Knowledge-based Company
Foxconn: workers committed suicide at workplace
In speeches during annual dinners, most bosses by default would thank their staffs for their contributions over the years. The sincerity of the gratitude might not extend equally to the entire staffs. I’m convinced that the gratitude is given more to the knowledge workers, rather than the entire labor force.
“Without your collective efforts, the company would not achieve the new height in the past year”, I almost can imagine the rhetoric of Terry Guo, the boss of Foxconn as the largest contract manufacturer in the world, when addressing his employees during the auspicious night, with the hinted underlying false sense that was overtly too loud.
Because, 11 Foxconn’s workers took their own lives by jumping off their workplace in Shenzhen in the past four months is the satire to his Thanksgiving, and 25 year-old Sun Danyong, committed suicide after the lost of an iPhone 4G prototype during transportation to Apple last July.
General investigation exposed Foxconn employees to have constantly living in dire working environment, under the pressure of stringent competing in the firm. If to compare Foxconn’s workplace with Google’s that is full of amenities and freedom, we could conclude the two extreme treatments are due to the former belongs to the labor-intensive industry, and the latter represents the knowledge-based company.
Bring your pet to work
Indeed we have to accept the fact that any bosses who own factories, would not hesitate to axe labors to a minimum, and boost automation to a maximum. Labors to them are merely the trivial bolts and nuts, tightening any loose ends to complete machinery cycle. The reason is apparent because unlike laborers, besides regular maintenance and mortgage repayments, machine neither utters any complaint nor launching a strike, let alone demands for higher wages or better welfare.
Just like exploitation that is more susceptible at the labor level, I believe labor-intensive industry is easier to be replaced in this competitive world.
Workplace at FingerTec
I am against treating human beings like bolts and nuts; hence I have to ensure more knowledge is required to produce FingerTec products. Our factory is mainly involved in assembly works, quality control, customization and activities that elevate the value chain. And I believe more value added to a product would require more human brains, eventually would create a better working place.
When we claim We Make Things Easy, we actually have a lot of hard thinking process at the back.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
iLoveTechnology
Technology is awesome. It makes our life better in so many ways. I work in technology-based business. Who would have thought that your fingerprint could be used as your private key? We bumped into glitches when we first started but now, 10 years later, everybody is looking for convenience. This year, face recognition technology is making its debut. Look and go is the concept of the Face ID 2 where you do not need to touch anything and you are good to go. FingerTec will continue to progress in biometrics industry, providing people with conveniences.Yesterday I bought something on eBay, now I’m reading my book on iPad, tomorrow who knows what the future has in store for me. And that to me, what makes life interesting.
by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
Leap and Bounce Beijing
This month, I went to Beijing twice for business meetings.
I first stepped onto Chinese soil in 1992. Beijing at that time had much lesser automobiles. Bicycles simply took charge of the roads by a majority-win game. The word of fashion had yet to be introduced, total colors appeared on men and women’s clothing were limited to two and a half; black, white and gray. I recalled my color T-shirt as a gift for an engineer was returned just because there would be no appropriate occasion to put it on. The PCs they were using were a generation behind. Taxi drivers were more talkative; once you confirmed you could understand Chinese, they would switch from stuttering English to a staccato Beijing accent bombarding you along the journey. There was no product packaging concept, I received an IT interface card that cost me USD10,000 but wrapped in a piece of old newspaper. Any meals hosted by Chinese if for only two persons, would serve with dishes that could only be finished by ten. Sales strategies? They argued, “How could you upgrade a color TV with a black and white?” Trade-in concept never crossed their minds.
A famous Chinese writer, Yu Hua in one of his best-selling novels, “Brothers”, stretched a storyline for a period of 30 years from the beginning of Cultural Revolution in 1966, across the Economic Reform in the mid eighties, till the modernization of China in the nineties. It begun with a “butt-peeping” boy and his non-blood tie brother story staged on conservative sixties with a string of absurdity events that led China to a modern world in the nineties. In an interview Yu Hua told reporter, “To accommodate such a huge change, other countries might take 300 years, however in China, I saw it happened in a blink of just 30 years.”
The appropriate word to describe the changes of China is Leap and Bounce development, while most of other countries took it in a progressive manner. That’s why China stunned the world by growing into the second largest economy powerhouse, overtaking Japan this year within such a short period. When comedian Joe Wong entertained his American audience by saying “I grew up in China. Who didn’t?” It stirred laughter but in unanimous “agreement”.
Nowadays, the flamboyant colors crawled out from the Chinese peoples’ clothing reaching their heads; the latest gadgets can be acquired easily; the taxi drivers keep silence unless you start a chatter, or perhaps an inquest; bicycles become the underdog on the roads; all kinds of inventive marketing strategies barking out from the billboards; hosting feasts are no longer extravaganzas; the contemporary art in 798 Cultural Park in Beijing full with talented Avant-garde art pieces.
But, are there any downside caused by the fast growing of China economy? YES, I saw plenty. No doubt, Chinese has advanced technologies that landed the astronauts on the moon impeccably, but the same act shouldn’t be replayed too many times. That’s quality control issue, a general perception that haunts Chinese products for their inconsistencies in quality. And the Political Reform still staggering to keep pace with Economic Reform in China, if the politic echelon refuses to relax its grip, it may invite havoc in the future. Increasing polarization between the rich and the poor also threatens social stability.
In today's business world, we have no choice but to compete with the ubiquitous low-price Chinese products, the same applies to biometrics industry. No sweat, to know their strength, to spot their weaknesses, despite fierce competition, you still might stand tall.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
The (Biometrics) Time is Now
Volcanic ash cloud left and returned to Europe early this month but the effects were not felt in IFSEC 2010. The exhibition staged over four days in the NEC Birmingham ended on Thursday, May 13th and my feet couldn’t be happier. Remind me not to wear a 3-inch heels the next time I stage a solo 4-day show.
Fingerprint products are not novelty in the industry but the increasing stability of the technology entices vast amount of opportunities. Demands for biometrics products from end-users are escalating; making fingerprint technology inevitable as an option. Unlike face recognition technology that created a new kind of excitement, consumer confidence in this technology is still at its infancy. I reckon it’d take sometimes for the technology to take gain its place in the industry as compared to fingerprint technology.
Interestingly, the most common question I received during the show was “What industry do you target these products for?” I thought the answer to the question was apparent but obviously I was wrong.
To put it simply, FingerTec products target office automation industry for the most part with our time attendance and door access system.
FingerTec range is relevant to offices ranging from small to medium enterprise. Having bundled the powerful software with all our models, FingerTec system offers more value for less money. The ability of the system to record precise time attendance and access control besides producing relevant reports have been able to reduce the workload of the human resources to the maximum. FingerTec system also provides an option for a company to start small and expand. This versatility of this system is a valuable investment for many companies. The range that we provide covers various kinds of office setups and requirements.
During this visit, I had a chance to visit Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. I don’t know much about Shakespeare but I bet he was a genius in English literary world; he is the pride of England. I got a chance to read some of the jokes by him and he was indeed an observant and perceptive writer. English people are known for their dry humor. Watch The Office or The Extras, you’ll get what I mean. Or simply watch Simon Cowell in action. FingerTec is in the business of security where seriousness and formality are anticipated. We, on the other hand, always find ways to loosen up a bit and inject humor in our materials; some gets it and some not. Truth be told, some of our artworks tickle people in a different way. We appreciate the feedback and we would make some changes in the future for the benefit of all. Jokes are only relevant if people laugh. It’s hard to please everybody but the most important thing of all is we don’t offend anybody.
IFSEC is an annual meeting point for the majority of security players in the UK and Europe and FingerTec is proud to be a part of the industry. I also had the pleasure of meeting Mr Jeremy from AIS Malta, Mr Olukayode Osunsan from Logix Uganda, Mr Mikael from Denmark, Mr Faisal from Dubai, Dr Riyadh from Al Salam Iraq, Mr Chukwame from Rapid Vigil, Nigeria and last but not least Mr Bob Marshall from CSD, London.
by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ
Writing Skills Exceed All
A lot of people misunderstand the meaning of IT Age and call for learning of computer to equip for the future. In fact, the keyword of IT is “Information”, “Technology” is just a tool or a medium to carry the explosion of Information that flooded our daily lives.
My opinion about learning computers has always been very clear. Parents need not have to worry about their offspring’s skills in computer. For nowadays kids, computer skills are natural. If you don’t believe me, let them play online games and they turn into a master in a few sessions even without guides from anybody.
Improve Your Language, that’s my call. Only with high proficiency in language, ones can easily and quickly comprehend information, and turn the information that cocooned them into the wings of knowledge and wisdom, to fly them to the gardens of wealth and opportunities.
Given this scenario: two persons, one piece of article, and one solution. One person reads but struggling to comprehend due to lack of language proficiency and the other one finishes the article in no time and solves the puzzle. Who wins?
When the Internet Age comes, people need to upgrade the proficiency of language from reading to include writing too. For example, as a technician, answering calls solve one problem at a time, one to one. But when you write the solution and publish it online, that piece of the solution serves many. Considering the cost of phone calls and the efforts it would take to explain, wouldn’t this be a better choice?
People write more than ever before.
In the past, social life involved much talking than writing. Now, we are using Facebook, we Tweet, we blog, we MSN, my conclusion is, we write more than we talk in the Internet Age and in the Internet World. If ones can polish their writing skills, who knows there might be another J.K. Rowling in the making.
Since 1995, when we started our unique way of global marketing strategy, our criteria of employment was not how good my sales people can talk, but I emphasized on how good they could write. And I even want this requirement extended to the technical team as well.
I read a book and discovered that theorists make a summation on our strategies and our Practical Branding efforts as “Inbound Marketing”. No matter what terminology they’re using, theorists and marketing gurus collectively agree that “writing skill” within an organization is one of the important criteria for “Inbound Marketing”.
Thanks to my staff who can write, with their contribution over the years, we have built a knowledge-based garden that prosper our business and benefited our customers all over the world.
by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ
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