I lead a components manufacturer by making the responsibilities hidden inside an order visible before the factory accepts it.
Selvarune Components makes precision metal parts and assemblies for industrial customers. We coordinate engineering from Singapore and production in Johor and Batam, with 1,450 colleagues across the business. Consolidated revenue was S$242 million in 2025. I joined as an externally recruited chief executive in January 2020, after the founder’s succession. My work is to connect the commercial terms of an order with the tooling, skills and production capacity it actually requires. A purchase order can describe a part very clearly while leaving several of those obligations unresolved.
I began as a production planner in 1994. The schedule taught me to notice the assumptions that arrived with a promise made elsewhere: a tool expected to be available, a revision thought to be final or a customer forecast treated as a firm call-off. Later roles in supply planning and commercial leadership showed me why those assumptions were attractive. They helped a quotation look competitive and a production plan look full. Running an assembly business then made me responsible for the consequences when the two accounts did not agree.
At Selvarune, I have concentrated on three decisions that make those obligations harder to overlook. We reconciled the ownership and return conditions of customer-funded tooling, introduced an explicit charge where a buyer wanted dedicated capacity without firm volumes, and funded supervised skill development instead of relying indefinitely on a few experienced setters. Each choice affected a relationship or a reported cost. I explain those effects alongside the result because the strength of a manufacturing business is not captured by accepting more orders than its people and equipment can reliably support.
Tooling that can be accounted for
A review of 145 customer-funded tool sets found 21 with incomplete records of ownership, modification approval or return obligations. We resolved 16 through documented agreement and kept five open rather than treating physical possession as an answer.
Reserved capacity priced separately
For a proposed dedicated production cell, we separated a reservation fee from the unit price. The buyer accepted a smaller reserved block; the remaining capacity stayed available to other programmes instead of being supported by an uncommitted forecast.
Setter capability with paid practice time
We funded a nine-month development programme for eighteen colleagues, including supervised changeovers during planned production time. Thirteen completed the defined qualification; five continued supervised practice. The programme did not count attendance as competence.
Current focus
I am reviewing how engineering changes reach every document used at the machine, including the instructions retained by a subcontractor. A revised drawing has not completed its journey merely because our own system marks the release as current.
Conversations I welcome
I would consider an external board in industrial supply or manufacturing services where commercial commitments and operating capability need to be examined together. I would first resolve employer consent, customer and supplier conflicts, and the time required outside scheduled meetings.
The leadership record
Trusted with consequential decisions.
Formation
Diploma in production engineeringTiraven Technical Institute · 1994
Dinesh kept the five unresolved tooling cases visible after the review had done substantial work. That gave the board a more useful account of the remaining obligation than a register described simply as complete.
I would consider an external board in industrial supply or manufacturing services where commercial commitments and operating capability need to be examined together. I would first resolve employer consent, customer and supplier conflicts, and the time required outside scheduled meetings.
