REALME XT: Winning over millennials with ‘superphone’

October 30, 2019

SMARTPHONES have almost lost their use as actual telephones and have become image capturing, video transmission devices, gaming consoles and music players.

Case in point, is the launch of the Realme XT, with a price point of P16,990 and a quad camera set up with a capture resolution of 64MP, the new phone is expected to keep Realme’s successful charge across the mid-price cellphone market at speed.

It is not easy to get into the top 10 in the global smartphone brands list. Dominated by Apple and Samsung, the list is based on sales and deliveries. While the top five brands include other Chinese players, Realme’s achievement to slot in 7th place, displaced other brands have been more prevalent in the past.

To ramp up to that rank requires shipping out over 10 million units globally. It meant a 808 percent year-on-year growth of the brand as measured by the international analytics firm Counterpoint’s in its Q3 2019 report.

“Getting to the 7th rank worldwide required a lot of work, but I think that the right strategy got us there. We changed the game and disrupted the market in many places in the world.

And the way we did it is to pay particular attention to how we can change how that market reacts to our products. In the Philippines we are secure in our space with the youth market and the mid-price point segment. We already have a community here we call the Realme Squad. In lifestyle and in gaming we have made headway and we know this is where we are doing very well,” Austine Huang, Marketing Director, Realme said.

A global downturn in smartphone shipments has affected other brands.

Realme, however has grown exponentially. It is a young brand, 18 months old globally and only 10 months old in the Philippines. It knows that the product is only the face of the brand, what goes on behind it is what delivers success.

“We realize that in the very competitive nature of the smartphone market, every brand can have quad cameras, fast processors, high resolution screens and powerful batteries. What we realized is the success point is how to be able to package the high end phones features with a price that is disruptive,” Eason de Guzman, Marketing Lead, Realme Philippines explained, pointing out that price is not the only determinant of sales success.

The disruption Huang and De Guzman talked about was expressed in one way from its Dare to Leap initiative, a way that the brand connected firmly to its market. Its wide and impressive product lineup covered most of the market segments, from entry level to upper mid-range pricing, making it both acceptable and affordable to a wider audience.

This wider audience is surprisingly a young one too.

Realizing this fact, the brand collaborated with Mobile Legends and created one of the most disruptive ways of building the market–taking advantage of 20 million gamers on that platform and communicating to 8 million of them directly.

“We are running with on the Mobile Legends gaming platform for the second season and it has been a way for us not only to showcase the technological capabilities of our phones–in terms of processing speeds, memory, screen resolution and battery life. This is another disruption we are very proud of because it has enabled us to connect directly to our youthful and youthfully-minded market to show them the power of our products. Realme phones exceeded the challenge,” De Guzman pointed out.

Focusing on the 64MP, quad camera set up of the Realme XT meant getting specialists and photography experts to test and validate the camera’s prowess.

National Geographic’s Chief Photography Officer Andy Huey tested a XT and declared how impressive the smartphone’s 4-camera set up was–capturing intricate details and accurate colors with its 64MP Samsung-made image processor using a Tetracell 4-in-1 pixel technology, that breaks photons in four adjacent pixels into a single unit. The result are captures of over 9000 x 6000 pixels on the Ultra 64MP mode. That resolution size provides extra fine and crisp details.

Realme also collaborated with iconic Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa to come up with more distinct models and designs for smartphones. The designer works on the products’ color, materials and finish experimenting on designs that apply to its phones across various price segments.

“The XT is a superphone–which is designed to meet the lifestyles of the young and aspirational Filipinos. We are confident that the XT can embolden young Filipinos to achieve their goals and dreams, whether photography, e-gaming or creating content. The XT is ready to go the extra mile with them with a long life battery and powerful processor,” Huang concludes.

HINO FLATFORMER AT THE 46TH TOKYO MOTOR SHOW: Driverless, multi-personality, transporter of the future

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 29, 2019

IT looks more like a skateboard than a truck. A driverless electric vehicle–which is essentially a low-riding cargo bed, which can accommodate various functional modules–anything from a passenger bus to a beauty shop to a cargo container, and can be swapped when necessary.

This is exactly how Hino Motors, one of Japan’s leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles, presented its “Flatformer” concept vehicle. On display at Hino’s booth as the Tokyo Motor Show 2019, it is most innovative execution, and is listed as the “battery-electric model truck of the future.”

With a cargo hold composed of stacked storage boxes that could be sorted out using a swapping mechanism that works like a kid’s slide puzzle, the system would help parcel delivery companies to sort, load and deliver goods more efficiently. But that is just one concept.

Multi-passenger mini-transporters could be the future of the Philippine jeepney. The next generation food truck, a mobile health center, a moving call center, an on-the-scene hospital during disasters or even a mobile massage and spa center. The possibilities are endless because the Flatformer is basically an open-source design.

Its skills and strength comes from two main components.

First, is the unique rigid chassis that cleverly carries the whole weight of the vehicle while, spreading the weight of its load over the width of the frame.

The second is the compact modular technology of the drivetrain wherein entire components reside within the wheel housing. This innovative idea takes away component parts such as the axle, leaf springs, shock absorbers, and driveshaft from taking up needed space.

Instead, a single part with the electric motor, suspension and brakes, and electronic controls enclosed, are mounted to the sides of the frame to create the fully flat chassis.

“The idea is to produce only one form of truck bed upon which businesses can change or customize what they put on it depending on what they need or what services they offer at that moment. It is like changing the personality of the vehicle when it is demanded by the customer. Also, there is no need for a driver, thus no need for a front cab. It will all be autonomous,” Kunihiko Watanabe of Hino’s Future Project Group, Corporate Design Division explained.

The FlatFormer is seen as the innovative solution that can change the concept of cargo mobility. Since it will be made available based on a subscription, instead of a leasing model, companies need not purchase it, but instead pay Hino a fee for the use of the vehicle when needed. This cuts down the cost of maintenance to almost nothing. And like any normal subscription service, payment is per use.

“The idea of the Flatformer is for greater efficiency. It will make the mobility of people and goods, not also faster, but also relatively cheaper because of lower capital outlay over the long term. Since Hino owns the running machine, there is no need to invest in the hardware itself,” Watanabe explains.

It can evolve mobility to whatever is needed at a particular moment–an important characteristic of the digital age where both personalization and immediate gratification are success determinants. Operated entirely by a connected network, possibly a Cloud service, the movement of each vehicle can be tracked, traced and run autonomously. It can even be programmed in conjunction with other Flatformers on the road.

Since it is a mobile space that delivers services directly it can also be reconfigured quickly if there is a big demand for transporting people such as during rush hour, for example, more can be deployed to do that service.

For commuters, it can also be the “last mile” carrier that can hook up with bigger buses or even trains. Theoretically, passengers can step on-board the mini-bus connected by a small platform even while in motion.

“This is the excellent value that the Flatformer can provide. It becomes efficient in cost and operation so that businesses can focus on making customers happy, or providing good services. Hino’s presentation of the Flatformer shows our vision of creating a sustainable and people-focused future by reinventing the concept of mobility to deliver new value,” Watanabe added.

Though the production versions of the Hino Flatformer is most likely years away, Watanabe says that the demands of the market both in Japan and globally can accelerate the development of autonomous driving transporters and Hino is ready when that happens.

ANA purchase process enhanced after Oracle Cloud migration

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 23, 2019

AIRLINES should always be in the Cloud.

Japan’s All-Nippon Air, better known as ANA, is a premium airline service. It circles the world daily, carrying some 47 million passengers annually, making it the largest airline in Japan and one of the world’s leading carriers. It has consistently kept its 5-star rating for seven consecutive years and was recently ranked by Skytrax World Airlines Awards as the 3rd best airline in the world.

As Tokyo will host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, an increase is expected in visitors to the country. Estimates further put Japan as a top tourist destination and passengers are expected to increase to 60 million per year by 2030. This puts a lot of pressure on all Japanese airlines, ANA included.

“This presents an opportunity to showcase our world-class services on a global stage,” Manabu Yada, Manager, Corporate Office Procurement, Material & Services at ANA said.
In 2016, the airline adopted Oracle Exadata Database Machine to meet the increased new bookings for international inbound flights because of strong tourism campaigns of the Japanese government. It also used other Oracle services that an integrated service platform for their internal systems, such as reservations and mileage management.

Oracle helped deliver the needed seamless customer service, such as airport lounge service and mileage claims from Star Alliance airline partners, by using Oracle Data Integrator to extract and load massive volumes of data into existing internal applications and transform the data in Oracle Exadata.

Thus it was not surprising that ANA looked towards Oracle to help streamline its invoice approval process and manage its suppliers via automation and social collaboration.

ANA implemented Oracle ERP Cloud to be able to stand out in the crowded airline industry.

This standing out is finding a way to keep customers happy and costs as low as possible.

“The challenge we faced was finding a way to ensure our customers could trust they’re getting the best service in the market, while we remain profitable. To adopt to changes in a global business environment and make important business decisions fast, we needed to develop a system to visualize all procurement processes, comply with complex regulations, and optimize all procurement costs,” Yada said.

At the implementation of Oracle ERP Cloud, the airline hopes to achieve a 5 percent reduction in procurement costs when it is implemented in 88 branches globally.

“Oracle ERP Cloud covers procurement processes and reduces required transactions. It also provides the tools to improve efficiency and productivity of our procurement team. In addition, it shows us the history of all transactions so we can reduce costs and risks of all processes and increase profitability, while staying compliant with all related regulations,” Yada said.

Moreover, Yada said that the Oracle ERP Cloud seamlessly works with its current platforms further enhancing its services.

Creation of digital cities accelerated by Bentley Systems

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 22, 2019

SINGAPORE — October 2019 — Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twin cloud services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today presented its new digital cities initiatives, applying digital twins for more efficient city and regional operations and for more connected and resilient infrastructure. Digital twins converge assets’ 4D-surveyed and engineering representations to enable new collaborative digital workflows to serving planners and engineers in public works, utilities, property management and development, and city stakeholders. Digital twin cloud services provide an intuitive and immersive 4D environment converging digital context and digital components with digital chronology for “evergreen” infrastructure digital twins over asset lifecycles. For infrastructure professionals, BIM and GIS are effectively advanced through 4D digital twins.Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems said, “Bentley Systems’ major technical thrust is the advancement of digital twins across infrastructure domains. This finally opens up for owners their previously “dark” engineering technologies and data (ET), for federation with traditional information technology (IT) and newly connected operating technologies (OT). Correspondingly, because the opportunities for benefits are so compelling, our major organizational initiative is our new digital cities product advancement group. Our digital cities group’s charter is both to ramp infrastructure engineering digital twins to full city scale, and at the same time to help with going digital through entry points for any engineering department in any municipality.”“At Bentley Systems we have long and rich histories in respectively geospatial technology (GIS), and in BIM, for municipal infrastructure applications spanning capex and opex,” said Robert Mankowski, vice president, digital cities. “Today, I believe we are the leading innovator in reality modeling and in geotechnical modeling and data management. With our new cloud-based iTwin Services bringing this all together, city and campus digital twins now offer an immediate opportunity to help cities and regions solve a wide range of challenges and problems, enhancing their infrastructure performance and their constituents’ quality of life.”Infrastructure Digital Twins for Digital Cities

City-scale digital twins begin and are updated through 4D surveying and reality modeling by ContextCapture and Orbit GT to derive as-operated 3D models from photogrammetry (including from UAVs) and/or point clouds. Reality modeling provides engineering-precise, real-world context to support planning, design, construction, and operations. Users of Bentley’s open applications (OpenBuildings, OpenSite, OpenRoads, OpenRail, OpenUtilities) can leverage this digital context to model new and improved buildings, roads, transit systems, tunnels, bridges, utilities, and more.4D digital twins become a common and federating index for previously siloed information, without requiring source systems to change their existing environments or data formats. The foundation context for any digital twin includes reality meshes, terrain models, imagery, and GIS sources. Engineering models (from any BIM software) of buildings, streets, transit systems, utilities, and other city infrastructure, both surface and subsurface, are semantically aligned and geo-referenced to enhance the richness and relevance of digital twins over time.Public works departments, property developers, utilities, transportation agencies, and others now have access to a full and current contextual view of the built environment. Engineering and architectural firms will be able to develop new services that contemplate updating and managing digital assets over their lifecycles. And, cities will benefit from living and current digital twins of their infrastructure and surrounding environment.Sustainability and Resilience Digital Twins
Now, cities can combine their surface and subsurface surveys and engineering data into cohesive 4D digital twins to ensure over time their asset performance, resiliency, and sustainability. Using Bentley’s open simulation applications during asset lifecycles, for example, as-constructed buildings can be evaluated for seismic resilience (STAAD), the evacuation of vehicles and people in stations, stadiums, and other public places can be assessed and optimized (LEGION and CUBE), the impact of flooding events like hurricanes can be determined (OpenFlows FLOOD), and the suitability of subsurface conditions for urban projects can be ensured (PLAXIS, SoilVision).Geotechnical Digital Twins: Introducing OpenGround
Bentley’s geotechnical engineering and analysis applications empower subsurface digital twins, critical for assessing and managing risks in infrastructure projects and assets. Subsurface digital twins entail modeling of the underground environment, including the geology, hydrology, chemistry, and engineering properties, made possible by Bentley’s geotechnical offerings (PLAXIS, SoilVision, Keynetix and gINT). To further enable subsurface digital twins, Bentley today announced OpenGround, a new cloud service (available end of 2019) to store, manage, report, and share data about natural ground conditions.Water Network Digital Twins
Building upon its deep experience with hydraulics and hydrology software, Bentley is introducing OpenFlows WaterOPS for water and wastewater utility operators. OpenFlows WaterOPS provides water and wastewater utilities with real-time operational support, smart water response planning, and optimized performance and business intelligence, converging IT (GIS) with OT (telemetry, SCADA instrumentation, sensors) and ET (hydraulic simulation). WaterOPS provides real-time operational decision support extending Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) to help users monitor, maintain, and forecast various hydraulics and water quality scenarios.City Planning Digital Twins
Digital twins for cities have many stakeholders, including constituents not directly involved in engineering or infrastructure. Now hosted in Microsoft Azure, OpenCities Planner delivers cloud-based, city-scale digital twins to improve stakeholder and citizen engagement and to simplify and facilitate urban development. Addressing a wide variety of potential use cases, OpenCitiesPlanner helps users, through devices like web, mobile, touchscreens, and digital billboards, to intuitively visualize and explore 2D, 3D, GIS and other data aligned with the reality modeling of the city.Digital Co-ventures for Digital Cities
(With Topcon) Cloud-based photogrammetry processing powered by Bentley’s ContextCapture is incorporated in Topcon MAGNET Collage Web, a web-based service for publication, sharing, and analysis of reality capture data. The intrinsic Bentley ContextCapture Cloud Processing Service enables operators to upload UAV imagery direct-to-web without the need for high-end hardware requirements or IT constraints.

Specialists dub global cybercrime situation serious

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 16, 2019

OVER 26.8 billion file-less threats globally were deployed by cybercriminals in the first half of 2019.

This according to cybersecurity specialist Trend Micro, Inc. The company has blocked these hidden attacks which is about 265 percent higher compared to the same period in 2018.

About 91 percent of those events were facilitated through email.

In the mid-year annual roundup report “Evasive Threats, Pervasive Effects: 2019 Midyear Security Roundup,” the global cybersecurity solutions provider revealed how new generation cyberattacks are strategically aimed at businesses already running protection systems, emphasizing how vulnerabilities remain a cause for concern.

“Sophistication and stealth is the name of the cybersecurity game today, as corporate technology and criminal attacks become more connected and smarter. From attackers, we saw intentional, targeted, and crafty attacks that stealthily take advantage of people, processes, and technology,” Trend Micro Philippines Country Manager Ian Felipe said.

Another highlight of the report is the massive growth in the volume of threats that are not usually visible to the traditional security filters, including Exploit kits, or malware that can be seeded and executed in a system’s memory, registry, or legitimate apps/tools, which have declined in the past year, re-emerged with a 136 percent-jump year-on-year.

Cryptocurrency mining (cryptomining or cyptojacking) malware was still the most detected threat in the period as attackers rampantly deploy such attacks on servers and even in cloud environments. Cyber criminals apparently see more opportunities amid continuously rising public interest in cyptocurrencies. The number of routers that are being used to facilitate possible inbound attacks increased by 64 percent, as more Mirai variants search for exposed devices.

Digital extortion or ransomware incidences jumped by 319 percent still in the same period.

Detections of business email compromise (BEC) scams rose by 52 percent (with businesses in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia getting more exposure), while other ransomware-related files, emails, and URLs increased by 77 percent in the six-month period.

In the Philippines, top threats for the first half of 2019, according to Trend Micro Smart Protection Network are ransomware, Trojan downloaders, and file infectors. Such malware attempt to infect systems and networks through malicious websites visited by end users or through exploiting vulnerabilities.

“Organizations need to have good patch management policies in place or an effective way or solution to handle unpatched OS, apart from training employees about safe browsing habits and other best practices,” Felipe advised.

CARS boosts local parts

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 15, 2019

SANTA ROSA, Laguna. — The country’s leading automotive assembler has added more parts produced in-house for its bestselling car in compliance with the requirements of a government-backed program incentivizing local assembly.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) said Vios has reached almost 58 percent localization as part of the model’s compliance to the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program where TMP invested P5.38 billion.

Vehicles enrolled in the CARS program must be assembled locally with 50 percent or more of total body shell weight manufactured or sourced locally.

TMP said the Vios has achieved almost 58 percent localization, with 25 different steel parts pressed in house, and 51 other parts stamped by its approved suppliers.

Large plastic parts such as the front and rear bumpers, internal and external instrument panel is done at its injection molding facility using virgin plastic pellets. Moreover, the radiator and fan assembly are now sourced from a Philippines supplier.

These parts were previously sourced from either Thailand or Indonesia.

Overall, a 5 percent increase in local parts was realized for the new Vios from the previous model, with 42 percent or 356 total parts from the previous 292 parts from 34 direct supplier.

TMP said the P5.38-billion investment boosted its manufacturing capabilities at its assembly plant here to meet volume, sourcing and other requirements under CARS.

TMP said of the P5.38 billion, 88 percent or P4.72 billion was invested in parts manufacturing and the remaining P4.72 billion to vehicle manufacturing.

Of the P4.72 billion, 81 percent or P4.05 billion went directly to improving Vios’ market
competitiveness and compliance to the CARS program.

Toyota in-house investments amounted to P3.05 billion while the remaining P1 billion was divided among four outside suppliers for small body shell components, center consoles, and door trims.

These CARS-related investments include a new press stamping machine to form major side member panels — the left and right side of the sedan that holds the doors, roller hemming robots to form the mated metal parts without welding — and a resin injection molding facility to produce large plastic parts which was put into operation late last year.

“These investments have enhanced our own manufacturing capabilities, both in relation to our own production and sales targets as well as meeting the requirements by the CARS program,” said Rommel Gutierrez, TMP first vice president for corporate affairs.

The new facilities also impacted the logistic efficiency index, one of the key indicators in the CARS program being monitored by the Board of Investments.

“Improvements in the production process has also reduced the logistic requirements increasing the efficiency index from 40 percent to 45 percent since the program started,” said Luis Marcelino, TMP senior vice president for production and marketing.

The Vios is expected to achieve the required 200,000 units total volume production requirement by 2024 with annual sales currently averaging 33,000.

“We at Toyota have always believed that the automotive manufacturing industry’s growth is a catalyst for national development. As such, we have continued the local production of our best-selling model over the years, thereby providing employment and sustaining many small- and medium-scale enterprises which are the backbone of our economy,” said Satoru Suzuki, TMPI president.

Disruption is our success secret, says ‘realme’ exec

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 9, 2019

“DISRUPTION and the opportunity to disrupt, whether it is technology, pricing, offers, that is what we are very good at, and I think that is our success secret,” Austine Huang, realme PH marketing director told Malaya Business Insight after the successful launch of its new realme5 series last week.

The phone brand is now the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the country, and registered similar achievements in Asia, particularly in India and Indonesia where it is the 3rd and 5th best-selling brand respectively. As it launched its first quad-camera smartphones, the realme 5 Pro and realme 5 it also promises to deliver a premium mobile experiences in the sub-P15K smartphone category. The entry level realme5 only costs P6,990.

“We at realme Philippines are thrilled to revolutionize the smartphone experience of the Filipinos by leading the leap to attainable quad camera technology, which marks realme’s new era of smartphone imaging technology,” Huang said.

The realme 5 Pro and realme 5 feature a quad-camera setup comprising an ultra-wide-angle lens, main camera, portrait lens and ultra-macro lens to elevate the photography experiences of its users along with exceptional essentials such as strong system performance, superior camera capabilities and long battery life set to disrupt their respective segments.

Processing speed, camera features and battery life separate the realme5 series from other phones in this price segment.

On one hand, upper end realme 5 Pro boasts of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 AIE processor to provide the best operation, game and entertaining experience to its users. It is also equipped with the Qualcomm Adreno 616 GPU, which improves the phone’s graphics performance and energy efficiency by up to 35 percent.

Combined, these features bring a platform engineered to elevate the mobile experience through artificial intelligence (AI), gaming, camera, battery and performance. It is also equipped with 20W VOOC 3.0 Fast Charging Technology and a flagship IMX586 48MP quad-camera setup, making it the first smartphone in its segment to have such features.

On the other hand the realme 5 is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 Mobile Platform that provides highly intelligent smartphone performance for unified mobile gaming, outstanding camera capabilities and fortified security.

It also packs a 12MP quad-camera setup with brand-new imaging features and a 5,000mAh battery capable of delivering many hours of immersive smartphone experience.

“By bringing the realme 5 Pro and realme 5 to the Philippine market, we put an end to the notion that only flagship phones can have premium features. Both these cutting-edge devices are a testament to our steadfast commitment of providing Filipinos, more specifically the youth, with the smartphone experience they deserve,” Huang shares.

Disruption continues with the way realme PH does its marketing. Starting just 10 months ago, it has since relied on the community of 50,000 strong realme squad–ambassadors who portray and spread key messages of the brand. Now realme products can be found in over 4,500 stores. It has opened 300 kiosks nationwide and set up 20 concept stores where the phones can be held, tested and sold. It also maintains strong relations with key players in different industries such as Home Credit, which introduced a 9-month 0 percent plan for realme devices.

To further cement its position in mobile gaming, realme PH also reinforced its partnership with Moonton, the developer of the No.1 MOBA game Mobile Legends, which is spearheading the realme Mobile Legends Cup Season 2 finals on October 18 and 19 at SM Southmall. Realme is also the official Epic Sponsor of the Mobile Legends.

The final disruptor of realme is the price versus the value buyers get. Dominance is expected in the sub-P15k price segment, where the realme 5 Pro 4GB+128GB storage and 8GB+128GB storage variants are priced at P11,990 and P13,990, respectively, while the realme 5 is available in 3GB+32GB, 4GB+64GB and 6GB+128GB variants for P6,990, P7,990, and P9,900, respectively.

AUTOPILOT IN CARS: What’s it like to test drive a car that can drive itself

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 8, 2019

Will autonomous driving work in PH?

(Second of two parts)

ELECTRIC luxury.

Last week, I had just gone through a description and a short demonstration of Tesla Model 3’s fully automated driving feature aptly called “Full Self-Driving” which is an additional $8,000 to the price tag. The Model 3 we used in the test drive was already cutting the $45,000 mark with all the add-ons.

The electric luxury of the Tesla 3 is not the actual luxury goodies but the luxury of being chauffeured without being a backseat driver. This option, which currently enables Autopilot features like changing lanes on highways and automatic car parking and maybe legal in some parts of the US only. In countries like South Korea, China, Japan or Taiwan where Tesla is also sold, there are no clear rules of hands-free or automated driving, which is why, I am told, Tesla Autopilot’s advanced driver-assist features to be used on local roads there and are receiving far more feedback for technological revisions if needed.

Driverless scare

Now if you have seen a video of a driverless car in action, it looks pretty cool. When you are in the passenger seat is feels very scary. See this link, time-lapse recorded of a fully automated drive, the steering wheel eerily makes the correct motions especially in the stop-turn-go portions towards the end of the video.

Tesla’s Autopilot had its share of detractors, oftentimes wrongfully. The AI-enhanced system has millions of data points already in its brain which gives it a lot of input and output in handling situations. (I can only surmise it runs on Oracle Cloud, currently the most extensive Cloud network in the world, because Larry Ellison, Oracle’s CTO sits on Tesla’s board.)

Smart Summon

One of the truly impressive features of the Tesla–another add on which can be made available in all models, is the automated parking valet “Smart Summon.” The autonomous parking feature, only works when the Full Self-Driving option is activated.

It will fetch its owner just by prompting it from a smartphone. It works if the car is parked within 200 feet and within line of sight from where the owner is. Once activated the car will then drive from a parking space, navigate around obstacles, look for where the owner is via geo-location.

Will it work for the Philippines? The answer is not yet. Fully autonomous driving is not only the car and the systems in the car itself but also the surroundings were it works. If Tesla were to introduce its Autopilot in the Philippines, it would need to strengthen 100 times its machine learning processes and add more brain to its artificial intelligence bots.

With motorcycles, buses, cycles, pedestrians sharing the road, and poorly engineered turns, street barrier, unmarked roads and posts in the middle of the shoulder, Autopilot needs a lot of relearning. This may partly explain why Teslas have only been made available in countries were the infrastructure is better developed and rules enforced strictly.

Unique shape

Though the car’s shape might be slightly bulbous, it follows the nondescript styling cues of the whole line up of Teslas–bringing with it a certainty of relationship. A Tesla will look like a Tesla anywhere one goes.

My Tesla sales advisor and I returned from the spin across the block (passing by an Infiniti dealer for a bit to check out the new RX Hybrid) and then back to the chiseled and minimalist Tesla showroom at the snooty American Manhasset mall.

Having already experienced the linear acceleration of the Model 3–I wanted to check out the bottom runner 2WD, entry-level car. I did so but only around the block at the mall. Curiously, it did not feel at all like the entry level rear-wheel drive car it is. This variant, called Standard, can go 409 kilometers from a single charge and get to 100 kilometers per hour in 5.6 seconds.

Completely luxurious

In whatever trim, the Model 3 is completely luxurious. Though its own definition of its interior is ‘partial premium’ but really it has everything to bring an air of distinction and pride to the owner. Properly ingrained wood and supple leather, with pronounced stitching. The bits of chrome, well-placed buttons and vents remind me of the simplicity and Zen vibe of Macs and Space Odyssey 2001. And that simplicity only adds to the sense of futurism and forward looking evolution.

That evolution even lies in the fact that Teslas will probably look like Teslas for a decade before any major change happens. Tesla doesn’t believe in model years. It makes vehicle changes whenever needed because the evolution needs to be constant. Older models can benefit from these changes quickly because a lot of it will be software updates. But Tesla said that these are not mere updates to the onboard computer that outputs to the 15-inch touch screen. Though map changes are included, the updates can go as deeply into core upgrades such as security and performance patches.

Imagine that. A full model change for a Tesla may only require an operating system update.

Construction giant migrates to Cloud to support expansion

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 2, 2019

DIGITAL transformation is the only way that the 88-year-old EEI Corporation, known for its now iconic blue logo plastered all over the Skyway extension and many other construction projects–to be able to cope with the demands put upon them–building infrastructure critical for the country’s growth and development.

Engineering Equipment, Inc. (EEI) started out as Engineering Equipment and Supply Company (EESCO) and was established in 1931 by an American named Ray Parker. It initially focused on distribution of mill equipment for the mining industry. It later diversified into the steel fabrication business, building sea vessels, as well as manufacturing of truck bodies, trailers, and structural pipes. In 1964, EESCO changed its name to EEI. Today, it is part of the Yuchengco Group, a conglomerate with interests in banking, financial services, and property development.

Revenues for the company amounted to P22B in 2018. Its phenomenal 35 percent growth from P15B in 2017 somehow made it vulnerable the complications in project preparation, deployment and monitoring because of the amount of work it needs to do. In preparing for the onslaught of projects it will be receiving due to the Build! Build! Build! program of the government, EEI decided to go to the Oracle Cloud.

“We had already computerized and automated our systems for many years. Using an on-premise system we are able to monitor at least those functions that are close to us. This system has quickly become antiquated because of the speed by which the company needed to grow and cope up with both the size and the scope of the projects we will be handling,” Ferdinand Sia, CFO, EEI says.

The large projects that Sia mentioned includes the P25B MRT-7 project which started in 2014. Added into the portfolio is the still ongoing was the Skyway Stage 3 Project, part of an elevated highway system tagged as the Metro Manila Skyway. There are hundreds of other smaller project in the pipeline here and abroad.

Moreover, it has to handle at least 1,500 transactions daily, automate project management and monitoring, and serve its more than 23,000 employees, manage an equipment yard in Cavite and over 40 warehouses spread across the country.

“The complexity has multiplied tremendously because of the size of the projects. And our systems were not ready then to handle this big an opportunity. The risks associated with a less-than-optimal management approach are severe. They include derailed budgets and schedules, which cost millions of pesos,” Sia mentioned.

“To be profitable, we have to keep track of expenses. And on big projects, say something costing P25 billion, it’s easy to overspend. Accurate and timely financial information is very important to be profitable,” Sia points out as he mentioned how using Oracle Cloud redefined the way they did business and changed the speed and accuracy by which reports are generated and cost cutting is done.

He said that for years, EEI used Excel to create a cost-variance reports, among many others. This approach worked for smaller projects. Mega-projects, posed a totally different scheme. Operating out of sync means that the manual system would be onerous, time-consuming, frustrating, and prone to inaccuracy.

Using human compilers to gather data from multiple sources often resulted in conflicts of veracity. It was such a big challenge that despite having three full-time employees per project, it still took about three weeks to accomplish a cost-variance analysis, for example.

The lack of a central repository of accurate data, the heart of an ERP, limited EEI’s ability to keep close tabs on projects. Monthly reports took about three weeks to generate. Yet, it had to be done. It was the only way EEI executives could tell if a project was veering off-track.

“Any financials that are three-to-four weeks old are not very useful,” Sia admits.

To help bring greater visibility, transparency, and speed to its business, EEI decided to upgrade its on-premises Oracle E-Business Suite to the Oracle ERP Cloud. The ERP suite included Oracle ERP Cloud, with Cloud Services for financials, purchasing, sourcing, procurement, contracts, project management, inventory management, project financials, project contract billing, supplier portal, and self-service procurement.

The enterprise-wide project was spearheaded by Sia and a 30-man team, drawn from multiple departments, who would work full-time to drive the project to success. It took only 11 months to get from project start to go live, but even a shorter time to move from on-premise to Cloud.

Using Oracle Cloud platform and the attached systems, EEI could now generate reports that used to take 22 days in just 2 minutes. Preparing financial statements has gone down from three weeks to four days. 120 dedicated accounting staff down reduced by 20 people who were re-assigned elsewhere. And more importantly there is greater visibility, transparency and governance. Everything is captured and automated, with less chances of human error.

Savings from time spent developing reports amounted to about P20M to P30M a year from processing of report from about 40 project sites, and over a hundred employees managing the sites.

Procurement processes have also been standardized cutting confusion and indecision, while improving speed and agility. EEI now can automatically get quotations and bids making it easier for the procurement team to get the best supplier, with the best cost, and the best payment and delivery terms.

“Digital transformation is serious business. It’s not a walk in the park. Managing people.

That’s key. At the end of the day, systems and processes are all about people,” Sia said in reference to the Oracle ERP Cloud and how it did not fail to deliver on its promise.

“We are very happy that we are able to get EEI moving up to the Cloud. We like to be challenged by a company such as EEI, who is a long-time partner of ours, and we are happy to say we delivered,” Mina Lim, Country Managing Director, Oracle Philippines said.

TESLA MODEL 3: Getting to know America’s EV darling

Raymond G.B. Tribdino

October 1, 2019

First of two parts

I ARRIVED at the American Manhasset mall in New York searching for the Tesla showroom which, according to Google Map was on the other end of the mall. I had just finished a diabolically delicious lunch at a nearby IHop and decided to walk the 10 blocks to burn off all the carbs.

It wasn’t hot that September day but it wasn’t chilly too, so I was perspiring when I reached the Tesla Showroom, still 10 minutes early for my scheduled appointment, and enough time to freshen up before a quickie test drive that was planned for 10 minutes but took almost an hour.

Tesla sales advisor Brittney Adornato gave me to go signal when the second customer canceled her test drive. That was indeed providential because I got to take both a Model S and a Model X SUV for a spin.

There are a few examples of Teslas in the Philippines.

I’ve seen a Model S owned by Manny Pangilinan and a Model X by a balikbayan who wanted to get his EV registered and street legal, but the closest he can get to is getting listed down it down as a golf cart.

Tesla and local driving

There are about 3 to 5 more Teslas roaming around the country, some in the provinces, according to my motoring friends.

None of these Teslas however have been given proper authority to drive on Philippine roads because of antiquated and inane laws. They cannot be registered to be used legally. These now useless laws–designed for golf carts–could have been updated quickly, had our lawmakers focused on it instead of renaming streets to honor their ancestors.

That will change in a few months though. The Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines, Senator Win Gatchalian and the car manufacturers–Mitsubishi and Nissan in particular–are doing tremendous lobbying to get their vehicles ready for registration when they launch.

A source at Nissan Motors in Japan tell me that the visionary Nissan Philippines president Atsushi Najima is pushing for the Nissan Leaf to be available by early 2020. There are mixed signals on that front though. My motoring friends estimate that it may be difficult to allocate the car since Nissan is having a lot of trouble catching up production due to the high demand. By the middle of next year, Nissan estimates it would have sold 500,000 Nissan Leaf EVS since it was first launched in December 2010.

Tesla ride in San Francisco

Ormie Maramag, Advisor at Tesla’s Head office at Fremont in California coordinated all my requirements for this test ride, and eventually my test drive. Tesla expanded its operations in two new offices in Fremont just last year. About 1,500 employees not directly involved in the manufacturing were relocated here, including those working in the energy, sales, service, marketing and administrative departments.

So in San Francisco, I was able to get a test ride on a Model X, Tesla’s gullwing door SUV up and down the local streets while on the way to the Oracle Stadium where a baseball game, beer, chips and whatever else comes with the great American past time. I sat in the back first, the best place pundits say, to experience the 3.50-seconds needed to get to 60 mph (100 kph).

The person driving for me, (he asked at the start, no name and no photos) said that the Model X was such as in-demand vehicle despite the price tag. The Tesla Model 3 costs about $25,000 and the Model X, three times as much at $79,000.

Interestingly, in 2018, Tesla sold nearly 3,000 Model X cars in the Netherlands and only 500 in the US. This is according to the website Statista.com. The reason for the unbelievable gap? Tesla-Tax.

Tesla tax was implemented by the Netherlands government in early 2019, wherein electric vehicles with a value of more than 50,000 euros became more expensive to lease, resulting in much higher monthly costs. This tax had an influence on the sales volume of the Tesla Model S according to the data analysis website.

Though according to Tesla, by count there are now more Model 3s on the road in the US, in the urban areas like San Francisco, New York, Washington and Chicago there are more Model Xs concentrated in those cities by volume, most likely, because of the presence of the Tesla Supercharger recharging stations (there are 16,000 of these globally) and appeal of the unique gull-wing doors and the wow factor so many Americans desire.

Back to New York

As soon as I sit down in the Model 3’s cabin the fell of a different experience was almost instantaneous. For one the seats crouched very close to the ground. These were not Recaros but they wrapped around me quite dutifully. I buckled up and waited for the ignition keys.

There was none.

Well, of course, I told myself. This is Tesla high tech. A push-button ignition should do the trick. But where is it?

My sales guide pulled out her cellphone. She said it is linked to the car.

“You can use your smartphone as a key?” I asked. She answered in the affirmative but also explained that the same key mirrors all the driver controls in the central 15-inch touchscreen. The inside of Model 3 is unlike any other car. The all-glass roof extends from front to back, creating a sense of openness from every seat.

Openess. Now that is a word that I was waiting for. An open road.

The Model 3 is the most affordable of Tesla’s line up of full-electric vehicles. The X and 3 represents the end-to-end spectrum of the EV brand’s line-up. Separated by almost $50,000 but underneath there us nothing much to ruin the fun. Both cars can accelerate to 100 in less than 5 seconds and both have sophisticated navigational skills, handling prowess, though the X gets the win in the beauty contest.

Model 3. Easy to use, easiest to buy.

It is the company’s long-prophesized “electric car for the masses,” which at about $25,000 isn’t exactly the kind of masses we have here in the Philippines, or even in the US. The price tag includes a $1,000 delivery charge. However, the sleek, compact 5-seat sedan overflows with cool features and is available in 2WD and for $11K more, an all-wheel drive that is said to challenge any drag racer.

I drove the AWD, but according to my Tesla passenger / interviewee, the cheaper 2-wheel drive is perpetually in limited supply. Being the most popular of the bunch, the demand outstrips supply–waiting times could go on for up to 8 months. Tesla’s manufacturing hub in California struggles to get into full production mode to fill in the demand, says one

My first impressions of the Model 3 are excellent.

The exterior design is smooth and unimpeded. Since it does not need an air vent to cool radiators or engines, there is nothing to break the lines and curves of the design, which is vaguely familiar. The familiarity I can only describe as Mazda.

And why not?

Franz von Holzhausen, previously design chief at Mazda North America, is currently in charge of design at Tesla Inc. Von Holzhausen had an already impressive resume with GM and Mazda before joining Tesla. His maverick ways in confronting design brought him great frustration with the traditional auto industry. This frustration combined with Elon Musk’s “off-to-Mars” ideas and problem-solving concepts helped him follow an unlikely path towards design thinking. He is now known as one of the most influential car designers of his generation.

Von Holzhausen’s thinking permeates all Teslas from its shape down to its brain.

Scale and the supercharging network

In terms of size, it is big enough for the typical American and bigger than needed for the parts of Asia where it is marketed. I keep referencing to the idea of having Teslas in the Philippines forgetting that for his particular model, an infrastructure is actually necessary to get it charged and moving.

Called the Tesla Supercharger Network, it is the world’s fastest and currently the largest charging network with 1,604 supercharger stations with 14,081 superchargers. This powerful charging station will revitalize the battery while the driver is getting a quick bite, or a cup of Java. In as short as 30 minutes enough power can be transferred to the battery for a 100 mile (160 kilometers) drive. Either from zero or an additional boost. Using the Supercharger Network requires a subscription (immediately available when buying a Tesla) and pay-per-use. In Asia, Tesla superchargers are available only in the most traveled parts of China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

Tesla said that by November 2020, there will be nearly 20,000 Superchargers in over 2,000 stations worldwide (an average of 10 chargers per station). The targets are clear, more or less 1100 stations in North America, 600 in Europe, and 450 in the Asia/Pacific region.

Tesla showroom in American Manhasset Mall in New York.

That said, the Model 3 also has a long-range version called the 3S that can go up to 560 kilometers on a full charge. There is also the option of dual motor all-wheel drive can do 233 kilometers per hour–8 kilometers per hour faster than the regular Model 3.

Model 3 comes with 20” íœberturbine wheels and performance brakes and lowered suspension for total control, in all weather conditions. A rear mount carbon fiber spoiler improves stability at high speeds, allowing all Model 3 to accelerate from 0-60 mph in as little as 3.1 seconds.

It drives itself

The length of the Searingtown Road taking a right to North Service Road then right up to Community Drive and into Northern Boulevard back to American Manhasset was about 22 minutes, including the mid-afternoon traffic. It is illegal to drive with both hands off the steering wheel in these roads in New York so automated and full autopilot is not available.

However, a large parking lot by the Marshall’s story provided the venue to briefly demonstrate the fully automated driving, which included, if fully operational a map of a destination and stops, speed, braking and distancing.

Next week: Tesla’s Summon, Automatic Pilot driving and why Tesla will need a different AI when driving in the Philippines.

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