, boutiques, bookstores, etc. He proved to be a very resourceful and innovative person, being able to solve customers’ problems by thinking out of the box and on the fly. This resulted in many trusted and loyal friends being made with them, and becoming our long term customers and supporters. When an opportunity arose with an opening in the sales department for our retail business unit, Lawrence took the step forward, and began his career in the company as a sales executive, still taking care of the same pool of customers, but from the sales direction, while still able to assist in the technical aspect of the work when the need arises. We have seen our equipment and solutions sales grow over the years of his tenure with the company, starting from barrier rails, roll cages, to some shopping carts and shelves, to the present term supply contracts and/or preferred vendor status achievement to three of the largest supermarket chains in Singapore for shopping carts, as well as store roll-outs for electronic shelf labels for a major local supermarket chain. Lawrence now leads the business unit for retail equipment and solutions, and is assisted by another sales executive and our internal & external support team. Dealers for our equipment as far as Mauritius and Papua New Guinea are also supported by Lawrence. Key principal brands taken care of by him include Wanzl, Store Electronic Systems, just to name a few.

Sharon Low

Manager, Finance & Administration (Since 2000)

Answering to the need for additional help within our Finance Department, Sharon joined our company in 2000 as a part-time accounts staff. She served diligently in her role, and was subsequently offered a full-time appointment with the company as an accounts executive. She assisted the then Finance & Administration Manager in the operations of the department, while taking care of the full books of one of our three subsidiaries. When our manager went into retirement early 2012, Sharon took over the role, and have been taking care of the department and the finance & admin team since. Sharon is an extremely careful person, always ensuring that everything is checked and verified before passing it on. She is also able to take care of our customers’ needs, especially with their own finance and accounts teams’ requirements.

Madeline Low

Manager, Sales & Marketing - Hotel, Restaurant, School & Hospital Equipment and Solutions (Since 2010)

Madeline joined our company to head our brand new business unit set up to take care of the HORECA industry. The company had just been appointed the sole distributor for the German premium porcelain brand, Schonwald, and Madeline filled the shoes perfectly. From literally zero, we are now a major approved vendor for many premium hotels and restaurants here in Singapore and the region. During these past few short years, we have also increased our equipment range to include premium flatware from Solex Germany, Display Glass Culture from Axum, and Glassware from Eisch. With keen eye for details, and superb inter-personal skills, Madeline is able to reach out to all our customers to understand their needs and issues, and offer a suitable solution for them. Under her supervision and care, the team is also able to expand our work to cover hotel & hospital operations equipment like housekeeping, front office, back office, laundry equipment from our range of equipment. Some of these equipment include concierge luggage trolleys, minibar trolleys, linen trolleys, housekeeping trolleys, boltless shelving, storage racks, mobile compactors, etc.