As featured in The CEO Magazine (October 2019)

Mr Liu Shaw Jiun, Managing Director of Daikin Singapore, was recently featured in the October 2019 Issue of The CEO Magazine. His interview article as follows:

Air conditioning is a fact of life in Singapore, and Daikin is a market leader in the industry. Managing Director Liu Shaw Jiun is a firm believer that the strength of his team is what propels the manufacturer to success.

Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew once said in an interview with New Perspectives Quarterly: "Air conditioning was a most important invention for us, perhaps one of the signal inventions of history. It changed the nature of civilisation by making development possible in the tropics."

In Singapore, after all, the temperature can reach 32°C all year round, a discomfort compounded by consistently high humidity. Climate change and urbanisation continue to exacerbate these conditions and, as a result, air conditioning is a huge market in Singapore. The leader of this market is Daikin Airconditioning (Singapore), which has serviced the tiny city-state since 1968.

"Singapore is quite advanced," says Managing Director Liu Shaw Jiun. "The nation is adopting strategic policies around high-efficiency household air conditioning and so on, and they’re now going to smart air conditioning. They’ve introduced this as a nationwide initiative. Daikin has been a pioneer in the air-conditioning industry, and I’m able to map our company’s strength against the national agenda to differentiate Daikin Airconditioning (Singapore)."

Shaw Jiun attributes part of Daikin’s success in Singapore to the company’s people-centred management. "We believe in the infinite potential of each individual," he says.

Equally, Daikin’s recent success in Singapore has been driven by Shaw Jiun’s own initiatives. He implemented a restructure of sales and marketing in order to provide the best pre-sale and after-sales service in Singapore, while also strengthening brand awareness and the company’s internal culture.

In 2018, Shaw Jiun won the Executive of the Year – Residential Product Manufacturing at the SBR Management Excellence Awards for his efforts in transforming Daikin Singapore from an equipment provider to a solutions provider.

Integration of air conditioning into home smart systems has been a key element, representing not just an innovative product for the customer, but a powerful information tool for Daikin. "We’re taking care of the precise air-conditioning needs of customers," he explains.

But even with Daikin’s invaluable contributions to life in Singapore, the thing that really drives Shaw Jiun’s passion for the job is to see his team develop and evolve alongside him.

Source: The CEO Magazine (2019, September 19). Staying Cool: Liu Shaw Jiun.