From aspiring vet to engineer and supply chain specialist

By Wong Lai Yin, Director, ​Group Procurement Office
(Front row, first from left)​

When I was young, I wanted to be a vet. My family members are all clinical and health science professionals, so doing something in that field seemed natural to me.

I took Biology at “A” Levels, and I remember having to dissect white mice during class. One afternoon, some white mice bit through the breeding cages in school. It was pretty chaotic – teachers and students were screaming and hopping onto desks, while some of us were running around catching the mice. We eventually got Milo tins from the canteen aunty, drilled holes and used them as temporary holding cases till we fixed the cages. By the time we moved the mice back to their cages, they were literally sweating!

I finally opted for Engineering when entering university. Although I loved animals, my inclination towards the more technical stream grew during my pre-university days. The desire to learn, analyse, improve and possibly design operational systems and workflows compelled me to pursue Mechanical Engineering, which has provided me with a strong foundation and broader perspectives in my approach at work.

I remember having a lot of fun working on hands-on projects as an Engineering student. The most memorable was the dismantling and re-assembling of a van! We had to reinstall all components and in our first few attempts, we somehow had several parts left over. We kept trying and finally, on our third try, we proved that perseverance does pay – we had a road-worthy van! We were convinced however, that the leftover parts we initially had were not actually needed because other project groups had loose parts too.

On another occasion, we were tasked to build go-karts. As part of the challenge, another team would provide the driver for a test run. We were assigned a Sumo wrestler look-alike driver and through our test run, we could see and hear our go-kart buckling under his weight. Our go-kart did reach the finishing line successfully, but sad to say, it was never the same again!

Engineering provided the training ground to help me become an analytical enabler – one who is adaptable and versatile. These skills laid the foundation for my career development and growth.

After 25 years in the electronics industry, I wanted a change in environment – one where I could contribute based on my experience and knowledge, as well as learn and develop as an individual. Healthcare was a natural choice given my family’s background and I had opportunities to see healthcare professionals at work. I wanted to do something and contribute to public healthcare.

As a supply chain specialist in SingHealth for the last six and a half years, I had the chance to lead in the transformation of our supply chain process. Group Procurement is a shared service and the majority of our staff are located at the respective institutions, providing operations support. To have a truly integrated Group Procurement Office, alignment in practices is crucial. Part of my role is to facilitate this integration – improving efficiency through re-engineering, integrating and establishing connectivity.

Outside of work, I spend my free time cooking and trying my hand at new dishes for my husband and son, who are my loyal “guinea pigs”. I don’t really have a special dish but on days when the going gets really tough, I tend to favour making minced meat dishes because it is my way of relieving stress – I would imagine what I needed to tackle was on the receiving end of the chopper and go on to “chop” away my stress!