Taking over the family business wasn’t always on the cards for Transgold Managing Director Keith Yong.
But, after nearly 20 years at the helm, he’s transformed the business into a national leader in several car-component categories. Keith started his career in the IT sector, darting between a few companies after university.
At the time, his father owned Transgold, but admitted to Keith he was eager to retire and offered the business to Keith, if he’d have it.
“It’s a bit strange, but I’ve never really been a car person,” he said. “But I’m a problem-solving person, and in a way running a business was the ultimate problem to be solved.”
Down to it
Keith hopped aboard Transgold in 2006. It was no cushy induction by any means, with Keith’s father putting him to work in the trenches.
“When I first joined the business, I tried every job for about a year,” Keith said. “I answered phones, took orders, worked in the warehouse for about six months.”
Keith quickly noticed more efficient ways to operate the business’ warehouse, such as cataloguing and numbering pallets and pallet bays.
“It was second nature for someone in the IT business to have a very organised system for doing things, but it wasn’t second nature for us at the time,” he remembered.
Eventually, it came time for Keith to take over Transgold, which presented even more hurdles for him to conquer. While it wasn’t always easy, Keith has loved every challenge that’s come his way as he’s helped grow Transgold’s offerings.
“I’ve felt I’ve made an impact on the business, and that every year it’s improved since I’ve been here,” he said. “I think that’s probably why I’ve stayed on for quite some time.”
Bringing the goods Transgold’s catalogue has evolved substantially since Keith took charge. While the company’s main product for some time was brake pads, Keith said he wanted to move away from such a saturated market. Transgold pivoted to more specialised parts and components, most notably engine mounts.
“That was our chance to make a difference,” Keith said. Transgold was able to corner certain markets of the car parc and find success.
“We were finally recognised as being expert enough for major distributors such as Burson Auto Parts,” said the Sydneysider.
“When we attracted their attention, I think that showed me that we were sufficiently strong in this particular niche.”
Transgold has since been able to find its footing in various component markets, including rubber suspension parts. The company introduced a selection of quality rubber parts six years ago, and already this portion of the business has grown 10-fold.
“It was something that seemed obvious, but no one was doing it,” Keith said.
Keith said there’s fewer part markets than ever to specialise in. However, he added that Transgold is looking into a couple of promising areas as it continues to firm up is position in the Australian market.
“I think the rubber suspension category has more in it,” he said.