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| Industry Profile: Wendy Cho Issue 29 - Apr 07 This the first in a series of interviews with people who have worked within various sub-sectors of the industries that make up our built environment. Hopefully, this can give you a chance to think about how your career might progress but also to understand the other industries you come across in the course of your professional life and the people who work within them. In 1993 Wendy Cho, Chairman, Ultra Group started her business with two people. Now, with over 1,000 employees, she is expanding into new markets and has found an industry in which she feels comfortable. Originally the company, registered in 1992, set out to create residential furniture but before long it became an office furniture business. Cho explains that residential furniture had some drawbacks, specifically that designs were easily copied. No sooner was a new design released then extremely similar pieces would appear in its place. In addition there was a wide range of furniture types. Office furniture, on the other hand is generally less likely to be copied, and says Cho, is not the only driver for her business. “Our products and designs are a certain part of what we do but a greater proportion of our success is due to our ability to deliver. This is not a commodity market but a service market. And clients appreciate and return because of the service.” Cho’s educational background prepared her for a career in business but there was little to suggest the move towards office furniture and systems. Having studied economics and East Asian Studies, Cho first worked in the stock market, but found after a time that this intensive and exhausting job was useful but would not be her career path. Though she certainly does not suggest that office furniture is taking a simpler route – “nothing’s easy, and all industries have a different set of problems” she says.  While service is key, the office furniture industry requires an understanding of manufacturing processes and planning to respond to changes in the market. Good product design is important, but having the right people to run projects with designers at first and then great project management for effective delivery closes the deal. Being responsible to the client and solving problems as they come up within the time frame ensures customer satisfaction and client loyalty. Cho goes on to emphasise that where once this was a product driven industry, it is now far more about service and the focus has changed to looking after corporate accounts rather than one off deals. Services is particularly important in certain sectors, allowing Ultra to retain clients such as Cathay Pacific and HSBC over a number of markets. changing the way we work Working in different markets represent a challenge for the industry, as designs, regulations and trends are not consistent across borders. Fabric and material selection changes from country to country, for example, so companies have to be aware of trends, “you always have to think ahead”. Ultra needs to provide different options for clients to select, particularly when servicing a range of countries. For example, different countries have different preferred methods for managing wires and cables behind and under desks. Some cable management systems require all cables to be stored within the partitions that separate desks, whereas others prefer systems without partitions. China, India and Hong Kong each have particular requirements.
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| In addition, each location has different safety, durability and environmental standards to which furniture must comply. These requirements must be understood before a suggestion is made or in some cases before beginning to manufacture the product. Some standards are set by the industry, for example, BFMA has certain guidelines for selecting furniture. Other standards relate to how many thousands of rotations a castor should be good for. Countries have varying ergonomic requirements – some are higher than others. Cho has engineering teams that cater to these issues. For example, her distributor working to Australian standards has a large booklet issued by local associations. Further challenges are created when either the standards are upgraded, so products distributed in that market must also be upgraded or when markets move in different directions. For example, in Europe desking systems that allow for a more open and flexible working environment are preferred, while in the US the typical cubical with panels is still standard. In China too, these ‘panel systems’ are more common while in Singapore, where office space is more expensive, desking is more accepted. “Many of our competitors are trying to propose desking systems, but looking at traditional Chinese ways you expect the panel system more”.  building the right team The service side goes smoothly when project management staff are skilled. When hiring, Cho goes for individuals who have had PM experience with any of the larger contracting firms. These people understand how a whole project is put together, having already had experience working with everyone from smaller subcontractors to the end-users of the space. If they can communicate with each of these different groups of people, they will be successful. “it might be easier for our PMs to communicate with all the parties because they have that experience. We have a project team head who encourages the teams to enrol in training projects.” It is not just the PM who works on the project it is also the frontline team who works with the clients. Cho also makes sure that once a sale is completed the sales person also spends time working with the end user client. This strategy is further broken down into smaller local projects and large regional accounts, which have dedicated corporate service teams. what part of the process do you particularly enjoy? “Working with the whole team together. Of course I have a bit more experience than some of the people …and many of our employees have been with the company for more than 10 years”. Having been in the market for over 13 years Cho’s “passion” is determining how to work together as a team. “We grew up together” she says, and enjoys the process that goes from getting feedback from sales, then research and development (supplemented by information from the marketing team), followed by the development and refinement of the product before the internal launch. During this phase staff are invited to test and comment on the product before further modifications take place.  Cho finds the whole process exciting and fascinating, and says that it is important that the value of the product is communicated to all team members, especially sales staff. They must have some interaction with the product before it is released and anticipate clients reactions. “Sometimes you have to modify the product – and then when they believe in the product and it is right price, segment, flexibility and timing then you will have a success.” Over the course of the last 13 years Cho has seen many ups and downs in the market, although now business is going well. Determining your place and your niche within a market is important and for a time Cho was based in Shanghai, developing operations in China. These days, however, the Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong offices all operate “very independently”. With 29 distributors in China, depth can be gained through this network, Cho says, which will assist their dedicated office operations in the growing markets of Singapore, India and China, enabling increased localisation well into the future. RFP
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Key title: RFP magazine
Abbreviated key title: RFP mag.
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