Patrick Tan: A Futuristic Leader Delivering High-Quality Water Solutions and Services

Hydro Dynamic Engineering is a Singapore-based company that has earned a reputation of an industry leader in providing high-quality water tanks and services. With over 26 years of combined experience in the water storage industry, Hydro has passionately worked to raise its standards of excellence in designing products that are both innovative and environmentally responsible. The company specializes in installation and supply of Water Tanks.

Hydro’s products are widely used in residential, commercial & industrial segments, condominiums, private houses, shopping malls, factories, and the oil & gas industries. Hydro has always placed its employees in the end-user position to understand the needs of the company’s clients. By doing so, Hydro has encouraged its employees to carry a wide range of water storage solutions to cater to all aspects of the application. The company’s products range from potable water storage to sprinkler & wet riser water storage, chemical solution storage, and rainwater harvesting, allowing end-users to save water for irrigation purposes. As part of Hydro’s after-sales service, the company provides annual inspections and cleaning for the water storage solutions to ensure that these products are not only in operationally good condition but also for the safety of the end-users.

Emulating the Role of a Visionary Leader

Patrick Tan is the CEO of Hydro Dynamic Engineering Pte Ltd. He graduated with a Diploma in Electrical Engineering & Advance Diploma in Industrial Management and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Patrick majored in Marketing from RMIT in Melbourne and started Hydro Dynamic Engineering Pte Ltd in 2014.

After his honourable discharges as a Navy technical specialist, Patrick joined the private sector and gained experience in the ACMV market. He noticed that many water tank suppliers were only selling one type of water tank, be it fibreglass tank (GRP) or pressed steel sectional water tank. The buyers have to look into a few vendors to package their needs regarding water storage solution. Patrick felt that he could be able to provide an alternative to the market by providing a one-stop solution for both GRP & the pressed steel tank under a single roof. In 2004, due to the economic downturn, the company where Patrick was working decided to consolidate and retract from the Singapore market. Ultimately, he took the risk to set up his own company despite the economic situation. He searched for a manufacturer overseas and proposed to be the dealer in Singapore through emails. After a few months of sourcing, Patrick managed to find suitable manufacturers. That was only the beginning. Patrick flew to the factory to inspect their products and to work on customizing their product to suit Singapore’s market. He also managed on getting the products certified in the Singapore accredited testing laboratory before it was allowed for supply and installation in the local market.

Patrick started the business as a single man running from sales to after-sales service. However, it was not an easy job to manage everything alone. He worked day and night all day. He also visited customers, attended job site meetings, and after the tank’s installation, Patrick also checked the testing and commissioning in the early days of Hydro. During the journey, he learned the repair skills from the installer, which proved to be a vital tool and knowledge in his career and gave him confidence in the sales and marketing of the products. Patrick gave constant feedback to the manufacturer on the defects to correct it in the future manufacturing processes. Though Patrick’s life seems to be busy, he still enjoyed the steady growth in business in his comfortable way.

In late 2006, around 2 years in operation, Patrick’s manufacturer flew over to visit him. During the visit, he said, “Patrick, if you are going to run the one-man show forever, you will never ever grow your business further.” He also warned of taking away Patrick’s dealership after six months if he remains the same. It came as a wake-up call for him. He took the manufacturer’s advice and expanded the business, employing more staff in handling the after-sales service. Patrick also acquired a bigger warehouse to keep essential stocks in, and provided all backup services. Some of his wise decisions has helped Hydro to improve its sales. With perfect staff and products in place, Hydro sales has multiplied since then.

As the business expanded, Hydro reckoned that just by providing GRP for potable water and Pressed steel sectional panel tanks as fire-fighting tanks cannot meet the customer’s needs. Patrick observed that the market is ever-changing. In order to fulfil the needs of the company’s clients and end-users, and continue to grow with the stakeholders, Hydro planned to expand its range of water tanks. The company added few more products, including FRP cylindrical & Polyethylene (PE) tanks, storage tanks for storing chemical solution, Glass Fused to Steel (GFS) tanks for many other storage applications such as for fire or industrial water, agricultural water, or municipal sewage water storage. As a Corporate Socially Responsible company, Hydro also provides customers with a sustainable energy product - rainwater harvesting storage system and tank.

Hydro figured that by providing new hardware, the company also needs to upgrade its software to cope with the ever-changing world. Hydro provides constant upgrading training to its employees not only on products but also on personal development. The company also chooses to focus on being an environmentally responsible company in its journey. Hydro contributes in renewable energy by ensuring that used and unused metals are recycled and fibreglass materials are disposed of through environmentally safe methods. Within Hydro’s working environments, the company ensures that all employees are aware and practices the 3 R’s: Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle.

Hydro has made a pivotal achievement being the only company in Singapore that provides the widest range of water tanks under one roof. Despite being a water tank supplier, the company is now undertaking turn-key projects.

Patrick believes that the success of Hydro does not belong to just him but also to the team of supportive staff, vendors, contractors, and customers. Besides, Patrick trusts that a good working environment can produce good working staff. He is flexible to the working hours and entrusts the staff with their own jobs and responsibilities in their area of work roles.

Addressing the Challenge of Choosing the Right Products

The biggest challenge Patrick faced was to set up a business with the right product to sell. In the early 2000s, the water tank market was dominated with products only from Japan for their quality and reputable household name.

Being a new player in the market, Patrick was also engaged in acquiring the right product and getting it approved to be installed in Singapore, which took almost a year and a half. Another challenge Patrick went through was to convince the customers to accept an alternative brand from Korea. But, Hydro started steadily and provided an exceptionally good follow up. The after-sales services convinced the customers to switch to Hydro, and since then, the customers are loyal with the company. Patrick not only took the responsibility to provide a reliable brand of product to clients but also replied to their emails as fast as he could within a day or two. He is well aware that all his clients would need their reply instantly. If sometimes, Patrick couldn’t get a reply to some of the clients within two-days, they even called to check if he is not feeling well. This is the personal relationship that Patrick has built over the years.

Building Innovation Based on Customer’s Needs

The employees of Hydro listen to the customer’s needs. Henceforth, the company is able to provide the proposed water tanks from the selection of a wide range of products. It also constructs certain products according to the customer’s needs. If the requirement is out of the company’s product range, Hydro tries to tie up with its associates to modify and improvise the product to meet the individual’s needs.

Revolutionizing Production with High Tech Robots

Patrick presumes that technologies like robotics have improved the production method and processes. Automation cuts down the production time and improves Hydro’s delivery time, which helps the company to have a leading edge over competitors.

He mentions that Hydro has already implemented cloud computing two-years ago. Patrick utters that even with the impact of Covid-19, Hydro’s staff can still perform their works from home during the circuit-breaker period because of technology adoption in the company. Currently, Hydro employees are on rotation shift, with half of the staff working from home and the other half from the office. With the help of cloud computing, they have access to the company’s data and information anywhere.

Envisioning a Technological Disruption

Patrick discloses that water tanks are not something that could be replaced in the near future. Henceforth, he is planning to make it more innovative and efficient with new technologies. Patrick affirms that Hydro has constantly been looking up for partners among manufacturers to improve the process and acquire new products into its range of existing lines, especially those with sustainable energy.

Awards and Recognitions

Hydro Dynamic is gratified with several business awards includes BEI Asia Awards – Top Enterprising Award 2014, Singapore Enterprise Awards 2015, Singapore Prominent Brands 2015/2016, Excellent Enterprise 2017, Singapore Enterprise Medal of Honour 2017/2018, Top Business Service & Quality 2018/2019 and CEO Prestige Award 2018/2019. The company was also featured in Channel NewsAsia’s (CNA) ‘A Class Above’ show in 2018, and CEO Magazine in 2018, and Milestones Magazine in 2019.

Valuable Advice to Emerging Business Leaders

Patrick tells emerging business leaders that there is no short-cut in building a good company. He implies that Hydro’s customers are the core of the business. The experienced and dedicated Hydro team continues to strive and provide superior end-to-end service throughout. The company also ensures to constantly provide training to the employees to deliver the best customer service.