One of the major after-effects of rising global industrialization is growing pollution. Our natural resources have become increasingly contaminated over the years, resulting in various calamities, such as rising cases of chronic diseases, climate change, global warming, and many more.
The growing awareness and demand for safeguarding our environment and sustainability has made organizations opt for environmental testing, assessment, and consultancy services to ensure that their operations don’t have any hazardous effect on the surrounding environment. Even governments all over South-East Asia have started to realize the importance of sustainability and have subsequently increased legislative measures to prevent environmental degradation.
Established in 2019, Axiom Laboratory is a Singapore based emerging environmental testing, assessment, and consultancy company with clients in Singapore, the rest of Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, serving a wide range of industries, such as wafer fab manufacturing, marine, oil & gas, petrochemicals, chemicals, and pharmaceutical industries. Despite being a small and young firm, Axiom Laboratory has been able to capture a relatively large market share due to its ability to solve novel and complex cases and is considered one of the top 10 environmental testing companies in Singapore.
A Niche Service Portfolio
Coming to the service portfolio, the major flagship service offered by Axiom Laboratory is Cleanroom Testing, an incredibly important test that protects the production of various highly sensitive products, such as microelectronic devices, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment. Leveraging its expertise and knowledge about such testing requirements and procedures, the firm monitors airborne micro-contaminants in a clean room as part of this test to ensure that relevant test specifications and test standards are met.
Another niche service offered by Axiom Laboratory is greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions testing, where the firm helps its clients effectively monitor the amount of GHGs they release into the environment and then take further steps to mitigate the pollution levels.
The firm is the first lab in Singapore to do GHG emissions testing for the wafer fab, petroleum & petrochemical, and marine industries. This is in relation to the series of laws that the government of Singapore has introduced to comply with international global warming and climate change guidelines.The Carbon Pricing Act (CPA) and its accompanying Regulations came into operation on 1st January 2019.
The Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) requirements are specified in the Carbon Pricing (Measurement, Reporting and Verification) Regulations 2018. Under the Carbon Pricing Act, the responsibility rests with any industrial facility that emits direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equal to or above 2,000 tCO2e annually to register as a reportable facility and to submit an Emissions Report annually.
Apart from these specialized services, the firm also offers a wide range of environmental testing, assessment, and consultancy services, such as Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), Health, Safety and Environment Monitoring, and other value-added environmental services.
Ensuring High-Quality Service for Clients
Being accredited under the Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) for ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in environmental testing, Axiom Laboratory imposes strict guidelines regarding its on-site testing procedures. Before going on-site, the firm ensures the well-functioning of its equipment. Even before marketing itself to its clients, Axiom Laboratory undergoes a rigorous auditing process to ensure its credibility. According to Chang Hee Kuan, Managing Director of Axiom Laboratory, “We like to engage our clients via face-to-face meetings as much as possible to build a rapport with them. This practice has allowed us to maintain fruitful connections with our client base even after the completion of the entire assessment and testing at their site, prompting them to engage our services repeatedly. Axiom Laboratory values integrity, quality and delivers professionalism to achieve customer satisfaction".
Axiom laboratory aims to be The market leader in Singapore In cleanroom micro contaminant Testing & greenhouse gas Emissions testing
The client engagement process at Axiom Laboratory starts with clients enquiring with the firm regarding the specific tests based on their requirements. Based on the novelty of the required test, the firm either arranges for a site visit or sets a date for the test to be conducted immediately after sending a quotation. After completion of the relevant research, Axiom Laboratory then schedules and completes the test at the particular site. Subsequently, the firm also sends a detailed test report regarding the test results obtained and proposes remediation steps in case of test failure.
Geographical Expansion & Future Roadmap
Starting in 2019, initially, it was a bit challenging for Axiom Laboratory to market itself amongst the big players in the environmental industry. Later, the firm had to deal with the pandemic and its measures at the workplace, which hampered its ability to procure a greater clientele. However, the firm has taken all the challenges into stride and has grown exponentially, with a client base comprising of companies from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea.
Axiom Laboratory also provides services to various multinational companies, such as Exxon Mobil in the petrochemical industry, Keppel and Sembcorp Marine in the marine industry, and System of Silicon Manufacturing (SSMC) in the Wafer Fab industry. As part of its future roadmap, Axiom Laboratory aims to be the market leader in Singapore in cleanroom micro contaminant testing and greenhouse gas emissions testing. In the next five years, the firm also has plans to double its client base. Furthermore, Axiom Laboratory has plans to expand its service portfolio further to offer a wide range of environmental products, such as eco-waste management systems, plastic-wood-waste recycling systems, along with waste-to-energy modules to its clients.
Chang Hee Kuan, Principal Consultant & Managing Director, Axiom Laboratory
One of the most prominent environmentalists in Singapore, Chang Hee Kuan has successfully headed three different MNC laboratories as division head of environmental services, prior to starting up Astar Laboratories in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as Axiom Laboratory in Singapore.