2014 year end keynote.

3 years ago, and the changes along the way.

 The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

Some ideas and ways to save money on RENOvation! *Renotalk feature.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, I am going off topic a bit and talk a bit about Renovations.

This is a scary term, especially to those not design incline...

Also it may cost an arm and a leg, to some people both legs or both arms :X

An average HDB 5 room reno which is decent will only be at around $100k SGD.

So how to counter this?

It can be enjoyable to some, and tragic to some.

FOLLOW AT RISK.

Well I am a person whom enjoys visiting factories, mainly because I own one.

I love to see and understand how people run businesses from other sector.

I love to keep my options open when it comes to choices.

I am also a business owner so I understand sometimes how logistically expensive it can be when it comes to bringing it to your doorstep. (Convenience is expensive!)

What if I am not afraid of trouble and am able to handle difficult logistics?

How much can I save?

Lets see....

http://tilamking.blogspot.sg/2014/08/our-super-rocket-science-reliability.html

Remember my tiles ? :P 

I saved a huge load on these... Average $10/sqft. I saved imagine, I have 3,600sqft of space that I catered for.

$36,000 SAVED :)

This involved a lot of labor to move the tiles. But it was all well worth it.

Now.. The Lights...

The story of my lights was quite interesting. I wanted to source the kind where people can screw in the bulbs, thinking that it saves me money.

The average cost for the adapter is around $15 SGD, which is not expensive la honestly.

But thinking that I need 100pc of down lights I told myself why not go try source it in GZ.

So I did.

Day 1 - went to run round checking prices, get leads and get price point.

Day 2 - did all my comparison and couldn't find the adaptor for the bulbs... All I saw was LED lights everywhere every corner. So I fed up and just asked how much like a typical Singaporean and understanding that it was expensive. The average price of LED lights in SG is $18-20/ downlight.

I asked, "bro, how much is the LED that you guys sell?"

they replied, " how much V do you need for the downlight?"

I said, "small one is fine, maybe 6V good enough for me."

they replied, "oh this one having promotion, $X dollars."

I smiling inside secretly and trying to make a unimpressed face stating that it was still too expensive.

They went lower again :P

I said, "ON!"

hahaha, so that is how my lights story is. 

Moral of the story is, the adapter + bulb is more expensive then the LED downlights I intended to buy. Hence I gave up the idea of buying the adapter and just went with the LED instead.

Now my showroom is fully fitted with LED down lights + LED spotlights.

*****

These are some of the experiences I got through travelling and they are time consuming.

But importantly I enjoyed it.

These are legit ways of really saving substantially and can end up making you interested in the business :X haha.

more on 

http://www.renotalk.com/articles/529/Get-a-Designer-Home-on-a-29900-Renovation-Budget

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

Promotion vs an Honest price point? Which is actually better?

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow Singaporeans and supporters...

Many love to ask,

"Year end is coming, Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year all around the corner, are you guys having a promotion?"

Our answer is,

"No, unfortunately..."

I carried on and said,

"I grew up from the mattress industry, the moment I was born, I already saw the sales sign at shops and till today it never was taken down. Don't judge, you flip the papers, EVERY WEEK got promotion, you go EXPO, EVERY OTHER WEEK GOT EXPO, you go Courts, EVERYDAY GOT PROMO, you go Robinsons, EVERYDAY GOT PROMO."

I never believe that by paying $50,000 for a full page advertisement on the papers per day, got such thing as promotion.

I never believe that by joining EXPO, paying $10,000~$20,000 per week got promotion, and it is every other week, OH COME ON PLEASE...

So let me conclude, there is no promotion.

To me, if it is a promotion, it has to be surpluses so that it helps the shop clear out either old stuff or unwanted stuff, this is the definition of a genuine promotion.

And then...

TILAM KING emphasis on an Honest price point.

The whole concept of Tilam King is to basically run without traditional media, and run purely on social media with the help of word of mouth.

We in return make better mattresses for the amount of money you spent.

To us, this is meaningful because consumers are no longer stupid, you know what you are buying sooner or later.

We will improve as we go on, and we will continue to innovate and gather great component supply chains to collaborate with us so that we can give our customers the very best.

Now... understand why our promotion is our Honest Price Point.

More info

http://tilamking.sg/products.html

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

Our honorable Fabric supplier - Bekaert Textiles. Introducing "ADAPTIVE"

Dear Ladies and Gentleman and fellow Supporters,

The question, "is this mattress, cooling or not to sleep on?"

We get this 1000000000000000000000000000000000 times, and every time when we answer, it shocked people, because we love and enjoy bringing people into reality.

But remember, even if we are real about it, we still used industry leading companies to further enhance the quality.

Brands are made up of advertisements.

Products are made up of components.

If the component is good, the end product is good, period.

We will continue to produce highest quality products and offer the greatest value to our clients.

Remember, if it is not good, we won't do.

These are the Videos describing the company and the product. Enjoy ;)

We are so proud of associating ourselves with the best in Textiles. Period.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing.

- Tilam King

New site, clearer, sleeker, and still the same old Passionate approach.

Dear Ladies and Gentleman and fellow Singaporeans supporters,

Introducing our new look, our new identity, with the same Passionate Approach...

www.tilamking.sg

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

New showroom, New Benchmark, Same Mattresses, Same Passionate Approach.

Dear Fellow Singaporeans, friends and supporters...

Tilam King's showroom will set a statement, a benchmark, an icon of dedication not only to mattress shoppers, but also RENOvators.

We wish to be the benchmark for passionate doings.

We used our EFFORT in sourcing, and let the bottom line be the results.

The Reno work is lead by my designer, whom also spearhead the outcome of my webpage.

www.tilamking.sg

It is made with 100% understanding of what Tilam King represents.

We implement the philosophy of manufacturers,

"People only know how to use money to make things work."

"Manufacturers can turn components into a finished consumer item with style, which is worth your money." but this requires a hell lot of effort.

But we have the passion and drive to deliver our desired outcome.

From this...

To become like this, all in less then 3 weeks...

Now Tilam King's showroom is segregated into segments where each mattress series will have their own corner.

~~~

TK LUXURY SERIES

Our signature Natural Latex topper mattress that every Singaporean loves and desire.

Desired products now doesn't cost you a bomb, just because we care.

~~~

TK PREMIERE SERIES

NASA technology transformed into consumer grade products. Number 1 in the world for shock absorbing, comfy like no other. The mattress that cuddles you without disturbing your neighbor. *Unless he/she snores :P

~~~

TK DELUXE SERIES

The EPIC foam mattress. TOO many people think foam mattresses are not comfy. This is and always will be a statement product to defy all of such perception. If foam is wrong, probably most of our daily products are wrong. This is probably the best foam mattress possible.

~~~

ERGO SERIES

When it comes to SUPPORT, we believe that we listen enough from our fellow Chiropractors on which is best for your back and why. ;)

~~~

HOTEL COMFORT

The Hotel Experience, we at TILAM KING believe that by sharing the REAL Hotelier situation with our consumers will make our consumers smarter and not be fooled by what people says about hotel chains. This is our minimalist mattress, no bells and whistles, but can be matched with our Linen Set to garner the best Hotel Experience you can ever possibly get.

~~~

There you go our 5 easy to understand models.

Not forgetting that all of the settings are in 

MEDIUM SPRING SETTINGS.

We are able to tweak to: 

SOFT SPRING SETTING 

or 

HARD SPRING SETTING.

The setting of the springs can be seen in our showroom this time ;)

We believe that no matter you being 30kg or 150kg, you can enjoy the same range of mattresses.

We do not believe that you should select our mattresses models, 

WE BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD TWEAK IT TO SUIT YOU BEST.

As you can see, 

TILAM KING is serious about mattresses, 

we will CHANGE the mattress industry 

and how consumers look at mattress.

We wish to represent Passion at it's very best.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing.

- Tilam King

ETA:12/9/14 Renovation works, website, major revamp... Business still going on. #NowComeGotSpecial:P

Dear Ladies and Gentleman, fellow supporters,

We are still in RENO mode, but we are still open and business is still as usual.

We are so thankful and grateful that our clients,

~ despite the bad Renovating environment,

~ despite the dustiness,
~ despite the restrictive walking path. 

Still believed in us and still willing to buy regardless...

Such a mess ya~ :P

To all those that made their purchase during our RENO period, we wish to say a big Thank You and thanks for all the tolerance, we deeply appreciate it.

This is more or less some updates of our place, we are 70% done, with all the major works like flooring and lights all finished.

We have back our tempt space to view our mattresses.

We will be placing our mattresses to the actually layout spots soon.

We will be zoning our mattresses out and also put more sitting areas for crowded days.

We know it is very physiologically unpleasing and disruptive, when it comes to picking up your mattress at this period of time.

But hey, on a bright note, if you can enjoy it even when the environment is so lousy, it can only say one thing. The PRODUCT SPEAKS LOUDER THEN WORDS. :P

We still will continue to make good products, with the most recent ~ Linen Set.

During this period until we complete our showroom.

Every of our picture that is uploaded onto social media of your account, will be discounted on the products you buy.

This period we are willing to do more for our consumers as , for this period , everyone that even comes to witness our transformation will be deeply appreciated.

The dateline is 12/9/14. After that date we will be all ready and hopefully glamorous.

After my RENO works, I will blog about the cost that involves and how to DIY certain things so that you can save more money on RENO and make it beautiful.

Just some info, SPACE - 3,600sqft

Tons of headaches and heartaches, hopefully it all finish soon.

Our web layout still in BETA testing, hopefully all can finished soon.

Thanks once again for the support. #NowComeGotSpecial

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

Our SUPER ROCKET SCIENCE RELIABILITY TEST. 10000%

Dear fellow Supporters, Ladies and Gentleman,

Recently we had came to our senses and require to give our clients and supporters

RELIABILITY TEST...

Since the mattress industry is FULL of ROCKET SCIENCE...

We DID some test...

As you all know that we recently are renovating...

Me being the thrifty guy, imported my own set of ceramic tiles. 7 tons worth of it.

YES, 7 TONS ~ 7,000 KG.

We used our pocketed springs as the base to cushion the tiles, so that the tiles will not break inside the container.

These are the pictures of the tiles in our container.

You can see the springs sprung back to its original shape halfway. 

Another crucial picture angle.

MASSIVE WEIGHT ON OUR SPRINGS.

1 piece of ceramic tiles 600x900 = 15kg

1 pack = 3 piece = 15kg x 3 = 45kg

We have 160 packs.

 160 x 45kg = 7,200 KG

Look how poor thing our springs are.

SQUISHED 100%

RETURNED 100%

Well we also put a lot of protective foam around the tiles, hence it looks messy.

But here is our ROCKET SCIENCE PROOF about our commitment to RELIABILITY.

Some more we finished off by JUMPING on our SQUISHED springs. I weight about 90kgs.

There you go...

ANOTHER COMPLICATING AND BRAINSTORMING RESEARCH BACKED BY PROFESSORS ALL AROUND THE WORLD. - EVEN OUR LOCAL MPs WILL KI QIU!

SUBSTANCE OVER MARKETING.

YOU DECIDE.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing.
- Tilam King

TILAM KING is revamping. *Blog view almost 200,000 views *Facebook 5,700 LIKES *Thousands of satisfied customers. *Less then 10 Unsatisfied customers.

Dear Supporters and fellow friends,

Tilam King had gone a long way... So long that we have built upon a IMPOSSIBLE BUSINESS MODEL, and made it POSSIBLE.

We had made a CHALLENGING INDUSTRY, into a TRANSPARENT INDUSTRY.

We had bring JOY into understanding MATTRESSES, which was then IMPOSSIBLE to understand.

We made it happen just simply because we love our industry more then anyone else possible.

We start by saying that we do have unhappy customers. We ain't perfect. Mostly are bed-frames delay or installation problems, which are then fixed by my suppliers. BUT THE HEATED ones are mostly on LOGISTICS.

:( LOGISTICS :(

You noticed the sad smiley face in the front and back of the words. I honestly tell you guys we do not know how to improve our LOGISTICS. If we engage a software team to implement, our current guys will not be able to understand and use. If we hire new people, not many young Singaporeans will honor and respect this position long term, mostly because MOVER companies are earning way moreeee then delivery teams of our sort of companies. We only can pray and hope that this kind of situation do not often cause hiccups.

Unfortunate.

*We open suggestions on how to improve our logistics - tilamking@asia.com

We like to hear from you ;)

*****

Okay, enough of the unhappy things, lets move on to something more interesting.

We are RENOVATING :D:D:D

First and foremost we are redoing our flooring. We are committed to make our showroom more presentable and to further showcase our commitment to our mattresses.

Yea... I know chinese 7 month is around the corner, which we are intending to take this time to do our RENO. 

All our lights will be Energy Saving LEDs, nothing fluorescent is used to reduce heat and energy usage.

Do note that we will be open during our RENO process. It maybe dirty, and untidy, but we wish to share the process with all our clients and supporters.

We are very excited to bring the new look to our future and our supporting clients.

We also will launch our new website really soon in August.

We hope to T.O.P everything to be nice and proper before mid September.

We will never stop 

innovating, 

improving and 

inspire 

our clients about our mattresses.

We are not a brand, 

we are a platform merely to bring the very best components together.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing,

- Tilam King

Our Company Brief, Right on track... Thank you supporters.

Dear Supporters and fellow Singaporeans,

Wow, we are already more then half year through 2014...

The intention of this year was to improve ourselves better,

1. Growing our team.

2. Get a nice webpage.

3. Minor revamp in our showroom.

Make our company look better overall.

Seriously, it is not easy.

We are not the typical company that just splurge money and engage the best designer to make things happen.

We want our package to improve but yet not affect our bottom line which is to provide affordable mattresses to everyone.

There are so many merchants out there spending close to $20-50 even $100 thousands a month on top locations, best advertising spots, and hire the best sales person to seal the deal.

These are what we never believe in.

I remembered sitting around a table of senior furniture business owners, we were talking about running our kind of business. 

I mentioned that, "product was the most important, not the sales person, not the plan, not the marketing efforts, due to the fact that we are living in a more and more transparent world."

but 3 groups slammed and said, "you know Tony, it is all about the sales person. You got the best product, but the sales person cannot sell for you also no point. You know today we live so well, is because of our sales people. Without them we will not have today." 

I said again, "if you rely on the sales person, he will go off at his peak, just like how a banker jumps around in different banks. They are ultimately working for you. As the CEO of the company, you need to make sure that the product sells by itself, therefore hiring anyone will feel easier and loyalty will be stronger."

1 said, "different la you... we take care of our staff so our staff follow us a long time. You business model also different because you use social media presence. Our business model different, if customer come, they cannot run away one, if not how to cover our overheads and expenses?"

I smiled, and continued drinking my beer.

(No offence to whom you are if you are reading, I just thought this is a very good and strong ideology to share with my fellow supporters on how the industry thinks.)

*****

Look at what we have so far... that will be implementing real soon.

This is what we are talking about~ 

Probably the BEST LOOKING MATTRESS SITE in 2014. Period.

Not because we are better, 

not because we spend more, 

just because we love and respect our industry more then others.

*****

These products represent our company.

80/80 tc Linen Set

Those that understand Linens, we call upon you to judge us.

We have the best Linens the entire Hotel Industry adds together. (Cotton category, don't compare vs silk or others, just compare Cotton to Cotton)

*****

TK Luxury Series

Our flagship that represents 

what Natural Latex hybrid with Individual Pocketed Springs means.

Thousands have witness and are using happily.

Feel our passion when it comes to making the best mattress possible.

*****

TK Premiere Series

Our aim to make the Sexiest mattress ALIVE. We did it.

Memory foam hybrid with Individual Pocketed Springs feels simply amazing and astonishingly sexy.

We have plenty of couples using it and feeling sexy ;)

HEHE.

*****

TK Deluxe Series

Our aim to let consumers know that Foam mattress can feel sooooo good, despite what people say.

Our carefully selected Foam hybrid with Individual Pocketed Springs hits the right spot.

Feel it, and think otherwise about Foam. ;)

*****

Ergo Series by TILAM KING

We listen to our fellow Chiropractors, what they have to say about preventing sore spines.

This is our ANSWER.

Who says a Back Friendly Mattress needs to be in the high thousands.

We made it less then $1k, yes we did.

The FACE of the less then SGD$1k Mattress to represent.

*****

Hotel Comfort by TILAM KING

Guess who is in this Hotel room ;)

We finally made it, painful, troublesome, but worth it.

Our Minimalist mattress. 

Meant to be paired up or used alone with or without accessories.

Great value for all our consumers.

*****

There it is, our breakdown on our product ranges, and what to expect in the coming months.

We thank for the great support and love that have been constantly showered upon us.

Those that gave us great comments.

Those that shared our Facebook posts.

Those that LIKEd us.

Those that DRAG their friends over to our shop, and even help us sell it to their friends. (u know who you are) :P

Those that encourage us.

Those that just simply are so awesomely sporting and generous.

Also...

Those other peeps that constantly say our bad things, we love you as well. Just because when you spend the effort to say our bad things, you make people remember our existence.

Those that flame us online, I have to thank you most, because you made my message even clearer. 

We love haters and appreciate them. Without you Tilam King will not exist.

We will continue to make good mattresses, 

we will continue to speak only the truth about mattresses, 

we will continue to only work with low operating cost so that we can deliver the best possible mattress to you and your family.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing.

- Tilam King

MYTH BUSTERS - 5 Star HOTEL mattresses.

Dear fellow Supporters and fellow Singaporean,

8 out of 10 peeps love to ask me this question.

"tony, i was at so and so hotel in so and so, the feel very shiok ar... is it true that S is supplying them? and if so, how come cannot buy? and how come they only say they supply, and those that they display are all above $6,000 just because it is in that particular hotel"

These my friends, are a total bunch of 10000% BS crap.

Hear me out, put yourself in the shoes of a 1000 room Hotel tycoon. ( I know it is hard to understand )

Trust me, the richer the owner, the more anal when it comes to discussion with collaborating with them. ( this sounds very easy and simple to understand, I KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT I TALKING ABOUT. :P )

So do you think the Hotel will even spend $6,000/mattress/room?

Touch your heart and ask yourself. A lot of people actually knows the answer for this and often forget.

Good, after you understand this simple analogy, lets go on to the package.

What actually comes in contact with the clients are really the linens.

Most consumers do not spend above $400 dollars for their linens. Therefore cannot achieve the feel of the total package.

If you google W Hotel shop, Westin shop, and all the nice names...

*abstracted from W hotel site

*abstracted from Westin hotel site.

You will realize that in America, they are more open minded and willing to share different ideas and such.

Same like what we believe, we also hope to...

BRINGING THE HOTEL EXPERIENCE HOME

For TILAM KING, we have realized that Linen industry is so simple. The only complication is that fabric need to bought in 3,000m MOQ, other then that it is so easy to make them.

So this is my take on Linens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_textile_measurement

read this,

Cotton count

• Cotton count is another measure of linear density. It is the number of hanks (840 yd or 770 m) of skein material that weigh 1 pound (0.45 kg). Under this system, the higher the number, the finer the yarn. In the United States cotton counts between 1 and 20 are referred to as coarse counts. A regular single-knit T-shirt can be between 20 and 40 count; fine bed sheets are usually in the range of 40 to 80 count. The number is now widely used in the staple fiber industry.
• Hank: a length of 7 leas or 840 yards (770 m)

My linen range is 80/80 count.

Most 5 star hotels are only at the 60/40 count, 80/80 are normally for suites and all the way up to presidential suites.

And yes so the price...

Due to the fact that I cannot be flexible with the 3,000m yet, I can only sell as a whole package.

2 x Down Alternative Pillows
2 x 80/80 Pillow cases
1 x 80/80 Fitted sheet
1 x Mattress Protector
1 x Down Alternative Featherbed
1 x Quilt blanket
1 x 80/80 Quilt cover

All these for : Queen - $899
                      King -   $999

You got to enjoy the good Linen then you know why is it priced this way.

No, you do not get good packaging.

No, you do not get a prestigious brand, other then the 
AWESOMENESS HOTEL QUALITY BY TILAM KING

No, you probably cannot find such fine linen in Singapore departmental stores.

But you get the best possible fabric in the industry.

You got to feel it to understand it.

If you touch these and still have better stuff then these, PLEASE let me know.

In my experience, these are one of the best Cotton Sateen I have ever touched and worked with.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing.
- Tilam King

TILAM KING is now PLUS-SIZE friendly... You know what am I talking about ;)

Dear fellow Supporters n fellow Singaporeans,

It is simply frustrating to see how unthoughtful people can get sometimes. Not because they want to, it is because the idea and concept do not work out right. Hence no one actually targets at this kind of niche.

Let me elaborate...

The mattress industry is full of confusion when it comes to different models and firmness. There is a joker that came out of no where to give a firmness scale, without even mentioning about how heavy he is and what kind of preferences he likes.

The stereotype of  consumers are, plus size people will have to change their mattresses every often like 1-2 years of usage. Because the springs get more worn out then normal body weight do.

Honestly... then who makes something for the plus size crowd?

No one, yet.

The solutions we normally hear are; 

"you take the firmer one loh..."

"you take the more expensive one loh..." - anyone that intro that to you deserve a spanking.

"you buy cheaper then change frequently loh..." - most stick to this, which is not wrong.

"you just see what you like in the showroom and make do with the firmness."

When I say plus size, I mean people around 100kg and above. (Normally a mattress of medium setting will soften or degenerate faster if no proper reinforcements are in place.)

There is no one size fit all mattress hence the different firmness and different models.

What if we simplify things for you ;)

What if we actually care? What if we can make the kind of mattress that you like to make it last at least 6 years or more of use. (Normally plus size people face lifespan issues on the mattress)

The thing is that after realising that the concept of 

"bringing our flexibility to our consumers", 

which is 

"if you think the mattress is too soft we make it firmer, if you think the mattress is too hard we make it softer"

We realise that we actually can automatically cater to plus size peeps WITH NO EXTRA COST?

 We simply swap to a more durable spring set up depending on comfort level you wish to create and we work from there.

WHATTT?!?!?!?!!?!?!!??! NO EXTRA COST?

All the worries and troubles ARE GONE!

So YES,

We are updating our BLOG with a new concept just to let our consumers know that we care,

hence we KEEP IT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Everyone loves a good old free upgrade ;)

LIVE IT BIG, LIVE IT WELL.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing.

- Tilam King