Keynote speech in Synopsys Singapore 2013 to motivate Engineers to consider starting technology companies

1. Confidential and Copyright 1
An Engineer’s experience
moving from a MNC to a
Technology Start-Up
Dr Tan Guan Hong
Programme Director of I2R
Synopsys
24 July 2013

2. Confidential and Copyright 2
Introduction
To
A*STAR

3. Confidential and Copyright 3

4. 1997/65% 2001/75% 2006/66% 2011/60% 2016/??

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8 12

6. Straits
Times
May 16
2013
A*STAR
Focus

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8. Multi
Disciplinary
Approach
I2R
Research
Departments
Infocomm Security
Cybercrime &
Security
Intelligence
Data Analytics
Human Language
Technology
Neural &
Biomedical
Technology
RF, Antenna &
Optical
Modulation &
Coding
Signal
Processing
Visual
Computing
Programme Director
Tan Guan Hong
Smart Grid
Intelligent Transport
Systems
Robotics
Ocular Imaging
Video Behaviour
Analytics
Situational Awareness
Analytics
Reconfigurable System
Wireless Chipset
Power Aware
Transceiver
Photonic Switching
Scalable Multimedia
Platform
Personalised
Interactive
Tele-Services
Joint Labs
Baidu I2R
Research Centre
(BIRC)
I2R – Singapore
Power
I2R – STEE Info-
comm
IPAL
(UMI CNRS 2955)
A*STAR Initiatives
Urban Systems
Initiatives
Sense & Sense-Abilities
Business Analytics
Translational Centre
INTELLIGENCECOMMUNICATIONSMEDIA
Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R)
Building Industry
Relevant Solutions.
Focus on market oriented,
end-end solutions
ENGINEERING

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In this presentation, I will share
my Engineering journey from
an Engineer to start SysEng
, a System Engineering
Company, in 1994. Then
diversify to Civil Sector, Water
Sector and be acquired in 2009
by Tritech Ltd TriTech

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How can we prepare our future
Engineers to be competent and
successful ?
In this presentation, I will share my
Engineering journey from an
Engineer to start an Engineering
Company and the challenges which I
faced, highlighting the skills,
competencies and values individuals
require

11. Confidential and Copyright 11
Minimum Requirements:-
•Hardworking (>12 hours per day and almost 7 days a
week)
•Full commitment with Drive and Ambition
•Communication, People, Political and Social skills
•Set example of 120% work standard
•Leadership by example
•Start Young (< 35) and Believe in yourself
•Go against Norm (do what the average guy don’t do)..
Don’t be a me too person
•Challenge yourself to always be better yesterday
•Able to transform your own habits
•Self discipline

12. Confidential and Copyright 12
My past experiences
have already shaped my
future as there is no
future without the past.
These are my
experiences

13. Confidential and Copyright 13
Born in Dec 1953
Started Electronics as a Hobby at age of 15
In 2nd year University course, best subjects were
Electronics while the Electrical (Heavy Current) subjects
had lower grades. But I still chose for the Electrical
options !
My Head of Department called me up and asked me if I
had make a mistake (He thought that my “England”
was poor and mis-understood).
•B. Eng Degree in 1976.
•Ph.D. in Electrical Machines in 1979 (Wolf Safety Lamp
Coy Industrial Scholarship)

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Learn
Electrical Engineering to
bring R&D outcomes into a
working prototype
for a British SME
1976 to 1979

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Industrial PhD: Increase 55W to 250W Generator
55 W Version

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Modular Real Time
Analog Computer
• Product Design Improvement x5 in same packaging
• Bridging Theory to Real World with Constraints
• 2D Finite Element Method (FEM) Software
Development and Electronic Design
Stator
Rare Earth
Magnet
Magnetic Field Prediction
My work place for 3 years
Green
Engineer
@ 23

17. Confidential and Copyright 17
Knowledge in Log scale
KnowledgeintheWorld
Read
101,000,000
1010
Understand
105
Apply
103
Education trains you to acquire
Knowledge and apply what you
have been trained for. This is
normal forward path.
I wanted the reverse, by
understanding the market, then go
back to the Knowledge Centers to
pick what can make business sense
Better look for
solution to solve
problem

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Learn
Product Design &
Manufacturing Technologies
for Global Market
1980 to 1993

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My Philips Singapore History
(Make Company Dependent on you !)
March 1980 to Dec 1993 in Philips Singapore in Toa
Payoh Audio-Radio Factory
• Development Engineer (1980) myself
• Senior Development Engineer (1981) myself
• Section Manager (1982) 3 staff
• Chief Engineer (1983) 6 staff
• Quality Assurance Manager (1984) 80 staff
• Production Engineering Manager(1987)12 staff
• Engineering Manager (1988) 100 staff
• Senior Manager (1991) 100 staff

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First Big Challenge in Philips (1984 to 1986)
•Promoted to be a Department Head of 80 staff in
1984 when Factory Quality was dropping !
•Negotiated with the GM that when the Quality was
99%, I would look for a new job function
Average
Quality
dropping

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Made my boss successful to be promoted to GM and I took
over his Engineering Department in 1988
•Streamline Factory Process for Quality & Productivity and
Flexibility
•Reduce and De-skill manpower to be globally competitive
Transform Factory from 0.5 day to Just
In Time (JIT) Manufacturing lines
Transformation

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• Who am I without the Company Logo
behind me ?
• Can I stand on my own feet and make a
living without the Logo behind me ?
• We all can … as before our first job, we
were actually unemployed
Mid career crisis ?
Done everything ?
Bore ?
Dr G H Tan
B. Eng, Ph D
Who am I without Philips ?

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•As we have grown accustomed of the
trappings of an MNC by its size & job security,
we take it for granted
•The reality is that we are a NOBODY without
the Company Logo behind us
•As an individual in an MNC, you are only 1 in
their 1,000 staff. You are easily replaceable as
MNC has a operating system in place anyone.
This is their strength in the first place.
•With Globalization, you are now calibrated with
the talent globally. Embrace it rather than fear it

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MNC
1st Jump
Just
starting
to
survive
Fear Factor ?
Loss of face ?
Loss of income ?
Many, many ????

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The Barrier is actual you
yourself !
In an MNC when you grow up,
you have to be aggressive &
push to get things done but
when you start on your own you
have to be more
accommodating

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Some people make things happen
Some people watch what happen
Some people wonder what happen

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Employee Entrepreneur
Boss Above him Himself
Profit Nil Everything
Loss Nil Proactively Avoids
Salary GIRO Variable
Pay rise Boss Himself
Pay Loss Nil No Pay
Stress 9 2 5 24 x 7
Holiday 14/Year Everyday
Destiny Coy Himself
Risk Avoid Challenge
Decision EXCEL Back of envelope
Spend By Budget Minimize

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Don’t
Know
Know √
Self Aware of your own self
Over confident ?Learning
Over confident
also, Arrogant ?
Opportunity
√
XXX
KnowDon’t Know
You

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A domesticated Animal is fed from can food
Keeps
owner
Happy
In the home, the large Alsatian
is the King compare to others
and he is kept well fed
Compare to a Wolf
who has to hunt
for food every day
to survive ?
They
hunt as
a team

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We send two shoe
salesmen to Africa to
explore opportunities
One told me “Boss, we
can’t sell shoes as
African don’t wear
shoes”The other told me
“Boss, we have Huge
Market as Africans
don’t wear shoes”
Both saw this ???

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Learn
How to start
a Test Engineering Company
from Ground Zero
1994

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System Engineering

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Rotate 90 degrees
Sine and Square Waves
Analog and Digital Technologies

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Test Engineering Business line
PCBA
Flying
Probe
Tester
Motor Tester
Step
Angle
Motor
Tester
Fax
Functional
Tester
DC Motor
Tester
Water
meter
Tester

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Trends in
Singapore and
World
in 2000

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See what Young people want to do, then do what
they don’t want to do.
Go to areas of excess and Supply to areas of
shortages
They like to do :-
Office type of work and computers
Business Opportunity :-
Use technologies to do the Dirty & Mundane
work, Glorify them using technologies

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Cost Structure changes in Singapore
• Move from Low Cost Economy to
Knowledge Intensive Industries
• Cost structure moves from (High
Material & Low Manpower) to (Low
Material & High Manpower)
• Trend follows Europe. No longer
repair at component level but swap
at module level for servicing
• Professional equipment and
services are commoditized for a
larger market like Computers,
Mobile Communication Devices,
Medical Devices.
Material
80%
Manpower
20%
1970
to
1980
1990
to
2020
High Man
Value
Knowledge
Base Service
Low Man
Cost Economy Material
20%
Manpower80%

38. Confidential and Copyright 38
Singapore Growth Curve with the
Emergence of China & India
1970 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
Electronics
Peak of
Electronics
Civil, Water,
Transport Bio Tech,
Nano
Material
Growth
1980

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Every Business, Every Product, Every Service
has a Life span unless you are in basic
essentials like Water, Food, Energy, Transport.
Even these changes with the
method of generation, delivery
and consumption
50 70 80 90 2000 10 20 30
Cassettes
60
Water, Food,
Energy &
Transport
Video
Tapes
Desktop
Computer
Mobile
Phones
40 50
CD / DVD
Smart
Phones

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•Electronic has 2 peaks
(Summer & Xmas sales)
in a year
•Construction has 1 peak
every 3 years
Business Cycle Peak & Dip

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Learn
How to start
Diversify to Civil Engineering
Sector using Test
Technologies
2001

42. SysEng R&D
Investment in
Structural Health
Monitoring of
Highway Bridge
in
April 2001

43. May 2001

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In Business Times
23th March 2003,
SysEng was
featured at the
center page by
IDA as a State of
the Art Wire-less
Technology
System Developer
for Automatic
Tunnel Monitoring
System. This is the
innovative method
of deploying Wire-
less and
Inforcomm
Technologies for
Tunnel Monitoring

45. 20 April 2004
April 2004 Crisis comes with
Opportunity

46. Real Time Monitoring for Marina Bay Sands
•Sensors are measured and
processed every 10 minutes and
available in the secured website
using Machine to Machine
Technologies (M2M)
•300 MEMs Tilt sensors for
structure movements
•400 VW Strain Gages and 400
Temperatures for cast-in, Post-
tensioning and strut monitoring
•System handles 158,400 sensor
readings per day
Confidential and Copyright
Sept
2006

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48. `
Future LTA Projects till 2020March 2007
and I will be 67 years old  !

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Construction M2M Approach 2007
Sensors and Domain Specific Devices
Horizontal
Technologies
•Mobile
•Internet
•Network
Data Collection, Analysis, Management & Alert
Environmental
Transport
Facility/Building
Healthcare
Manufacturing
SupplyChain
Project Specific Development

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Started in January 1994 to provide
One Stop Shop for Factory Test
Solutions from Design to Production
Remote Instrumentation for
Buildings, Tunnels and Bridges
Real Time Monitoring & Alert
systems using Wire-less and Internet
for Civil Engineering
Machine 2 Machine (M2M) Solution
Provider

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The Biggest Challenge at this stage of
SysEng Growth in 2007
•How to move to the Next Stage of
Growth ?
•Which sector ?
•What type of Organization is needed for
the future ?
•How to transform team to the next
Organization ?

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A snake has to shed its old skin to grow.
An organization has to shed the irrelevant
business units and resources to grow to
the next size

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As company evolves, each will rise to his
level of incompetence (Peter’s Principle)
•Can you accept your former customer to
be your boss in 5 years time ?
•Is the company bigger than you or
you are bigger than the company ?
•Do you use people’s
strengths or use their
weakness in a team?
•Are you aware of your
own weakness and
strength ?

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4 Ms which I started with are
Man, Machine , Materials & Methods
Now I have learned that another 2
more are even more important
Market & Money

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Handling
Known Knowns
&
Known Unknowns

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The business has 3 domain blocks
Electronics Software
Civil
Engineering
For business to work, all 3 sub-blocks must work
Each sub-block has 2 states, “0” Not-working Logic
and “1” Working Logic
This business has 2 x 2 x 2 possible combinations
(23) to work or fail
Profits

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The business has 3 functional sub-blocks
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 1 1
For business to work, the
probability is 1 / 23 = 1/8 =
12%
The possibility of unit not
working is 7/8=88% !
When getting it to work, can
you assume that the person
has the skills to troubleshoot
any of the 7/8 ? Unlikely

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The business has 3 functional sub-blocks
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 1 1
How it works is a Known
Knowns of 1 combination
And Known failure occurs is a
Known Unknowns of 7
combinations

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Learn
How to start
Diversify to Water Sector
using Test Technologies &
Civil Engineering Out-door
deployment
2008

60. Confidential and Copyright

61. Confidential and Copyright
PUB Command Center
for Live Flood Sensor
readings and Video
Wall

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63. Real Time Track Record Aug 2012
Confidential and Copyright
Outdoor stations over 710 km2
Project
Number of
Stations
Number of
Parameters Interval
Frequency of
monitoring /
Day
Amount of
Data / Day
Water Gauging Station 30 76 15 min 96 7,296
Water Vertical Profiler 24 2,474 15 min 96 237,504
Water Hydrometric Flow 53 265 10 min 144 38,160
Total Suspended Solid Monitoring 25 75 10 min 144 10,800
s::can Station 5 30 10 min 144 4,320
Water Level 66 189 10 min 144 27,216
Reservoir Level Monitoring 17 51 5 min 288 14,688
Metrological Station 2 8 10 min 144 1,152
Rain Stations 60 120 5 min 288 34560
RTWQMS India ,River Ganges 10 140 15 min 96 1344
Rain Stations 64 64 15 min 96 6144
Camera 66 132 10 min 144 19,008
Low Tension Alarm Panel 8 32 10 min 144 4,608
Fleet Management 408 3,264 1 Week 0.1 466.3
Geotechnical Monitoring 75 3,173 10 min 144 456,912
Structural Monitoring 33 3,899 6 hours 4 15,596
Total 919 13,619 1,732 879,774
Amount of Data Points / Month 26,393,220

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In 2012
• 45% of LTA Real Time
Monitoring Projects
• 75% of PUB Real Time
Monitoring Projects

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Tritech Marble Business in 2012

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Bought 33 years marble mining rights in Kelantan
Tritech group have Geologist who can core the rock and
assess ourselves rather than depend on the seller
“independent” geologist report to buy the mine
Tritech has Water Membrane manufacturing in Qingdao
China, Water Monitoring business
Water monitoring will determine where to put water filtration
plant along the river and give access to local plant builders to
supply membranes
Good quality marble are sold as blocks. Broken marbles are
turn into Grounded Calcium Carbonate (GCC) which are used
for pH correction in water treatment plants.

67. Confidential and Copyright 67
Reminder ………Minimum Requirements:-
•Hardworking (>12 hours per day and almost 7
days a week)
•Full commitment with Drive and Ambition
•Communication, People Political and Social skills
•Set example of 120% work standard
•Leadership by example
•Start young and Believe in yourself
•Go against norm (do what the average guy don’t
do).. Don’t be a me too person
•Challenge yourself to always be better yesterday
•Able to transform your own habits
•Self discipline
•Always ask Why ?, Why ? Why ? (three times)
•Continuously Knowledge Acquisition

68. Thank you
Email : tangh@i2r.a-star.edu.sg