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So high tech sia! Robocutter now used for landscape workers!

MaxRiley

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Nowadays everything so high-tech! Even the landscape workers now use robocutters to increase their productivity!
Miyagi writes on his experience looking at this new robocutter that was bought using IGP grant from e2i.

http://miyagi.sg/2014/07/robo-cutter-change-landscaping-landscape/

I was invited to check out a demon*stra*tion of this machine called the “Robo-Cutter” and I got really excited because, WTF, it’s a robot that cuts grass, right?

No it wasn’t what I expected — there wasn’t any arti*fi*cial intel*li*gence about it, and it couldn’t deploy itself auto*mat*i*cally where it sensed the grass was tall. It was really just a remote con*trolled grass-cutting tractor.

I put my dis*ap*point*ment aside, and spoke to the per*son who was head*ing the demon*stra*tion, Mr Neo Say Hwee of Ho Eng Huat Con*struc*tion Pte Ltd.

He had pur*chased the Robo-Cutter for some*thing close to $100,000. Close to half of it was sub*sidised by the Employ*ment and Employ*a*bil*ity Insti*tute (e2i), which has a grant called the Inclu*sive Growth Pro*gramme (IGP).

In one fell swoop, Mr Neo cut down on his reliance for cheap for*eign labour, which was utilised in land*scape main*te*nance tasks for the old grass cut*ters. The Robo-Cutter can now do the equiv*a*lent job of half a dozen masked men (grass-cutting nin*jas), while using only one trained operator.

While I don’t have the exact num*bers to crunch, I think that while the gov*ern*ment con*tin*ues to tighten the sup*ply of cheap for*eign labour, com*pa*nies like Mr Neo’s will still stride for*ward when grants like IGP are applied judi*ciously to help inno*v*a*tive addi*tions, like the Robo-Cutter.

More impor*tantly, the employ*ees trained to oper*ate these smart machiner*ies will be able to be paid more. The job is also made eas*ier and safer as they are able to oper*ate the machine from a dis*tance under the shade, low*er*ing the pos*si*bil*i*ties of heat and other injuries.

This, I think is the best way to go about the increas*ing required wage. A manda*tory min*i*mum wage level with noth*ing else is just going to see com*pa*nies like Mr Neo’s being forced to pay more for grass-cutting nin*jas, and the costs inevitably will be passed on to their clients.

Unfor*tu*nately, many main*te*nance con*tracts in this par*tic*u*lar sec*tor are still mired in old terms and require*ments. They restrict com*pa*nies’ abil*ity to take the leap and inno*vate, like how Mr Neo has done with his company.

Con*tracts still stip*u*late how many per*sons are required to do the job, and buy*ers tend to want a dis*count when you tell them you are going to use fewer men. Worse, some may be shocked and not want to award you the con*tract when you tell them you are going to use a robot and one man.

Terms need to be changed. Buy*ers need to know that the essence of the con*tract is in whether a job can be done well and quickly, regard*less of how many peo*ple are used. With the labour sup*ply crunch sev*eral indus*tries are fac*ing, it will make the most sense to do this, and make the best use of every worker by giv*ing them the best work oppor*tu*ni*ties and do the best to reward them once the job is done in a safer and more effi*cient way.

As you can see, it takes an effort in con*cert — the buyer, the con*trac*tor and the worker have to change the way things are done in order to move this along, in order for all three par*ties to benefit.

When I’ve worn my other hat as a small busi*ness and start up con*sul*tant, I’ve heard excuses like “I dowan to take Gah*men money sekali got strings attached”, or “Cus*tomer don’t want to change con*tract”, even when pre*sented with really, really attrac*tive grants and cash incen*tives which have no strings attached (unless you think that “strings” include pay*ing taxes).

It is exas*per*at*ing. If these com*pa*nies don’t revisit the oppor*tu*ni*ties avail*able now to ben*e*fit every*one, they’re going to be in for a rough ride when they’re left behind, while the early adopters reap the ben*e*fits of a trans*formed economy.

It is timely this National Day (the one before the Big 50) that we pay heed to these steps and not just wish for it to hap*pen. We need to work towards this trans*for*ma*tion. The buck stops with everyone.
 

scroobal

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If they visited any of the 1st world countries, they would have seen one chap one tractor fitted with grass cutter mowing an field the size of a football 30 years ago. Many of the scholars studying overseas would have seen the same at their campuses. A driver driving a 40 ft flat bed will bricks fully stacked will deliver to the construction site and unload with a forklift that is attached to the back of the same truck. This was about 20 years ago.

We deliberately chose to do this so that grassroots supporters can get their usual contracts as they do not have the capital to invest and not keen to invest. We allowed this to carry on for so long.
 

MaxRiley

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Loyal
If they visited any of the 1st world countries, they would have seen one chap one tractor fitted with grass cutter mowing an field the size of a football 30 years ago. Many of the scholars studying overseas would have seen the same at their campuses. A driver driving a 40 ft flat bed will bricks fully stacked will deliver to the construction site and unload with a forklift that is attached to the back of the same truck. This was about 20 years ago.

We deliberately chose to do this so that grassroots supporters can get their usual contracts as they do not have the capital to invest and not keen to invest. We allowed this to carry on for so long.

But if machines took over all the jobs, there will be no jobs for anyone right? It's just that now we are moving to automation and machineries is partly because we are moving into first world and we have lesser Singaporeans who will do such jobs.

As Singapore was a developing country previously, we needed the jobs. I don't think it's so much about the grassroots leaders getting contracts.

Furthermore, automation and semi-automation will increase productivity.
Just my thoughts.
 
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