Tiam Her is presently AVP for the Engineering & Equipment Development Department under the Engineering Division of PSA Singapore. The department has both components of operational services and developing new solutions to key labour challenges in our port.

Innovation is part and parcel of life for Tiam Her, perhaps going as far back as school days when trying to excel in school projects. Looking ahead, Tiam Her sees more deep technology being used in the port environment to elevate our service levels, port efficiencies and labour productivity. PSA has already implemented automation and data analytics, and he sees the next phase of port solutions leveraging heavily on AI, autonomous mobility and green technology. This team journey towards new frontiers is something he is truly excited about

For Tiam Her, a good innovator is someone open minded, willing to share ideas and solutions openly, embracing critiques and candid views of others. According to him, innovators should never tolerate a status quo and should be tenacious in what they do. These are essential qualities as innovation requires a good amount of determination and grit. For a company, he sees innovation as a basic trait required for survival.

He summarised his inno-spirit as “From Believing to Seeing It” – by being passionate in problem solving and believing in it, testing and experimenting the various possibilities and finally being able to see the success of innovation – this is most fulfilling to Tiam Her.

Tiam Her encourages leaders to applaud innovation, even when at first glance it does not seem practical, cost effective or financially viable. In his opinion it is a great way to nurture an innovative spirit among our people. As an organisation, he recognises that PSA will need a good set of innovation processes and a systematic approach towards innovation management.

Just for fun we asked him what cargo transportation could look like in a 100 years. He dreamt up a future of circular economies with little waste. Instead of moving physical goods we would transmit blueprints and digital designs instantly, which could be built and constructed locally with commonly available materials and 3D printing.