theceomagazine.com | 107to the test equipment industry where he
became the CEO of Credence Systems. All
up, he spent 25 years in Silicon Valley and
left with an impressive 13 US patents under
his belt. Looking for fresh inspiration and
a new challenge, Lavi was excited by the
opportunities he could see in Asia.
“Asia is a rapidly growing area in the
semiconductor manufacturing
industry,” he explains.
“A lot of companies
are moving their
operations into this
region, so I saw- especially in
Singapore and
China, where
most of our
business is –
fantastic
opportunities for
growth.” Lavi says he
also thought that he could
bring his own skills as a life
coach to the company to help executives
with this surge into the Asian market, and
in training Asian executives to be more
comfortable working in the broader
international context. He could also feed
his passion for innovation, as Singapore
in particular is interested in advanced
manufacturing, leading Lavi to establish what
is now the largest 3D printing centre in
South East Asia. “Plus, I really love the
culture and the people of Asia, so it was a
good fit for me personally as well,” he adds.
It turned out to be a good gamble:
UCT’s growth in Asia was both swift and
substantial. “In the past five years, our
business in Singapore has grown tenfold, from
a relatively small operation to what is now
a multimillion-dollar operation. We have had
to hire hundreds of people. And in China
we grew by around 50 per cent as well.
“Hiring the best possible people and
training them is actually our key to success.
This enables everything because, normally,
when you have that kind of people on board,
they hire more good people under them, and
“In the past
five years, our
business in
Singapore has
grown tenfold.”
so on. There’s a tremendous effort put into
coaching them, and most of my staff in Asia
are assigned a personal coach.
“I’m a certified coach myself. I’m not
talking about executive coaching, like how
to put a presentation together. Personal
coaching is more about expanding your
personality’s horizon to be able to deal with
people from different cultures, from various
countries. For us, it’s critical. So we invest a
tremendous amount of effort in training and
coaching staff in China, Singapore, the
Philippines, wherever we have operations,
to be able to bridge any cultural boundaries
there might be.
“We see that when we get into heated
debates about production processes and
technological problems, where previously
people may have received feedback that they
didn’t like and took things personally, they
now manage to see it as an attempt to
improve the company and can focus on that.
It really elevates our technical day-to-day
work to a much more productive level.”
The investment in coaching is clearly
paying dividends and, Lavi says, the teams
appreciate the effort UCT is making in
both personal and career development.
He understands that it may not be the
last job they’ll ever have, but while they
are at UCT they are repaying the company
with extra effort.
The coaching has been a challenge,
particularly as the business continues to
expand in Asia, but Lavi adds that it’s
important that the international footprint
doesn’t disrupt the quality or uniformity of
the service at UCT. He wants the business
to be perceived as one big entity that just
happens to have different manufacturing
facilities around the globe.
Oh, and 3D printing. It appeals to the
innovator in him. “3D printing is cool and
challenging, because there are so many more
unknowns,” he says.Interview | INNOVATE