Sai Yin Lee believes that his true strength as a leader boils down to the fact that he understands the nuances of both VICO Construction and the industry as a whole.

“I learn how the work is done before leading my staff on the ground,” the Deputy General Manager tells The CEO Magazine.

“I do not hesitate to sit down with them to discuss how we can improve things on the site. I can even communicate with the people on the ground directly, without going through the multiple layers of management, so the information gets there quickly.”

With 15 years of expertise in the construction industry across multiple contractors, Lee, who joined Singapore-based VICO in 2020, initially earned his stripes as a safety officer and later as a safety manager, before being promoted to deputy general manager.

As well as being a hands-on boss, with an open-door policy and an approach favoring cohesion and communication, Lee encourages staff to learn from errors rather than opting for punishment.

“We are all human,” he says. “We sometimes do make mistakes. I make multiple mistakes along the way. I guess everyone does. If anyone has the will to learn and avoid the same mistake, I don’t think we should punish them.”

Boosting productivity

In an industry that relies so heavily on manpower, ensuring a people-first culture has always been a non-negotiable.

“For VICO, our success comes from consistency and accountability,” Lee explains. “Our workforce turnover rate is one of the best in the industry. I’m actually still considered one of the new joiners – we have people who have been working here much longer.”

By attracting the right talent and harnessing the skills of their workforce, Lee envisions VICO evolving and pioneering new ways of construction in the region.

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However, with increasing complexities, the industry’s dependency on manpower – especially from foreign sources – is waning. The solution, Lee explains, could be looking to China to gain a competitive edge in construction methods, as well as digitization and innovation to boost productivity.

“China is developing very quickly – so quickly that most of the Western world still does not trust that China’s way ahead in this game right now,” Lee explains. “There are technologies that we can learn from where China is already very established.”

Digital delivery

While robotics and automation are currently being utilized at VICO to aid with the painting and sanding of walls, Lee admits that due to the amount of hands-on assistance programming the robots requires, it is still quite an involved process for the engineers working with the technology.

“But then moving forward when the programming is done or when AI is able to learn where the walls are, where the corners are, where the defects are, it should drastically reduce the number of people required to carry out all the mundane work,” Lee muses.

“We have also embarked on this digital delivery where our building information modelers are in-house. Some companies have modelists that are outsourced overseas. It works the same, but if they are in-house with us, we have more control and things get delivered faster.

“And because of all this team modeling within the management system, we are able to coordinate faster. We’re able to detect clashes easier [accessed from the computer rather than on-site], which makes things more productive.”

Strong, long-term partnerships with subcontractors and suppliers such as Jy Electrical Engineering are fostered through a combination of a robust safety-first culture and an efficient, tech-enabled system for prompt payments.

Remote control

In addition, VICO uses an extensive network of CCTVs beyond what is legally required in order to enhance remote site management as well as supporting real-time decision-making.

“We have a 360-degree camera system integrated with our team, with engineers and supervisors going down to the site to take 360-degree photos of every angle where we have constructed,” Lee explains.

“These are automatically integrated into the vehicle identification number and then our quality system is able to view all these photos and cross-check with the work that’s done. They are able to certify the job easier and quicker and of course the subcons are very appreciative of this system.”

Implementing specific and proactive measures to manage the risks of adverse weather such as extreme heat and high winds, VICO is always looking to protect their people as well as their assets and equipment.

And given safety is such an ongoing priority, all employees and subcontractors are required to be certified with at least safe level three.

“That means they must undertake risk management,” Lee says.

“On site, of course, they follow our in-house rules and we work together to make sure all our targets are in sync.

“It’s not just about the bottom line, the lives of our people are more important than anything else. With that knowledge the workers also feel that the company cherishes their lives, which definitely transfers to better productivity as well.”