TAICHUNG, Taiwan – Kim Y.C. Tsai stands out as an expressive executive here.
He crams lots of information about his auto-electronics firm, Mobiletron, in an allotted-hour visit, running past it a bit.
The company is a stop on an international media tour of Taiwan businesses that will participate in the upcoming 2016 Taipei International Auto Parts & Accessories Show April 6-9.
The media-tour itinerary slots 2:20 p.m.-3:20 p.m. at Mobiletron, which makes charging, safety, ignition and wired-vehicle systems. Chairman and CEO Tsai makes the most of the time.
“You’ve got to go, but let me show you one more thing,” he tells visitors, taking them to another part of a headquarters building, distinguished by a curvy-architectural facade.
Guests see everything from out-there products in display cases to a peaceful terrace garden off the employee lounge.
Taiwan businesspeople typically are cordial, yet reserved. It’s a cultural thing. Tsai is amicable, amped and animated.
His conference-room multimedia PowerPoint presentation ranges from demonstrating an inside-baseball example of Mobiletron’s Internet-based phone system to touting the company’s innovative big-deal-potential connected-vehicle products.
At first, marketing director Robin Chen gives a brief company overview. Then Tsai, sitting in the first row, takes over, and it’s off to the races. On a laptop, an audio-visual assistant sitting off to the side struggles to keep up.
Tsai particularly highlights Mobiletron’s far-reaching Internet-based closed-circuit-camera system. It lets headquarters see what’s happening throughout, from a factory floor in China to inside a truck an employee is driving here.
To demonstrate, Tsai phones the driver. He undoubtedly knows the call is coming. But he still looks tense talking while on camera. Talking with the boss, no less. Other onboard cameras stitch together a 360-degree overhead view of the vehicle’s outside surroundings, much like the system Nissan’s Infiniti brand pioneered. GPS tells where in traffic the Mobiletron truck is.
That is relayed back in real-time to the home office. It’s on the conference-room screen. Tsai holds up his smartphone screen to show it’s there, too.
Great, but isn’t it snooping on the staff?
No, Tsai tells WardsAuto. The aim isn’t to catch employees goofing off. It’s part security, he says. Another part is safety-related; if a driver gets in a crash, Mobiletron would want to know ASAP. Still another part goes to an ongoing pursuit of operational betterment.
“It is to monitor the processes,” Tsai says. “Our engineers here may look at the plant floor in China and see something that can be improved. Are we missing something? Finding out is important feedback.”
He speaks glowingly of applying such connectivity technology to the “Internet of vehicles.” The company is positioning itself as a leader in that.
A beverage maker sits on a counter in the employee break room, near that terrace garden. Staffers are expected to pay for what they choose to consume. But Mobiletron doesn’t monitor that.
“No cameras here,” Tsai says. “People are on the honor system. It fosters self-discipline.”
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