MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: The Star

Yeap came to the kingdom to start a Ford distributorship, and when that threatened to go under, shifted to what did not seem an inspired business: manufacturing low-volume jigs, dies and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts for the automotive industry. (Jigs are machines that hold car parts in place while they are welded together.)

It did not seem an inspired name either: Able Autopart Industries Co Ltd (Aapico).

But after a 20-year roller coaster ride, the autoparts company he founded 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.

Profits were 763 million baht (RM69mil) in 2004, compared to 310 million baht in 2003 – a whopping 146% increase.

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 Thailand.

Its laurels are not limited to financial success: Aapico is now one of the region’s largest designers and manufacturers of jigs for car assembly, and in a recent New York Times Online article, Yeap was described as a key figure in Thailand’s transformation into the “Detroit of the East."

Yeap Swee Chuan
When Thai business publications want to find out what’s happening with the local automotive industry, Yeap is frequently courted. He is also a director of Goodyear Thailand, a guest lecturer at Thammasat University and chairman of the Malaysia Thai Chamber of Commerce (www. mtcc.or.th).

And while he has never severed ties with Malaysia – coming home at least once a month, he says – the businessman in him 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 Japan, where he noticed 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 Japan, I asked myself, why can’t we do it here in Thailand?" he told BizWeek recently at his company plant in Ayutthaya, about 85km north of Bangkok.

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 with characteristic impulsiveness, in 2004 he established Able ITS Co Ltd (www.ableits.com) to develop what he calls Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). He gathered consultants from Germany, Japan and Taiwan and began work on a GPS navigator.

Car navigator
The company currently has a staff of 12, but will be increasing to 35 over the next three or four months.

"For one year they did nothing but work on it. I spent 20 million baht (RM1.8mil) in the first year, and will spend 50 million baht (RM4.5mil) 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 Thailand 20 years ago when the Ford distributorship was in trouble. Instead, he embarked on the new business of autoparts manufacturing.

It was smooth sailing the first few years until the 1997 Asian economic crisis that hit Thailand hard. With cancelled orders and mounting inventory, Aapico managed to extend its line of credit with a Thai bank, but at the worst point of its business, the company was almost US$300mil (RM1.14bil) in debt.

"We’ve paid back every cent," says Yeap.

Having weathered the crisis, Aapico’s growth picked up where it left off and in 2001 came to prominence again when it won a contract to design and manufacture jigs for DaimlerChrysler’s Mercedes E-Class cars in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. It was the first time Mercedes used jigs produced outside Germany, noted one automotive industry pundit.

Single-mindedness
Yeap is focusing that same singularity of vision on his new business. In his interview with BizWeek, he almost projected the same kind of reality-distortion field that Apple Computer Inc’s Steve Jobs is famous for: It’s not just a product; it’s going to change the world.

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.

Male drivers need not suffer blows to their masculinity by having to ask for directions; female drivers can erase that can’t-find-their-way stereotype.

But Yeap just doesn’t stop there. "With this you can solve traffic jams," he says enthusiastically, pointing to that perennial Bangkok problem.

If sufficient numbers 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 backend 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 carmakers to build into their machines. The device combines hardware such as the handheld itself, incorporating a GPS receiver, and the PowerMap software.

"I am an OEM man, and that’s why our priority is with carmakers," says Yeap, adding that Able ITS has given them sample units to test.

That’s going to take some time, he admits. Carmakers typically subject their automobiles to one year of road tests after design is complete to ensure they are ready for the road.

While they can start using the in-car models immediately, Yeap doesn’t expect to see cars coming out with the navigator built into their electronics systems until early next year.

However, the immediate priority is to make money to keep Able ITS rolling until the carmakers are on board, so selling the PowerMap software and standalone devices is important, he says.

The company has appointed two retailers in Thailand – Platinum and Digital Art 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 Thailand’s cellular service providers in which they could download the PowerMap software onto their customers’ GPS-capable cellphones 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 using the same modus operandi when it comes into the Malaysian market before the end of the year.

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 Malaysia and a Chinese dialect.

Yeap says he’s been in very preliminary discussions with some Malaysian carmakers, 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 Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia right up to southern China. Somewhere in that equation, Singapore will come in as well.

Ultimately one country still beckons the hardest: "While I’ve settled quite nicely into Thailand, Malaysia is still the most exciting country in the region for me," says Yeap.