This is the only company which I had attended so many training in all my working experiences as shown above. When I started my career as Construction Engineer under Engineering Department in Mobil Oil (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (MOMSB) in July 1994, the company had been established for more than 20 years in Malaysia while Mobil itself was founded in U.S.A. almost 100 years ago. MOMSB's headquarter office was based in Wisma Goldhill, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur with other branches and terminals throughout the country like LPG bottling plant in Batu Caves and some main fuel terminals in Port Klang, Selangor and Kuantan, Pahang. The company was medium size but had to compete with a few giant companies like Petronas and Shell. However, it had almost 3,000 staff all around the world.
Our mission in the first year I joined MOMSB was to stream as many stations as possible with a target of 10 stations per year. I was in charge of Northern Region from Kuala Selangor, Selangor to Perlis. I managed to construct new stations in Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Perlis while reconstructed some stations in Sg Besar, Ipoh and Seberang Perai. There were other engineers in charge of Central, Southern and East Coast Region.
The duty of construction engineer was to coordinate and monitor the design, planning, tender and contract preparations, implementation and supervision of the construction of service stations and authority submission including obtaining approvals for development order, building plans, authority inspection and certificate of fitness. The supervision works involved the testing and commissioning of underground tanks and fuel dispenser pumps. I personally attended to new stations at Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Penang; Permatang Pauh and Permatang Batu in Seberang Perai; Jalan Mergong, Alor Star in Kedah and Jalan Kemajuan, Kangar in Perlis.
After working for two years, I was promoted to a senior position as Senior Construction Engineer. There were two junior engineers assisting me on the working assignments. During this period, I managed to assist them to complete three major stations in Seremban, Bukit Beruntung and Bangi. At one time we managed to overtake the number of stations streamed for the year more than our competitors like Petronas and Shell i.e. 12 stations completed and streamed in a year! Our strong commitment and teamworks were the main factors contributed to the success.Since MOMSB's policy was not to station any personnel in a single department, I was then transferred to Retail Fuel Department as a Territory Manager. I was in charge of three stations in Selangor and all Mobil service stations in the East Coast of Malaysia i.e. Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan. Although I was from technical background, it was an excellent experience to be exposed in the retail business. I learned on the preparation of overall business planning, marketing strategy, sales target, cash flows, ROI, service station management, dealer's motivation and training, customer relations, and establishment of corporate identity recognition in the marketplace.
I picked up the new career and job assignment so fast where I proved to the management that I managed to meet the sales target for the year. One of my stations even won the first place in the yearly contest to select the Service Station of the Year. The station was located in Kuantan, Pahang.
Working in MOMSB also gave me an opportunity to see other countries. When I attended the Retail Entry Level course, I was based in Singapore for two solid months staying in Shangri La Hotel. I also went for another training in Hong Kong for almost a week where I took the chance to visit Guangdong in Southern China.
Due to economic turmoil in 1998 and world wide practice of merging big companies, Mobil was finally agreed to merge with Esso in Malaysia. They are now called Exxon Mobil Berhad. I finally left the company in 1999 when most of the staff were offered Voluntary Separation Scheme.
