Malayan Daching

Malayan Daching is a small and medium-size enterprise (SME) based in Singapore. Although the company began as a weighing scale manufacturer, their core business currently also includes engineering and construction.¹

History
Malayan Daching was established in 1955 as a manufacturer and repairer of mechanical scales and dachings by the late Sim Thiam Siong.² A daching is a traditional weighing instrument consisting of a beam, a pan that is suspended on one end of the beam and a counterweight on the other.³ The traditional dachings were calibrated in katis and tahils instead of the metric system, and were used extensively in local commercial sales.⁴

Today, Malayan Daching has expanded its business to include sales of weight-related products, powder-processing systems and packaging equipment, as well as the provision of services such as engineering design, building and construction.⁵

The word “Malayan” in the company’s name was a result of the historical context in which it was founded: Malayan Daching was established in 1955 during the British colonial period, when Singapore and Malaysia were then known collectively as Malaya.⁶

 Sim Sem Peng, the eldest son of Sim Thiam Siong, is currently the chairman of Malayan Daching.⁷

Company profile
Malayan Daching’s mission is to provide “innovative solutions for all needs”, while its vision is to be the “preferred service provider to [its] customers” and to “achieve the highest performance standard in each area of [its] businesses”.⁸

To date, Malayan Daching has three subsidiary companies: Metall-Treat Industries Pte Ltd, Ban Guan Chemical Pte Ltd and MDC Tech Centre Pte Ltd.⁹

Products and services
Besides supplying various products ranging from weighing equipment, packaging machines, X-ray inspection systems to food-processing machines,¹⁰ Malayan Daching also provides construction and engineering services.¹¹

Malayan Daching has its own in-house building and civil engineering department that specialises in construction work for commercial and industrial buildings. The company’s engineering services include waste-water treatment and gas storage systems.¹² Malayan Daching as a contractor is registered with the Building and Construction Authority.¹³

Malayan Daching also offers maintenance, calibration, verification and testing services to various industries. For instance, the company performs testing services for equipment regulated by the Ministry of Manpower. As a laboratory for calibration and testing, Malayan Daching acquired accreditation under SAC-SINGLAS (Singapore Accreditation Council-Singapore Laboratory Accreditation Scheme) in 1988.¹⁴ The company has also been appointed by SPRING Singapore under the Weights and Measures Programme as an authorised verifier for non-automatic weighing instruments and oil-dispensing pumps.¹⁵

Certifications
Malayan Daching has garnered several International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications, including ISO 17025:2005, ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004.¹⁶

Community involvement
The Malayan Daching Bursary was established to provide financial assistance to Singapore Institute of Technology undergraduates in the full-time degree programme for chemical engineering or mechatronics.¹⁷

Milestones¹⁸
1955: Establishment of Malayan Daching Company on Havelock Road.
1988: Becomes the first weighing company in Singapore to gain SAC-SINGLAS accreditation for calibration and measurement.
1990: Malayan Daching is incorporated.
1993: Moves to larger premises at Hillview Terrace.
2005: Malayan Daching celebrates its 50th anniversary.
2006: Building and civil engineering department is established.
2010: Acquires Ban Guan Chemical Pte Ltd with total shareholding.
2012: Moves to current premises at Tanjong Penjuru Crescent.



References
1. “Corporate Profile,” Malayan Daching, n.d.  
2. “History Background,” Malayan Daching, n.d.  
3. Chin Lai Ching, “Lean and Productive With IT,” Straits Times, 19 November 1997, 63; “Hands Off the Board’s New Metric Daching,” Straits Times, 4 April 1974, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
4. “They Still Use Dachings,” Singapore Free Press, 1 February 1952, 5; “Soon, a Metric Daching,” Straits Times, 25 April 1973, 7. (From NewspaperSG)
5. Malayan Daching, “Corporate Profile”; “Weighing Up the Benefits of Standards and Accreditation,” SPRINGnews (August 2014): 8–9.
6. Malayan Daching, “History Background.”  
7. “Weighing Up the Benefits of Standards and Accreditation,” 8–9.
8. “Mission,” Malayan Daching, n.d.
9. “About Us: Company Milestones & Roadmap,” Metall-Treat Industries Pte Ltd., 2015; “Ban Guan Chemical Pte Ltd,” Malayan Daching; “Milestone: 2014,” Malayan Daching.
10. “Machineries,” Malayan Daching.
11. “Building & Civil Engineering Department,” Malayan Daching.
12. Malayan Daching, “Building & Civil Engineering Department”; “Our Core Sectors & Services,” Malayan Daching.
13. Malayan Daching, “Corporate Profile.”  
14. “Weighing Up the Benefits of Standards and Accreditation,” 8–9.
15. “Weighing Up the Benefits of Standards and Accreditation,” 8–9.
16. “Accreditation/Certification,” Malayan Daching, n.d.
17. “The Malayan Daching Bursary,” Singapore Institute of Technology, 2013.
18. “Milestones,” Malayan Daching, n.d.



This article was written by students from Montfort Secondary School as part of the “50 Schools, 50 SMEs” initiative held in celebration of Singapore’s 50th birthday. For more details, please visit http://www.singapore50-ei.sg/project-50schools-50SMEs.

The information in this article is valid as at 8 May 2015 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.