Aboitiz ready to dominate through transformative innovation and expansion
The Aboitiz Group, one of the country’s largest conglomerates, continues to look toward its future with balanced optimism and a revitalized mission to transform itself amidst changing national and regional business landscapes. With a strong commitment to accelerating growth and diversification, the Group is gearing up to become a transformative force in the industries it operates by providing “not just life-essential, but life-changing” products and services too as Aboitiz Group President and Chief Executive Officer Sabin M. Aboitiz clearly puts it.
“Our Great Transformation into a start-up conglomerate driven by transformed Aboitiz team members—our A-People— will propel our company to the frontlines of modern innovation and beyond, in order to ensure and accelerate our continued growth and success, and to advance business and communities faster, better, and stronger than we ever did in the past or could have ever imagined,” Aboitiz said.
All Aboitiz business units are exploring and implementing fresh innovation initiatives. As they take advantage of strategic partnerships, the benefits of data science and artificial intelligence (DSAI), and upskilled team members, Aboitiz business units are poised for a revolutionary leap forward in their respective industries.
For AboitizPower, the company recently launched its Data Innovation Program through which it seeks to solve real operational problems and develop energy solutions that will benefit both the business and the consumers. Under this program, AboitizPower is currently exploring the use of artificial intelligence solutions across its business units, such as optimizing energy storage for battery systems, predicting boiler tube leaks in thermal power plants, managing grid risks from vegetation, and improving customer service and account management. To drive this digital transformation and create digital citizenship among its team members, AboitizPower has put in place Data Science and AI enablement initiatives. The Data Innovation Program will be an anchor program of AboitizPower’s DigitaLeap strategy that aims to fuel insight-driven decisions and actions, in line with its mission of delivering reliable, cost-efficient, and environmentally sustainable energy solutions.
The Group’s banking arm Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), continues to be on full-throttle in enabling self-service and mobile-first banking services through their retail financial platform UnionBank Online. With its recent acquisition of the Citi consumer banking business in the Philippines, UnionBank customers will enjoy more credit-card specific services such as applying for a credit card, using their card to pay or send money, and availing of installments—all executed in the same great user interface and user experience (UI-UX) that UnionBank is known for. The public can also look forward to UnionBank’s continued push to become a “Super App,” which is becoming an ever-closer reality as more and more partners approach UnionBank to be onboarded in their Insurance Marketplace, an industry-first feature. UnionBank has also taken its first steps into the world of cryptocurrency as they work on embedding the technology that powers their own crypto ATM, BitBox, within the UnionBank Online platform. This will make crypto and the many opportunities it brings more accessible to Filipinos.
Aboitiz InfraCapital, the infrastructure arm of the Group, is targeting expansion and the hypergrowth of its businesses. It aims to more than double the footprint of its Economic Estates developments in both Batangas and Cebu as well as introduce sustainability and smart city features. Aboitiz InfraCapital is also building up the portfolio of its joint digital infrastructure business with Partners Group, Unity Digital (Unity). With the acquisition of the Small Cell Sites (poles) business, Unity is set to emerge as a prime choice for telecommunication companies because of its value-added services. Unity aims to be a one-stop service provider for MNOs’ fixed infrastructure needs. It is on track to complete 1,000 operating cell sites by year-end.
Meanwhile, Aboitiz’s food subsidiary Pilmico and Gold Coin Group (Pilmico) directs its focus on increasing production capacity and strengthening downstream integration across regions in 2022. As the pork industry continues to recover from the effects of African Swine Fever (ASF), Pilmico aims to help address the pork scarcity in the country with the construction of a third breeder farm currently at a 64% completion rate. Along with the swine farms, Pilmico’s retail business ‘The Good Meat (TGM),’ also continues to grow and is set to open more brick and mortar stores throughout the year. TGM is a fresh pork cuts supplier to more than 75 supermarkets in Metro Manila, while its value-added meat products are present in over 200 supermarkets in Metro Manila and Greater Manila Area. Meanwhile, further expansion of feed mills in China and Vietnam is targeted to increase the production capacities and capabilities across the regions to aid the growth of pet food and aqua products.
For 2022 and beyond, AboitizLand, the real estate arm of the Group, is looking at exponential transformation powered by its investments in technology, data science and artificial intelligence, as well as strategic partnerships with future-forward companies. One area of investment is in precast panel technology to accelerate house construction which will help the company take advantage of the rising demand for residential properties in new growth cities outside the metros. AboitizLand also remains to be the pioneer in digitally-enabled contactless home buying services which has transformed the buying experience for investors and aspiring homeowners into a more convenient, easy, and accessible one.
Aboitiz Construction, the construction business of the Group, is looking into expanding its operations in heavy industries and adding more infrastructure projects to their roster. For heavy industries, Aboitiz Construction is set to complete the installation of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) for AboitizPower’s Therma Marine, Inc., in Davao de Oro this year. Once completed, the BESS will ensure an additional 49 megawatts to support the Mindanao grid. In terms of infrastructure projects, Aboitiz Construction is currently rehabilitating the piers 1 & 2 and threshold facilities of Mariveles Grains Corporation (MGC) located in Mariveles, Bataan. The project will help improve the logistics of food products that go through Panamax vessels which can carry 8,000 metric tons to 10,000 metric tons per day. As part of its innovation initiatives, Aboitiz Construction is one of the first construction companies in the country that started the automation of equipment which will ensure the accuracy and efficiency of construction operations.
Aboitiz Data Innovation, the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) arm of the Aboitiz Group, is supporting many of the transformations happening across the Group as it builds on its foundations established in 2021. Last year, it focused on breaking ground to demonstrate what is possible and what can be achieved when DSAI is operationalized across the business. This year, it is boosting efforts through the upskilling of more Aboitiz team members in data-rich skills, the exploration of more models for hyper-personalization across industries, and closer collaboration with the different business units in the Group through the launch of its very own data exchange platform.
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