Tiong Seng Construction – Executive Condominiums
Since its founding in 1959, Tiong Seng Holdings has become one of Singapore’s largest and most-trusted contractors. The company is no stranger to large residential projects, such as this thirteen-building condominium residence in the Choa Chu Kang area. Looking to boost productivity and streamline processes on-site, Novade has been adopted by Tiong Seng to reduce paperwork on-site, and in a number of areas.
The project, Sol Acres Executive Condominium, comprises of 13 blocks, 1327 residential units, each between 19 to 25 storeys. The unit types available in the development range from 1- to 5-bedroom apartments, catering to young couples as well as large and growing families. With such a large project, it is imperative to supply all teams with up-to-date information, so everyone is on the same page.
Adopting New Technologies
According to Lian Guan Pek, Tiong Seng’s CEO, “Over the years I think that one of the key things about this company is we have always continuously been exploring the adoption of technology to make ourselves productive and relevant for this industry.” He continues that construction sites deal with so many people and so much information, but by the time this data is processed and calculated, it is already outdated information.
“By using this Novade system, I am able to get real-time data and real-time information.”
Mr. Pek states, “With this information and with the analysis, I will be able to do a very prompt action to rectify any inefficiency.” This data collection is crucial for saving time and money in the long run, as it can lead to responsive and preventative actions.
On the Field
Chengyang Choi, an M&E Engineer at Tiong Seng, is using Novade Quality to help conduct quality inspections throughout the site. On a project consisting of 13 blocks and 1,327 units, having a digital system of inspecting and filing can make a big difference.
Mr. Choi describes working on construction sites before using Novade: “Before I had Novade, we had to bring a pack of paper — a few papers for on-site, walk around, list down and take a photo. Then after that the very troublesome part is we have to go back to the office, we have to match our photo and the comments, after that we make a table and pass to all the different sub-contractors. But now it’s very different. Now, once we take a photo and we log in, the sub-con will automatically get notified and they will just follow up with the defects.”
“It’s very easy to use, nowadays you just need to bring a smartphone to site and you can consolidate everything in minutes.”
With less paperwork, there is more time saved, and with digital storage that is updated automatically, everyone on-site is always working directly with the latest information. Similar feedback can be found from others on-site, such as Gino Rustia, Architectural Manager on the Choa Chu Kang project. He refers to the app as very useful, citing how it saves his teams lots of paperwork and is easy for him to monitor activity. “I have a team here who are doing In-Process Checks. ‘In-Process Check’ means we need to check every unit here to make sure the quality is there, that way we’re on a standard,” he says.
Regarding his team members filling out these checks, he mentions, “They do not have to go back to the office and check the files, they’ll just check on the hand phone, just close the case, so it’s a safe archive, it’s very productive for us. We use the Quality module to make sure our quality is on the standard.”
Bigger Picture
The use of Novade is part of the Tiong Seng Project Department’s initiative to improve collaboration and communication on construction sites. The modules help Tiong Seng to collect data so that it can be utilised to take strategic actions to further improve productivity.
“At the start, we do face some resistance and inertia because implementing a new thing on site is never easy. We’ve gotten a few sites to carry on using them and they do find it useful,” states Inn Poh Lim, Technical Manager. “I think the people on site are very committed to the usage, so through the data collected we are able to observe the cases being lodged, confirmed, completed and closed.”
“We do see this flow of processes going on and I think that will help the site to really improve their quality of work.”
The CEO of Tiong Seng predicts seeing a high rate of adoption of digital technology within the construction sector of Singapore in the next decade. Since Tiong Seng has started using Novade, he says “we are already seeing that our people are very much into it and we are already gaining the benefit of using it.”