business for a while now and have a duty towards
the protection of the environment,” he says.
“No matter what we do – whether we treat
the upstream water for everyday consumption or
if we are involved in the downstream wastewater
treatment – we want to look at how we can play
our part to enhance the environment.”
Rather than retire from the sector in 2008,
DS decided to take up a position at Singaporean
water treatment company MattenPlant. He began
as chairman before becoming President and CEO
in 2015.
MattenPlant focuses on three water-treatment
technologies: ultrafiltration (UF), reverse osmosis
(RO) and ion exchange technology (IX). The UF
process uses a membrane to remove solids from
water. RO, o n the other hand, is a purification
process that removes dissolved solids such as salt
and calcium from water. IX is a chemical process
that purifies water to an ultra-pure standard and is
mainly used in power and semiconductor companies.
“It is very powerful when a company has
these three water-treatment technologies,” DS says.“They can be used on their own, but a combination
of them can treat the most difficult waters.”
The company’s technologies are kept in-house,
which is something DS strongly believes in. “Over
the years, I have seen many other water-specialist
companies that have given up their in-house
production capabilities due to hard times,” DS says.
“No matter how tough the environment has
been, my business strategy has always been to hold
on to these capabilities. We have proven it was
the right decision because having these facilities
means we are able to manage many aspects of the
businesses: the speed, control of the quantities and
the innovation. We can control the costs so that we
can continue to be competitive.”
DS has big plans for MattenPlant in the future.
“I’m looking to build an extraordinary water
company,” he notes. This vision was bolstered by
investment from German company SKion in 2017.
SKion is owned by German entrepreneur Susanne
Klatten who is an anchor shareholder of BMW.
DS explains Susanne has been investing in water-
and wastewater-treatment companies since 2010.INNOVATE | Interview