For healthcare specialist Walter Tarca, preserving the status quo is the surest way to slide into mediocrity and decline. 

“One principle that’s important to me is taking personal responsibility to continually improve and grow - whether it’s for the business or for yourself - and never be accepting of the status quo,” said the President of SGX-listed Vicplas International Ltd’s Medical Devices Segment.

“I’m inspired by people who stretch themselves with big goals, and then go out and achieve those targets with excellent preparation and manic determination to succeed.”

Tarca’s dedication to the pursuit of excellence and success has its roots in an impoverished childhood and an immigrant life. “My parents were born in the Italian Alps, near Lake Como, and moved to Australia in the late 1950s, searching for a better life for the family,” he recalled.

“We were quite poor growing up, so I learnt quickly about responsibility, making a contribution from a young age, as well as the value of hard work and commitment.”

Tarca, a Singapore Permanent Resident for 20 years, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Adelaide University, and is a Fellow, CPA. He joined Vicplas in 2016 to head its Medical Devices Segment. 

He brings a wealth of experience to the Group, having held senior leadership positions in enterprises throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including China, Japan, India and South Korea over the last 25 years. 

In particular, he has had a successful track record of building and expanding healthcare businesses, focusing on collaborative customer relationships, operating excellence and an engaged workforce.

“I enjoy working with high-energy individuals who share my passion for continuous improvement and growth,” Tarca noted.

“These are the people who set ambitious team targets and work really hard themselves, while inspiring others to work together with them. These are also the people that not only care, but who feel a personal responsibility for driving an initiative, and making changes for the better,” he added.

“I’m fortunate to have many of such individuals in our organisation, who support me and share my vision to continue to grow the Medical Devices Segment into a very significant global player.”

Laser-Focused Approach

Established in 1993, Vicplas was listed on the then SGX Sesdaq board in 1999, before being transferred to the Mainboard in 2009. The Group has two core businesses - medical devices and piping systems. 

The design, development and manufacture of sterile and non-sterile medical devices is managed by Vicplas’s wholly owned subsidiary, Forefront Medical Technology, which has manufacturing facilities in Singapore, Changzhou and Xiamen, as well as business development centres in Shanghai and Connecticut.

The Group’s second core business involves the manufacture and distribution of piping systems for diverse industries through its wholly owned subsidiaries in Singapore and Malaysia.

Looking back, Tarca attributes the success of Forefront Medical Technology to its laser-focus on the industry segment. 

“We have remained 100% in the medical device space, and have not ventured into automotive or consumer products manufacturing, even though we’ve had opportunities to do so,” he pointed out.

“The Medical Device industry is highly regulated and requires great skill and expertise, and we want to ensure we are totally concentrated on growing our capabilities in this sector, to provide even more specialised services for our global customers. This focus has allowed us to build quickly on our track record and expand our medical device customer base.”

Over the last few years, Forefront Medical Technology has also zeroed in on rolling out more automation solutions on its shop floor to drive efficiency improvements and output gains, to meet the requirements of its global clientele. 

“We will continue to drive these digital transformation initiatives forward as much as possible in order to stay very competitive in the marketplace.”

However, quality of growth also matters, Tarca said. Vicplas wants to ensure that its Medical Devices Segment expands at a sustainable pace over the long term.

“We're not looking for quick wins. We’re growing nicely, and we want to continue to do so in a sustainable manner year after year,” he added.

“Our strategic focus at the moment is to further expand our capabilities and services, continue to produce full medical devices, and expand our manufacturing footprint around the world to meet customer needs.”

However, sustainable growth doesn’t just happen, Tarca acknowledged. “We have very focused objectives towards continuous talent development. Building a high-performance team that shares our vision, and can translate it into day-to-day action, is fundamentally important to managing and achieving high growth.”

Speed to Market

The Group has also had to grapple with a number of challenges and risks, not the least of which is COVID-19.

“The first six months of the pandemic impacted us quite significantly with customers delaying orders of elective surgery products. Of course, we faced the significant disruptions that most companies experienced with regard to labour, sourcing materials and global logistics,” he said.

“Right now, even though we’re still seeing some impact to operations, I think the worst is behind us with orders returning to normal, and we’re working hard to clear backlog situations in some product areas. To mitigate this situation, we’re staying very close to our suppliers and customers to ensure minimal supply chain disruption.”

In the Group’s business, maintaining high levels of productivity and connectivity are critical to reducing the time-to-market of new products.

“Our customers rate us very highly on our speed to market, as we plan and collaborate deeply with them to ensure a clear and urgent path forward to commercialisation and mass production,” he added.

“We work very hard at managing this process, which at times has been made more challenging due to the pandemic.”

Meanwhile, in terms of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets, Forefront Medical Technology is focused on reducing waste and minimising its carbon footprint. It stepped up during the height of the pandemic to assist the Health Authorities in Singapore and the UK to ramp up their supplies of nasal swabs and PPE protective gowns.

“We’re also working with suppliers and customers to provide the highest quality global risk mitigation, and really make our supply chains more resilient for a post-COVID world,” Tarca said.

Having put in place well-developed strategies to manage most risks, the 64-year-old is not prone to anxiety, and sleeps well at night. But if he does worry, it’s usually about his staff.

“Given enough time, competitors can copy most of the things that you do, but what they can’t copy is your people,” he said. 

“So I spend a great deal of time building the right team, giving them learning opportunities, and the confidence to lead Forefront Medical, so that we can accelerate and capture the growth opportunities in this expanding market sector.”

For this father of three sons, time outside the office is focused on family, usually involving activities like swimming, cycling or trekking.

His advice to his children is: “The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.”

“In today’s fast-paced world, people expect too much too soon. It’s important in life and business to plant many seeds along your journey, so that you can eat the fruit of your labour not just once, but many times,” he said.

“Definitely, this is what we’re trying to do at Forefront Medical, a company that’s growing quickly and in a sustainable way to become a strong and trusted manufacturing device partner with innovative solutions that are always considered by product owners.”


Vicplas International Ltd

Vicplas has two core businesses: the first is the design, development and manufacture of sterile and non-sterile medical devices through its wholly owned subsidiaries in Singapore, China, the UK. The second is the manufacture and distribution of piping systems for diverse industries, including waste and potable water systems for residential homes, schools, commercial and industrial buildings, underground electrical and internal building wire piping systems, as well as data and signal line piping systems for telecommunications companies.

The company website is: vicplas.com.sg

Click here for the company's StockFacts page.

For the full year ended 31 July 2021 financial results, click here.

 

About kopi-C: the Company brew

Text: Jennifer Tan-Stanisic
Photo: Company file

kopi-C is a regular column on the SGX Research website that features C-level executives of leading companies listed on Singapore Exchange. These interviews are profiles of senior management aimed at helping investors better understand the individuals who run these corporations.

For previous editions of kopi-C: the Company brew, please click here.  

For more information, or if you would like your senior executives to be featured on SGX Market Dialogues, please send suggestions to jennifer.t@sgx.com.