Chien  0:04  
Hello, everyone. Welcome to a another episode of Spark Your Vision where we invite business leaders from various industries to share with us their experience and insights topics into what's currently shaping in the business world. Before we began, let me introduce the team. My name is Chien and I will be the host for today's show, along with my co-host, Nono. Nono, please say hi to everyone.

Nono  0:29  
Hi, everyone. My name is Nono.

Chien  0:31  
And without further ado, let me introduce our two special guests today and Annis Chiu, the sales manager of Conquer Electronics. And Zoe Chen, the supervisor of the overseas sales. Conquer Electronics is one of the leading fuse designers and manufacturers in the world. In today's episode, we will learn how Conquer stays innovative as well as continuing to explore new opportunities in new industries while thriving in the New Normal. Hello, ladies, thank you for coming on the show today. Before we begin, Annis, please briefly introduce yourself as well as Conquer, the company.

Annis  1:07  
Hello, everyone. My name is Annis. I'm an outgoing, optimistic person. I'm the second generation of Conquer, so it's my first company and it's been 20 years. It's not easy to go through that. But I'm glad I have so much good memories, and it's worth of it.

And then Zoe, please also introduce yourself as well.

Zoe  1:28  
Hello, everyone, my name is Zoe. I'm mainly in charge of overseas sales department and I been working here about six years now. I'm glad to be able to here to share with you guys about Conquer.

Chien  1:44  
Before I start off the show, I always like to start off with something that's a little bit softer side, you know, not always talking about business, but potentially even to learn a little bit more about you. Well, starting with Annis. I mean, I was looking at your background, your profile. And it was quite interesting because I noticed that in the past before as the sales manager, you were actually in other departments as well, which I think that's very beneficial. How does that help you become a, you know, a sales leader, especially now as well as moving forward.

Annis  2:16  
It's quite interesting when I first began at Conquer, as you know that I was the second generation of Conquer, so surely I was requested to come back and started working after graduation of university. At the time, it was not easy, because Conquer was still a very small scale company. So everyone needs to take in multitask. I was then assigned to take different jobs, for example, like international purchasing, international safety, approval application, and overseas sales. And I need to figure out all those working process by my own. I don't remember how many nights I was sitting in office with struggling mind. Yeah, after all, I figured out some ways. Finally, we had a smooth start. And those experiences really helped me to lead my team now, especially when we are facing some difficulties, we need to have strong determination and we need to build a really good relationship with our customers.

Chien  3:22  
Yeah, that's very interesting. I mean, as you mentioned, second generation, I think that is actually one of the topics that we actually discuss here in spark your vision, our previous episodes, we invited other second generation business leaders. And so I think a lot of times the experience is very similar, right? Because, you know, the a lot of the second generation professionals, they have to go through the experience in different departments, to go through that training to understand you know, quality from safety, from procurement, and then of course, ultimately to the sales department. Right. So I think that's usually a very good process, and also a very good experience to go through. So we I was looking at your background and it looks like you spent some time in the States share with us a little bit you know, regarding that experience, and then furthermore, because you currently are the supervisor for the oversea sales department. So I think how does that sort of help you becoming that overseas or the person in charge and helping to promote Conquer abroad?

Zoe  4:19  
Apparently, I was learning from my past decades of working experience, especially I've been located in China a couple of provinces, like Huizhou, Guangzhou, Kunshan, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. Every place I stay about like six to eight months, okay, and then go to the States. It's about one year. During that time, I need to working with Asia time and also with my State's work. So I think during that experience, I also learn you know, like global business, how to work together like a team player. Especially I've been through different industrial, like cable assembly and connectors, and also like working with icy provider. And also I learn how to connect all different industry in a circle system. So I know how to build up the business.

Chien  5:19  
No, I think you're right, especially when you're in the States, you're also working in like Taiwan times. I'm always like that, to be honest, whenever I go to business trips in the United States, I'm always working in the US time as well as the Taiwan time. So there's really no time for sleep, to be honest, you're working 24 hours. So I think that's one of the difficulties sometimes, and furthermore, the responsibilities as a overseas supervisor sales too, you know, to be honest. And now let's talk about Conquer electronics, as well. As we all know, these past three years has been difficult for the entire economics, right? Because of the pandemic and, you know, with the new normal this year in 2023. Given that during the pandemic, a lot of the businesses to be honest, they were, they weren't able to travel abroad, right? They essentially, you know, in the past, you know, the face-to-face, it couldn't happen, right? So a lot of us, we had to sort of stay locally and then however, we still need to do communication with our customers abroad. Can you share was with us? How did that affect Conquer's business as well as how were you able to overcome that?

Annis  6:28  
Due to the pandemic, of course, it's, it was almost impossible to visit our customers overseas. It was quite difficult actually when we cannot see face-to-face. But luckily, our marketing department worked very hard. And they try to find some solutions, we turn to some online webinars, online meetings, virtual exhibition shows, this really helped us still connecting with our international customer. Actually have held more meetings with our oversea customers online, because they were actually more free and they had more time.

Chien  7:10  
Okay, so as you know, I mean, during the pandemic, digital transformation is one of the hot topics, right? As you mentioned earlier, a lot of the physical face-to-face wasn't able to happen during the pandemic, obviously, for its reasons. And so I noticed you guys did something different. You guys did something that's very, very unique, especially from a electronic manufacturer perspective. You guys recently launched an AR augmented reality app, which is very, very interesting. And in fact, please do share with our audience. I mean, what was the motivation behind that? And, and then furthermore, if you have some quite interesting story you can share with us.

Annis  7:44  
Learning our product is actually a very boring thing for me personally. So yeah, I don't know others. But for me, initially, I think it's a boring thing. So we were thinking how to make it easy and interesting for our customers to learn. And we also want to do industrial first. So that is how Conquer app was motivated, and was born. And based on our years of experiences, we also combined AR/ VR technology to our customers where the fuse applications are. So the industrials, including automotive, 5G, telecommunication, energy storage system, and cloud server. This is a very interesting app that we will show later. Yeah, and customers can download by the iOS system and Android system on their mobile phones and tablets. Our information will be updated from time to time, so they're always receiving the most latest information when they check out app.

Chien  8:48  
Of course, you started out saying that learning about fuse products is difficult. Based on that experience, you went about creating an experience for your customers, not only to learn about the newest products, but also the fuse design, and you know, the whole process in general. I mean, do you want to show us. Yeah, I notice you have the app on.

Annis  9:07  
So this is our app, and once you download from the stores, and you can see there's four application, automotive, this is energy storage, 5G, telecommunication and cloud server. You click on automotive and there are some selections you can see, so you can just first see AC or DC, which one you're interested in. And then if you see AC that say AC charger section, so you just click on that. And the red lines clicking, so you can see these parts are the other one. You can see always which part is that, yeah.

Chien  9:45  
By having, you know, provide this kind of information and then furthermore, facilitating them to learn about your applications and having that engagement aspect of it, I think is really good in terms of sort of transferring that information to your customers. And I think you guys are I would say probably one of the fewest, the first ones to do this in the electronic manufacturing. Usually, when we're talking about ESG, I not only discuss what you guys are doing, but also share with the audience some of the statistics and trends that's currently going on. So I'm gonna pass this part to my co-host Nono to share some of that statistics.

Nono  10:20  
Continuous changes in the global climates and environments. ESG now is an important topic, especially on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve a sustainable environment. According to a survey conducted by a DBS bank and Bloomberg, around 92% of small and medium-sized enterprises are willing to focus on sustainability as they form part of global supply chains. In Taiwan. We also announced the initiative are net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. I want to ask in order to keep up with competitors, what is Conquer's strategies for reducing carbon emission in the future?

Annis  11:03  
Conquer has been implementing energy-saving and carbon emission programs since 2010. We also organized CSR team in our company since 2017. So we noticed that electricity consumption is the highest percentage of carbon emission, so less electricity, less carbon emission. That's what we set our goal, though, we started to monitor electricity use in our factory in the past 11 years, we have been successfully reduced 54% of carbon emission. Actually saving quite amount of electricity cost. Starting from 2022, we notice that our data shows that our decline curve was actually getting flatter. And it seems like we cannot do as good as before, so we started to look for some consultant company. And after discussion, we decided to make several big change including like intelligent monitoring system, instead of manual monitoring and inspection. And also some equipment upgrades for example, like we are replacing office, air conditioning units to reliable frequency units, and we also upgrade our high-frequency welding our devices instead of traditional soldering ways. Yeah, we also change all the office lights to LED lighting proximately we reduce like over 100,000 kilowatts, electricity, and 70,000 tons of carbon dioxide emission. We are now renewing ISO 14064 certification, which is for greenhouse emission and we also the second one in electronics industry in Taiwan who apply for ISO 5001 certification, which is for energy management system. And we will continue to do that in the future we will also work very hard in order to connect with our international customers continuously.

Nono  13:10  
As we are discussing ESG, many companies are now recognizing the importance of community engagement. In a study of 250 companies 28% of total coverage social giving was directly toward education progress. As a company member of society how does conquer find its play in community and furthermore, create a positive impact.

Annis  13:36  
Fuse is passive components is usually needed to protect overcurrent devices safely and silently. So we call it silent protector, even though it is always working silently, but we need to actively bring out importance to our customers and people to know. So externally to our customers. We always prioritize the safety and personal security, quality control, ensure that we can meet the customer satisfaction and also to our suppliers in order to maintain long-term relationship. Internally, we are taking care of our employees, including hosting some sports activities and hosting the blood donation every year and also donating for family support over 10 years already. In order to bring out the importance to use electricity., we also collaborated with library to organize some children courses, we tell to how use the electricity correctly in life. Yeah, in the future, we will organize the mountain or the beach cleanup in order to give back the society. This is very important that we will continue to do and also provide a better environment for our second generation.

Chien  15:02  
That's really good. I think you guys are really a good role model in terms of the ESG planning as well as the execution. So Conquer has been in business for I believe, over 45 years. And please share with us your company's key to success, as well as the secret to longevity. Yeah.

Zoe  15:22  
Almost 30 years ago, lots of Taiwanese factory, they move off to China.  But Conquer made the big decision about stay in Taiwan. And we desire to create more value for this land. So we have our own R&D and automation line, and even automation line with design by ourself. That will be the major part of the value. I mean, we can control everything in house to provide more quality product, quality service to customer, and even more flexibility to customer. For the past 45 years, Conquer has been become our number one fuse manufacturer in Asia Pacific. We have the a wide product portfolio for covering like chip fuse, SMD fuse, cartridge fuse, a power fuse, and over 98% by automation machine. So what I mentioned just earlier that the event automation machine, we designed by ourselves. So everything we capture in house, I think that will be the more competitive to the market.

Chien  16:36  
Okay. But that decision must have been very difficult. I mean, because you like you said 30 years ago, a lot of companies were making the decision to go to China, but you guys, of course, obviously decided to stick around. And then furthermore, now after 30 years later, yeah, it shows I mean, the results.

Zoe  16:52  
I think our president already see a long-term vision by that time.

Chien  16:58  
Yeah. Okay. Very forward thinking, aside from the consumer electronics industry. What other applications are you guys looking into? And furthermore, what are some of the applications you guys are trying to penetrate to help expand that?

Zoe  17:14  
Sounds like AR we create for customer and engineering. Of course, EV is the major market because it's hot topic in the whole world,. Europe and market already announced their need to transfer all their vehicle to electronics, right, in 2035, I think? Yeah, so that is the major one we are focusing. I think the New Energy is including ESS New Energy Systems and also 5G and also like server cloud and because everybody needs to use the social media to store their data ours. So server powers, secure protection become very, very important because those data was very valuable for customer.

Chien  18:01  
What's your strategy on it? You know, in terms of actually being successful in entering those applications?

Zoe  18:08  
I think just what I just mentioned that our portfolio including like chip fuse, SMD fuse, cartridge fuse, and power fuse. If you really think about those our portfolio, we can use in evey itself, and also external like charging station both can be used to onboard charger and also like BMS battery manager system. And also like a lot of DC-DC converter, it's on the vehicle itself. And also, like the power fuse can be used on charging station like the fuse over there.

Chien  18:46  
For this podcast, we got to do some research, right? So yeah, I read somewhere that you know, at Conquer or in Conquer, we aim to at least introduce 25 new products every year. And then furthermore, I understand you guys have over 100, you know, patents globally. And so, given the competitive nature because as we know, you know, electronic industry is always very competitive. How do you continue to stay in that lead position?

Zoe  19:11  
First of all, I think market searching will be the major job for engineer product developing, especially we have our 35 senior engineering in our team. So they are not only just design the product, I also trying to make our own patent as well. And during that time, of course, we'll consider the market trend to developing the product to suit the market on time. That will be the major work our engineering team will focusing on with marketing team.

Chien  19:46  
2023 is going to be not only interested in Europe is also a very important year. A lot of the traditional industries the exhibitions are coming back, essentially back on the calendar and so. In the past, I understand Conquer focus on some of the trade shows as well. So what are some of the plans coming up? Maybe some of the things that our audience can sort of look forward to.

Zoe  20:07  
Coming months, we have already have a plan in United States, which APEC, and that will be in March 19 to 23rd. One that's coming up. Yes. Yeah. Right. And the next one will be PCIM. That'll be in Germany, in May. And also we have some visit plan to visit customer in Asia Pacific. So we have some online, online show,

Chien  20:08
No matter where you know, what country your customers at, guys we're going to be at the North America as well as Europe as well as in Southeast Asia. Right? So there's always going to be an opportunity for you to be able to meet customers around the world. Right, because of these past three years. You guys are very well verse and of course into the digital marketing. Anything other you know, like, what other marketing activities aside from traditional trade shows do you have in store for us?

Zoe  21:04
I think for the past four years, we learn a lot.

Chien  21:07  
That's good. Learning is important thing. Hopefully we you know, that was the last time we have to go through a pandemic, but at least you learned, right, yeah.

Zoe  21:15  
Yeah, we learn a lot. We learn how to operate a lot of online meeting software, right, like teams. So yeah, we do have some marketing plan of, like LinkedIn. And we will continue building up our entire new website. Okay, in order to raise up our SEO searching ranking.

Chien  21:36  
Yes, I guess that's the one of the very, very few benefits of any pandemic, right? At least during these past three years, you guys were able to spend some time learn more about digital marketing. And then as we move forward, you know, since the borders are opening up pandemic is sort of behind us, we can not only utilize what we have been experienced with with the physical trade show, but also based on what you guys learn these past three years to continue to promote. Because sometimes I always say the virtual you know, the digital marketing aspect of it, potentially the reach is even wider. So I think, you know, the face-to-face the digital marketing, I think it's the perfect combination, potentially, for the next 45 years. Well, once again, thanks Annis and Zoe, for your time today. It's been our pleasure to have you on the show. And thanks for sharing with us or our audience, not only some insights in terms of you know, the current trends, but also share with us what are some of the things that's currently going on at Conquer, and how we can learn from Conquer and also hopefully in the future, work with Conquer as well. So that's all for today's show. And thanks for listening. And make sure to subscribe to the podcast and channel for more trending insights from business leaders around the world. And also do make do leave your comments and feedbacks and if you like our show, don't forget to give us a five star rating and you can always follow us on LinkedIn as well as Facebook for the latest shows as well as special podcast teasers. Thank you everyone and see you all again.

Zoe & Annis 23:01  
Thank you.