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Auyin traces its root over 37 years ago when it first supplied the ever so popular TV RACK ubiquitous to thousands of households during then, just when Colour Television was rising in popularity amid the baby boomer years of 80s Singapore. Teck Huat Lam Trading Company, founded by the 3 Ng brothers Ah Teck, Ah Huat and Ah Lam, was revolutionary in making the TV racks very cheap and affordable for the simple folks. It comes in Flat-Packed ( like IKEA) for easy self-transport back home and self-assembly. In those days, it is not uncommon to see customers hiring Trishaws to carry back the package and looking forward to enjoy their new TV. During then, the brothers made their furniture at a warehouse in River Valley, near the old ellenborough market. Although the three brothers had equal share of the company, Ah Huat alias Godfrey Ng was the one who started it all, by coming up with the idea of a cheap and flat-packed TV rack to ride the TV boom and he had roped in the other two brothers in this vision of his.
The furniture business prospered. However, just TV Racks alone cannot quench Godfrey's big entrepreneuring appetite. He was always forward-thinking and looking for new challenges. Thus in 1982 he left Teck Huat Lam Trading in the care of his brothers and left to start a new company by himself. A United Business Machines Company was thus born. With this new company, he proceed to serve ernestly the office community by distributing office typewriters, cheque writers, shredders, calculators and became a knack of an expert in this field of office electronic accessories. The company went on to clinch the sole-distributorship of Smith Corona typewriters from USA in the 80s. the company later proceed to add safe cabinets from Japan to its product range. A United's first location was just next to the Historical Kreta Ayer People's Theatre.
While Godfrey was busy supplying typewriters, he noticed the dismay conditions of many offices he came across in terms of their furniture. Furnitures of inferior specifications and materials seemed to be flooding the market, giving offices of low budgets little joy and comfort. During then, you could only get good furniture from Europe or Japan at a hefty premium. He decided to turn things around, determined to bring in high cost, good quality office furniture to Singapore businesses but to sell them at much lower prices. A United thus intensified its diversification into the Office Furniture Industry. Godfrey first started by importing good quality office chairs from Japan and Taiwan, as well as manufacturing various models locally according to his own high specs. The Boss himself would toiled through countless nights till 2-3 am, sometimes till dawn even, handpainting each wooden table ordered by the customer to perfection with extreme care. By the year 1985, A United had built a strong name for itself as a One-Stop Office Furniture Supplier in Singapore with High Quality Furniture at Budget Pricing. The Office later shifted to Chinatown Plaza at Craig Road.
Come the year 1989. Mr Ng saw the rapid industralisation of Jurong as a good business opportunity to translocate to the West of Singapore. There was also a serious lack of Office Furniture Specialist shops in the west at that point of time. MNCs in Jurong area usually had to made a long trip to the city or the East area to view the furniture. Godfrey wanted to provide fast, good and convenient services to these companies in the West. Thus the decision was made to shift to Clementi West, near the old Ginza Plaza. Warehouse was shifted from River Valley to nearby West Coast road. It was also during this time when A United started increasing its Steel Furniture Range, making all sorts of Steel Office Furniture such as Document Cabinets, Steel Cupboards and Steel Desks, especially for customers who wanted more durability vs Wooden Furniture. Occasionally, A United would exhibit its furniture at the old World Trade Centre (the current harbourfront).
In 1995, after 15 years in the business, the company decided to come up with a brand name to give our products a more distinct recognition among our customer, a name that would signify our never-ending comittiment towards product-excellence and and value-for-money for our customers. Shirley Lee, our lady-boss and the wife of Godfrey, came up with two: "Auyin" and "Aufa". They sounded like "好运" and "好發" in chinese, which means good luck and good fortune. It is Shirley's endearing wish that all our customers get to enjoy plentiful good luck and bountiful fortunes.
Also at this moment in time, A subsidiary Company Aufa United Marketing was set up, together with a spanking new showroom in the city area at Beach Road , just opposite Shaw Towers. Aufa spearheaded the import of a wide range of premium quality Steel Furniture that are wholly Made-in-Taiwan and Exported to Japan Domestic Market. In short, you get japanese-grade furniture at one-third or half the price-tag inside Japan during that time.
" This would help customers save a lot of money for premium quality stuff, by importing from the source..." :
~ Godfrey Ng
Godfrey also started organising roadshows for Auyin Chairs at places like the Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore. And he sold the chairs at Cost to the students living in the halls and Lecturers and provided free delivery to them. The roadshows continued for over 13 years, selling over 20,000 chairs, without ever making a single cent of profit. Why would he want to do that? He explains:
" The undergraduates of today are leaders of the future. They will be the ones involved in the decision-making roles. If I do not teach them how to differentiate a good chair from a bad one now, many of their future workers will suffer from bad long term effects of a poorly-conceived office chair... Invest in the young to prepare for the old..." ~ He chuckled
He added further:
"University education are not cheap, most students are not well-off, some parents struggled to send their kids in. But they spend long hours seated in front of the computer and studying. Nevertheless, they deserve good chairs with good support to prevent injuries."
Also at this moment in time, A subsidiary Company Aufa United Marketing was set up, together with a spanking new showroom in the city area at Beach Road , just opposite Shaw Towers. Aufa spearheaded the import of a wide range of premium quality Steel Furniture that are wholly Made-in-Taiwan and Exported to Japan Domestic Market. In short, you get japanese-grade furniture at one-third or half the price-tag inside Japan during that time.
" This would help customers save a lot of money for premium quality stuff, by importing from the source..." :
~ Godfrey Ng
Godfrey also started organising roadshows for Auyin Chairs at places like the Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore. And he sold the chairs at Cost to the students living in the halls and Lecturers and provided free delivery to them. The roadshows continued for over 13 years, selling over 20,000 chairs, without ever making a single cent of profit. Why would he want to do that? He explains:
" The undergraduates of today are leaders of the future. They will be the ones involved in the decision-making roles. If I do not teach them how to differentiate a good chair from a bad one now, many of their future workers will suffer from bad long term effects of a poorly-conceived office chair... Invest in the young to prepare for the old..." ~ He chuckled
He added further:
"University education are not cheap, most students are not well-off, some parents struggled to send their kids in. But they spend long hours seated in front of the computer and studying. Nevertheless, they deserve good chairs with good support to prevent injuries."
By the year 2000, Auyin had grown to a point whereby its warehouses, then at West Coast and Kranji, could no longer accommodate the huge product range it has built up over the years as well as customer's demand. Thus in 2005, Auyin acquired a plot in Tuas, a 27,000 sq ft 3-Storey warehouse-cum-office complex.
Close to the end of year 2010, Godfrey began to foresee the potential of the Jurong East Region. Located around the Jurong East MRT Station, the plans for the 70ha Jurong Gateway is to develop it into a vibrant commercial hub, the biggest outside the city centre, the 2nd CBD. In 2015, our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that Singapore’s High Speed Rail terminus will also be located at Jurong East, thus providing a fast direct link to the Malaysian Capital Kuala Lumpur, promising even more excitement and bustling activities in the area.
Mr Ng wanted to be close to the action. Thus on Feb 2011, while he was still in Shanghai, China, He made a call back to Singapore to book a brand new development at The Splendour at Bukit Batok Crescent, which is a stone's throw away to Jurong Gateway, (1.8km away from Jurong East MRT). On Jan 2013, Auyin officially starts its operation at the Splendour.
Mr Ng wanted to be close to the action. Thus on Feb 2011, while he was still in Shanghai, China, He made a call back to Singapore to book a brand new development at The Splendour at Bukit Batok Crescent, which is a stone's throw away to Jurong Gateway, (1.8km away from Jurong East MRT). On Jan 2013, Auyin officially starts its operation at the Splendour.
