Bring IT Home – AAPICO HITECH PLC
The Lunch of AITS Navigation System, at Lumpini Park
Yeap Swee Chuan came to
But after a 20-year roller coaster ride, the auto parts company he founded, known as Aapico Hitech Plc (www.aapico. com), has become an investor favourite in the Stock Exchange of Thailand, reporting a turnover of nearly seven billion baht (about RM636mil) in 2004, up 74% from the four billion Baht the previous year.
No wonder his company – known as Aapico Hitech Plc (www.aapico. com) since it went public in
2002 – is frequently cited in lists of the best-managed or most prominent enterprises in
And while he has never severed ties with
a month, he says – Yeap is finally eyeing the Malaysian market. But it will be for
something completely different: information and communications technology (ICT).
We can do IT too
Yeap caught the ICT bug about four years ago on a visit to
many cars carrying a navigational device built on GPS (Global Positioning System)
satellite-tracking technology and digital maps.
The devices allowed drivers to get guided instructions on how to get about city streets.
"If they can do it in
he wondered.
Yeap felt that this could be a "transformational technology," something that would
not only change the automotive industry but one that would also usher in new
applications for a wider market.
So in 2004, he established Able ITS Co Ltd (www.ableits.com) to develop what
he calls Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). He gathered consultants from
"For one year the team did nothing but work on it. I spent 20 million Baht in
the first year, and will spend 50 million baht this year. Every business advisor
I know has urged me to drop this venture," he says.
But Yeap is used to ignoring what may seem to be sound business advice – after all,
that’s what he did in
Instead, he embarked on the new business of auto parts manufacturing.
Single-mindedness
Yeap is focusing that same singularity of vision on his new business. It’s easy to see
why he’s excited though. The AITS Car Navigator is relatively easy to operate.
Just enter your starting point and destination, and it projects the easiest route.
Its GPS technology tracks your vehicle as it moves, to update the map on the screen.
Instructions are simple: Turn left at next junction in 100m; U-turn approaching; etc.
But Yeap just doesn’t stop there. "With this you can solve traffic jams," he says
enthusiastically, pointing to that perennial
of cars had the device, he says, one could collate data such as their speed and
numbers to determine how traffic is flowing in certain streets, and then provide
alternative routes to ease bottlenecks.
He’s trying to sell the idea to the Thai government, and has provided some
high-ranking officials with sample units to allow them to discover the device’s
uses for themselves.
All this can be done with existing technology, Yeap claims. "We can do it already –
the technology and infrastructure can be easily implemented." He says that Able ITS
is ready to spend the money needed for the back-end machines needed to
process traffic and geographical data; countries such as Japan already have them.
"This can be a big business," he adds, giving examples of providing Thai police
and army operating in the country’s strife-ridden south with such devices so their
locations are always known; or installing them in children’s toys so that kids can
be easily traced if they were ever kidnapped.
"This is just a gadget; its range of applications ultimately depends on how far
we’re willing to go," he says.
Back to earth
That first-year effort by the Able ITS team yielded four GPS navigator models:
The AITS Car Navigator portable model that can play MP3s; a PDA phone model;
an "in-car" model; and finally, an OEM version for car makers to build into
their machines. The device combines hardware such as the handheld itself,
incorporating a GPS receiver, and the PowerMap software.
The immediate priority is to make money to keep Able ITS rolling until the car
makers are on board, so selling the PowerMap software and standalone
devices is important, he says.
The company has appointed two retailers in
as well as IT City – to sell the portables, but Yeap admits sales have been slow with
fewer than 50 units shipping since the device’s launch in the first quarter of this year.
Bulk and OEM sales – the in-car model – have been better, with just below 1,000 units
having shipped, he claims. Able ITS is also looking to form alliances with
software onto their customers’ GPS-capable cell phones and PDA-phones.
Finally, the company will be looking into introducing the GPS navigator into fleet
management systems for trucking companies, for instance.
Homeboy comes home
Able ITS will be employing the same strategies when it comes into the Malaysian
market before the end of 2005. Aapico subsidiary New Era Sales has a Malaysian
office in Petaling Jaya, and Yeap says he’s already got the showroom manager
there interested in plugging the GPS navigator.
Able ITS is already working with a Malaysian company, which he declines to
name, to provide digital maps. The next step would be to overlay the audio
instructions – the company would probably begin with three: English,
Bahasa
Yeap says he’s been in very preliminary discussions with some Malaysian car
makers, and is confident that they will come on board when the Malaysian product is ready.
The next step – and for businessmen such as Yeap, there’s always a larger goal –
would be to take the product regional. He’s eyeing the countries of the Mekong Delta,
from
Somewhere in that equation,
