The late Mr. Tan Soon Heng, a native Teochew from the southern province of Guangdong, China founded CLAYTAN in 1920 when he came to the then Malaya during the 1st World War at the turn of the 20th Century. Armed with the craftsmanship of a generations-old tradition in ceramics, he started a cottage workshop in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.
1935 saw the birth of Johore Pipe Company (?JPC?) when the late Mr. Tan moved south to Ayer Hitam, Johor to set up a small plant of 20 persons to produce subsoil pipes for the Public Works Department and the Health Department in Malaya and Singapore, and latex cups for rubber estates in the southern region.