Why Mlion Corporation abandoned profitable legacy products

There is an inherent conservatism to anything buried deep enough to support a city. For decades, the heavy infrastructure sector operated on a simple, heavy rhythm: massive steel mills produced standardised components, distributors hoarded them in sprawling yards, and contractors bought them while absorbing the volatile shocks of maritime logistics and fluctuating market prices. 

It was a transactional universe where value was measured purely in dollars per tonne. When Mlion Corporation entered this landscape in 2011 as a Singapore-centric startup with just US$2 million ($2.58 million) in revenue, it arrived in an ecosystem that had not meaningfully altered its posture in forty years.

Today, Mlion is a regional multinational operating across nine markets, stretching into Africa and the ambitious, dusty expanses of Saudi Arabia’s new megaprojects. Its mantle boasts accolades such as the Enterprise 50 award and Deloitte’s Best Managed Companies, further validated by a strategic minority investment from Nippon Steel Trading Corporation in 2024. 

Yet, its inclusion in this year’s Power List under the theme A New Form is not a reward for mere expansion. Rather, it recognises a profound structural alchemy. Under the leadership of its Chairman and CEO, Eric Leong, the company has refused to abandon the heavy centre of its work — the essential provision of structural steel — but has completely dismantled and reconstructed the form around it, shifting from a traditional vendor to a tech-enabled, circular ecosystem.

Dismantling the comfort zone

The transition from a secure regional player to an institutional disruptor required a willingness to court instability. In its formative years, Mlion discovered a highly profitable niche providing direct supply and tailored logistics to rising waterfront infrastructure projects, particularly in the Philippines. It was a comfortable existence, the kind that invites a company to coast indefinitely. 

However, the horizon suggested that complacency would eventually mean obsolescence.

“The decision that most radically altered our trajectory was the conscious choice to systematically dismantle our own comfort zone,” Leong reflects, tracing the inflexion point where linear growth no longer matched global macroeconomic shifts.

“Wiping out products that are currently generating revenue is a terrifying move for any business leader. But we saw that the market landscape was evolving toward immense complexity, and our old product lines no longer truly fit where the future opportunity was moving.”

To an outside observer, discarding profitable legacy product lines to chase sophisticated, technically demanding solutions looks less like strategic foresight and more like corporate self-sabotage. It required immense upfront capital and an appetite for regulatory friction.

Yet, the gamble redefined the company’s internal architecture. 

“Taking that risk demanded significant upfront capital, intense regulatory navigation, and an absolute willingness to embrace short-term friction,” he notes. “Ultimately, that bold leap was massively rewarded. By refusing to protect outdated revenue streams, we unlocked the ability to scale our operations to a US$250 million regional multinational. It proved to us that you cannot catch the next wave of growth if you are still desperately clinging to the safety of the old shore.”

The digital facade of heavy metal

Sceptics might argue that injecting digital terminology into heavy industry is merely a cosmetic exercise — a trendy veneer applied to an old-school trade. After all, a steel sheet pile remains a piece of industrial iron, regardless of the software used to track it. Leong counters this cynicism by pointing out that the chaos of a modern construction site cannot be solved by material alone.

“The most common misunderstanding is that people look at Mlion Corporation and assume we are just a traditional, old-school steel trading firm operating in a ‘sunset industry,’” he observes, characterising the bias that equates heavy machinery with low-tech operations. 

“Because our physical products — massive steel sheet piles, tubular piles, and crane rails — are buried deep underground or submerged beneath harbour waters, the business is often perceived as low-tech, purely transactional, and lacking in modern innovation.”

The reality behind the grit of the yards involves a sophisticated digital architecture designed to solve systemic supply chain fragmentation. Mlion introduced proprietary digital tools, such as GoTagID for RFID asset tracking and GoListID for managing reuse steel utilisation. 

“We are not just moving metal; we are providing the invisible, high-tech foundations that allow modern cities, ports, airports, and transport systems to safely expand.” This technological integration directly challenges the industry’s archaic reliance on manual logs and opaque tracking systems that routinely result in material waste and costly over-ordering.

The evolution of the paradigm

For a leader accustomed to the granular mechanics of early-stage entrepreneurship, this rapid evolution demanded an equally drastic personal recalibration. The transition from a hands-on founder who personally turned around operations in the Philippines to a strategic executive overseeing cross-border networks required learning the delicate art of delegation.

“Growth has demanded a profound personal evolution, forcing me to shift from a hands-on, deeply involved entrepreneur to a strategic, institutional leader who leads through empowerment,” Leong admits. “I was not fully prepared for the emotional weight of letting go and trusting others to execute my vision. Growth demanded that I build robust institutional frameworks and lean heavily on a strong leadership team and C-suite.”

This internal shift mirrors the broader transformation Mlion is attempting to enforce upon the wider steel sector. The industry remains tethered to the outdated assumption that sustainability and digitisation are expensive, optional luxuries rather than core commercial necessities. Traditional players still operate on the short-sighted belief that the lowest upfront material cost guarantees the most profitable outcome, ignoring long-term lifecycle costs and impending carbon penalties.

If Mlion’s trajectory serves as a blueprint, the ultimate destination is a completely transparent, zero-waste ecosystem for global infrastructure materials. “Our ultimate success will change that entirely,” Leong states, looking toward an infrastructure landscape where materials are tracked in real-time. “By seamlessly fusing our engineering solutions with digital innovations like GoTagID and GoListID, we will make it possible for project owners to track, audit, and optimise every single piece of structural steel in real-time across its entire lifecycle.”

This, Leong believes, opens a new paradigm: a truly circular economy for heavy infrastructure. Steel components from decommissioned or remodelled projects can be seamlessly catalogued, certified for structural integrity, and traded or repurposed for new developments without needing to be melted down into carbon-heavy new production. 

It is a vision that beautifully synthesises transformation with continuity, demonstrating precisely why Leong occupies its place on this year’s Power List.

Photography: Lawrence Teo
Art direction: Ashruddin Sani
Stylist: Dolphin Yeo
Grooming: Angel Gwee, using Chanel
Hair: Joanne Ong, The Parlour, using Kevin Murphy

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