Courage and perseverance

Looking back over her career, Tan Man Ee describes herself as mild-mannered, a quality that doesn’t seem ideal for the male-dominated steel manufacturing and construction industry. Yet despite the overt sexism and challenges she has faced, Tan was determined to persevere and adapt, which has helped her climb to the position of COO and Director of NatSteel Holdings.

Having initially trained as a civil engineer, Tan spent the first few years of her career working as a structural designer on a construction site in the early 80s. That was until she joined NatSteel Holdings, which began her ascent to the top of the career ladder.

“The company wanted to promote what we call ‘reinforcing steel offsite fabrication,’” she tells The CEO Magazine. “Fabrications used to be done on-site, so this was an opportunity to be part of the pioneer generation.

“They wanted to convert the whole industry, and that attracted me because it allowed me to apply my knowledge to the value chain of the construction industry.”

After being offered a position, Tan started doing reinforcement bar scheduling work, which involved converting structural drawings into manufactured units through bending schedules.

“I was very young, but my bosses provided me with a lot of opportunities, so I never looked back. I moved between many different units and roles,” she says.

“I told myself to never give up. I decided that in order to excel, I had to work harder, so I took on every opportunity available.”

Strength testing

After years of perseverance, Tan was asked to run NatSteel’s operations in Australia, which was struggling at the time. While she faced some resistance, she quickly identified the business challenges, got buy-in from the local Australian team and turned the business around within three months.

“How did I do it? I brought my business knowledge and experience and adapted it to Australian culture. I stayed there for three years, and at the end of my time there, I’d earned a lot of respect from the local team,” she says.

After returning to Singapore in 2009 in a supply chain role, Tan was appointed to become Group COO in 2019, a challenging time that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. But thanks to Tan’s leadership, NatSteel managed to navigate this challenging period without disrupting business operations.

“We learned how to be self-reliant and overcame the situation thanks to our strong foundations. This includes our committed employees and managers who picked things up quickly and trusted one other,” she explains.

“Thanks to the strong partnerships we’ve developed with our contractors and suppliers over the years, we helped one another during this period, and in return, we made sure that we served them really well.

“There were some customers who really appreciated our support during the pandemic, so much so that we don’t have to pursue them very hard to continue achieving sales with them.”

As a result, Tan believes that navigating the pandemic actually strengthened NatSteel, thanks to the increased level of trust among its colleagues and stakeholders.

“After all the hard work and challenges I’ve faced, I must confess that I finally feel like an achiever,” she says.

Vision for growth

Looking ahead, while NatSteel’s vision has always been to represent the global industry benchmark for value creation and corporate citizenship, Tan’s latest challenge is working out how to differentiate its products and services from the competition. The answer: providing value-added services and a greater focus on sustainability.

Services include using 3D modeling for reinforcement steel to help customers across the supply chain achieve more productivity. It has also developed a digital online ordering system called the NatSteel Integrated Customer Experience (NiCE).

Since 2021, NatSteel has also focused significantly on sustainability, taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint and contribute to wider social efforts. NatSteel prides itself on its energy-efficient electric arc furnace, which consumes an average of 281 kilowatts per hour per metric ton of steel, while other mills generally use 400–450 kilowatts per hour.

Another notable initiative includes creating a dashboard detailing the company’s energy, material and water consumption and a significant focus on reusing waste material.

Through these actions and more, NatSteel reports that Singapore could avoid up to 200,000 meters-squared of CO2 annually by using NatSteel’s recycled steel, which is equivalent to five percent of the the country’s total CO2 emissions.

“We don’t want to be seen as a traditional steel company; we want to transform ourselves to be a smart reinforcement solution provider,” she says.

“What we hope is that when our customers think about steel, they will think about the smart steel solutions from NatSteel, so we don’t just supply traditional materials, we provide smart and low-carbon solutions.”

In addition to serving as Group COO and Director, Tan also sits on Singapore’s Workplace Safety and Health Council and on the board of the National Environment Agency.

“I think in a heavy industry environment, courage is very important and we must not be afraid to make tough decisions,” she says.

“A senior manager of mine once described me as having steel hands in velvet gloves. This means I’m able to manage the business right, but doing so with a soft touch – understanding others, having empathy and respect for people, along with an understanding of their knowledge and strengths.

“Doing so builds trust and confidence, which has been the key to the success I achieve today.”