Intelligent Solutions Steering and Opening Up New Perspectives

Kuo-Ann Wu, CEO of CTCI Group Intelligent Solutions Business

The application of the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, big data, and other technologies continues to develop under the influence of Industry 4.0, and the trend of intelligent solutions and digitalization has brought opportunities for advancements and transformation of global industries. The CTCI Group Intelligent Solutions Business (GISB) has advantages in both intelligent technology and engineering expertise. We are committed to planning and introducing intelligent solutions for our clients, as well as providing plant construction, retrofit, and upgrading services. In response to the Group's recent high-tech business development, we have also expanded our businesses to the plant construction sector of hi-tech industries in order to expand our business scope and open up new perspectives.

Dedication to Intelligent Solutions to Provide Smart Solutions

GISB has devoted time and efforts to the four major fields of smart manufacturing, smart transportation, smart buildings, and smart cities. Through these systems and services, we as the most reliable engineering integration and intelligent services provider, assisting global clients to achieve goals in energy conservation, automation, intelligentization, and digitalization.

In the field of smart manufacturing, we provide intelligent solutions to save energy and reduce consumption as well as optimize production in digital plants. In the past ten years, we have used process simulation technology and intelligent services for digital plants to solve various issues within the manufacturing process. For examples, we apply IoT to establish connection and collaboration among multiple devices, use big data and AI to assist in decision-making, and establish a Digital Twin for factories/plants, etc., in order to achieve benefits such as visual queries, education and training, changes tracking, and multi-system integration. In addition, we continue to develop a smart energy management system (Mr. Energy 50001) to assist well-known companies, such as TSMC and Taiwan CFI Co., Ltd. to achieve the institutionalization and transparency of energy performance management.

For smart transportation, we actively participate in the construction of the country's transportation system and have outstanding achievements in track and road engineering, as well as bridge design and construction, inspection, and monitoring. With our excellent integration capabilities in electrical and mechanical engineering and information and communication systems, we successfully created the main MRT transportation operations, including setting up the traffic signs and communications systems of the Taipei MRT Xinyi Songshan Line, the Hsin-Chuang Lu-Chou Line, the Wanda Line which is still under construction, and the Taichung MRT Green Line along with other projects. We have also invested in the research and development of traffic signs and automatic toll collection systems. After completing the smart upgrade and construction of baggage delivery, consignment, and ICT projects in the first, second and third terminals of the Taoyuan International Airport, we continue to pursue related construction projects in the third terminal, as well as target the demands for smart technology for major international airports around the world to actively explore overseas business.

With the combination of expertise in green energy and smart technology, we integrate green building design with smart technologies to create smart green buildings for clients. Smart monitoring and application technologies, such as smart air conditioning, lighting, security, energy management, and maintenance are included, as well as assisting clients in obtaining certifications for green and smart buildings. The CTCI Group's second headquarters building in Beitou Shilin Technology Park, Taipei City, which will be completed soon, is one of our success stories. The building is expected to obtain the Taiwan Diamond-rated Green Building certification, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certificate of the U.S., and the Taiwan Diamond-class Intelligent Building Label. It will become the new local landmark and model for the application of smart green energy after completion in August 2021.

In recent years, we have established notable achievements in land development and hydraulic engineering in the smart cities sector, to help meet the demands derived from future urban governance, and help to address the extreme climate conditions that have become increasingly acute. In terms of land development projects, we have accumulated more than 1,000 hectares of planning, design, and supervision experience in park development, urban rezoning, reconstruction of military villages, and urban landscape transformation in the past five years, creating a new vision for urban space. The Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park, which is the first agricultural high-tech park in Taiwan, is our masterpiece. For hydraulic engineering projects, we specialize in planning services such as drainage, sewage, detention basins, and ecological engineering. For example, we have accumulated more than 450 kilometers in sewage piping layout construction, which has successfully protected the environment and maintained the lifeline of urban operations.

Integrate Resources to Strengthen Competitiveness in the Hi-tech Sector

In order to systematically reach the hi-tech sector, the CTCI Group established the Advanced Technology Facilities Business Operations (ATFBO) in 2020. After obtaining the semiconductor plant construction project, we set up an office in Arizona, USA this year in order to quickly respond to the needs for plant construction and get hold of both the upstream and downstream business opportunities within the hi-tech industry. GISB quickly integrated the existing technologies and resources of cleanroom and electromechanical engineering technologies from CTCI ASI, CTCI REI, and CTCI SEC and invested in the hi-tech engineering sector to strengthen our competitiveness in the hi-tech industry.

Due to technological breakthroughs in the semiconductor, biotechnology, and medical industries, products have reached the nanoscopic scale, and because the plant environment has a significant impact on quality control, product yield, and cost control, the requirements for plant construction are becoming more and more stringent. With existing achievements in laboratories along with the establishment of strategic alliances with subcontractors, we will continue to strengthen project execution capabilities and secure business opportunities of high-end cleanrooms both at home and abroad.

Our strength is in electrical and mechanical work. Over the years, we have completed complex electromechanical systems in a number of large-scale engineering projects, such as the power-related facilities at the Taoyuan International Airport, the electrical and mechanical work of the Taichung Municipal Fubon Building, and the Jia-Shan Air Force base EPC project of the Ministry of National Defense, which won the Public Construction Golden Quality Award, etc. With the rapid growth of hi-tech engineering in the near future, we are confident that we can provide a complete set of high-quality mechanical and electrical engineering services for biotechnology and electronic hi-tech factories.

Create a Win-Win Situation with Clients through Enhanced Innovations

In addition to increasing business developments, we also further enhance our innovations. One innovation in our business model is a "profit-sharing contract," which means that an overall evaluation of the project is first conducted, then resources are invested to provide clients with various intelligent system services to help reduce input costs. The subsequent profit allocation is based on the agreed ratio in order to create a win-win situation between the two parties. As Industry 4.0 moves towards digitalization, systems and user interfaces are being rapidly updated and optimized, therefore we will seek to develop operation & maintenance services for intelligent systems, replace the one-time outright sale model with that of the right-to-use services. This will assist the Company to continue to provide clients with the latest and most advanced technology updates and follow-up services, as well as intensify our influence in the global intelligent sector.

In terms of technological innovation, we have a number of exclusive and industry-leading innovative technological capabilities, such as tunneling shield and tunnel engineering capabilities. We are the only manufacturer in Taiwan that is able to provide ground freezing method services, and advanced brine and liquid nitrogen which can be applied to any stratum and most underground constructions. Also, we apply the industry-leading construction technology and intelligent management system in constructions across different sectors, such as successfully executing the 26" gas pipeline installation using the innovative Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) method on the CPC EPC Turnkey Project. This is the longest and deepest submarine HDD natural gas pipeline in Taiwan, which is also the first gas pipeline to cross the main channel of the Port of Taichung. It also set the record for the longest subsea horizontal piping drilling.

In addition, we have the most experienced structural jacking and movement service team in Asia. Through the application of the intelligent structure jacking method, the impact of construction can be minimized, and we can take care of the operational and repair issues. The application of BIM (Building Information Modeling) has also been popularized in the execution of many projects, which not only increases construction efficiency, but also greatly assists the owner to improve maintenance and takeover applications.

Building Reliability and Set a Model for Intelligent Solutions Services

CTCI’s GISB adheres to the brand spirit of "Most Reliable" and provides clients with intelligent solutions services that they can rely on. Our outstanding performances have been repeatedly affirmed by the owners and other parties. We have consecutively been placed in the top 5% in the Corporate Governance Evaluation for OTC companies and won the Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Award from the CommonWealth Magazine, and successfully implemented the following projects: "Reconstruction of Huaxing Bridge in Chiayi City," "San-Chung Commercial and Industrial Vocational High School Underground Parking–Design and Construction Turnkey Project," "Construction of Social Residential Buildings on the North Side of Central New Village," and "Reconstruction of Hsin Cheng Bridge," "Reconstruction of Shih-Tzu Tunnel Reservoir System," and "Project Design for the Donghu Transmission Pipelines Shield Tunneling Turnkey Project." We have been honored with the "Public Construction Golden Quality Award" and the "Excellent Construction Golden Safety Award."

With the trend of intelligentization influencing all industries, CTCI's GISB will continue to invest in innovative research and development in our core technologies and combine the advantages of "engineering" and "resources cycling," which are the Group's two major business units to work together to accelerate the promotion of global intelligence, exhibit our sustainable competitiveness, and set a benchmark within the industry.