DOE Hosts Dialogue on Asia Energy Issues

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Energy (DOE) plays host to the three-day Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) that will tackle energy security, sustainability and resiliency starting Monday, August 7, in the island of Panglao in Bohol.

On the first day of the ACD, delegates will have four sessions. The first session is on renewable energy (RE) for a cleaner future covering RE efforts in China and Malaysia. China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute Director Xu Yifan, and Adjunct Professor and Nusantra Technologies Executive Chairman Dato Mohamed Razali Dato Yusoff will be the speakers.

The second session will discuss natural gas as a transition fuel and the best practices and challenges of natural gas infrastructure development. Institute of Energy and Economics Senior Economist and Manager Yoshikazu Kobayashi will provide Japan’s experiences and initiatives in their domestic natural gas sector and a regional situationer on the said resource.

Session three is on mainstreaming energy efficiency focusing on the conceptualization and development of a Low Carbon Model Town, an initiative following the 9th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Energy Ministers Meeting held in Fukui, Japan in 2010. Preliminary researches were done in six phases covering the cities in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, U.S.A., Peru, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Korea, Russia and Japan.

The fourth session is on the renewed role of nuclear energy with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Dohee Hahn talking about the regional and global status and prospects of nuclear power and the role of nuclear energy in greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Currently, there are 446 nuclear reactors in operation spread in 30 countries, including 61 under construction in 15 countries. Approximately 2/3 of the reactors are located in Asia with two new ones in Belarus and the United Arab Emirates.

On the second day of ACD on Tuesday, there are three sessions. Session 5 is on Energy Access and Connectivity with Energy Economist from Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, Dr. Yanfei Li, tackling initiatives that aim to improve energy safety, optimize the distribution of energy resources, integrate regional energy markets and push forward the green and low carbon development of regional energy. In the same session, Thailand’s Energy Policy and Planning Office-Energy Strategy Management Unit Director Tanongsak Wongla will talk about the challenges of cross-border energy connectivity, especially in relation to growing domestic demand.

Session 6 is on promoting energy resilience with Philippine DOE Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella sharing the Philippine experience in developing the country’s energy resiliency policies and programs, such as the E-Power Mo!, to ensure resilient energy systems and facilities as well as an empowered consumers.

In the same session, Dr. James VanCoevering of B-LEADERS will touch on the development of climate resilient distribution construction approaches. Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) Vice President and Head Energy Management Engr. Rolando M. Cagampan will talk about their efforts towards supply versus demand and disaster resilience. And lastly, SN Aboitiz Power Group President and CEO Joseph S. Yu will zero in on the issues beyond power, the food-water-energy nexus.

Session 7 is on the role of the future generation on sustainable energy. The Liter of Light will hold an orientation and solar build workshop. A total of 34 grades five and six students from Lourdes Elementary School in Panglao Island, and 12 teachers from various schools in Bohol will teach ACD delegates how to assemble a solar powered lamp, a project of the DOE in partnership with the Department of Education, Provincial Government of Bohol, MERALCO and Liter of Light Org.

On the third day of the ACD, August 9, there will be a working group meeting to discuss the approaches and strategies to move forward the ACD Energy Action Plan. After the group meeting, there will be an Economic Research Institute Network (ERIN) meeting and the holding of the 1st East Asia Energy Forum, which will focus on energy issues of sub-regions East Asia and ASEAN and the role of fossil fuels in addressing global energy supply requirements.

The purpose of holding the event in Bohol is to give the ACD delegates a better presentation of the energy issues that is anchored on the rich culture and experience of the Philippines and the resilience of the Filipinos.

Discomfort Room Exhibit at District Gallery is Now Open

Wazzup Pilipinas!

More often than not, mental health illnesses are trivialized – to the point that it is apathetically dismissed and ignored as a mere attempt to bring an afflicted individual back on an emotional level that is more acceptable and manageable for the common man. Mental illnesses are frowned upon with a stigma which is harmful to an afflicted individual.

Discomfort Room is an experimental group show attempting to engage that stigma. It is an experiential acceptance; that these problems exist within our material plane of existence, manifesting in our daily lives like broken furniture inside our own homes. The room recreates the space inside our heads, decorated with the pains and illnesses depicted in different types of media. It communicates the ephemeral struggle against a constant burden in an individual’s daily life; and yet it is a safe-space, where the disturbed can realize that they are not alone in their fight.

As art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable, the room is set to comfort or discomfort the occupants.

Either way, welcome home. 

Siemens Sees Potential in Digitalization of Philippines’ Food and Beverage Industry

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Digitalization presentation on F&B industry by Roland Heymann, Head of Global Food and Beverage, Technical Account Management, Siemens Germany

At the full-day seminar on “Digitalization of the Food and Beverage Industry in the Philippines” held by Siemens last month, a team of global experts from the company showcased their technological expertise to current and potential customers in Philippines’ F&B industry.

Through interactive presentation sessions, Siemens presented how industry players can discover the potential of digitalization in food and beverage industry. Topics covered include “Digitalization - The future of manufacturing in Food and Beverage” and “Standardization – Set the pace for digitalization in Food and Beverage”. There was also a live demonstration to showcase how companies can “Reduce downtimes and cost with transparent operation”, where Siemens used the example of the dairy industry to demonstrate how both process and discrete workflows in the food and beverage industry can benefit from digitalization. Factors typically affecting the dairy industry are high cost sensitivity and mass production on the one hand, coupled with the growing diversity of available flavors and innovative packaging concepts on the other.

“We’ve been working with a number of global food and beverage players and learned from them about their demands and specific trends in the market. In order to respond to these needs, we are adapting our digital enterprise software suite accordingly and are implementing these functions into our applications, our solutions, and our products. While doing so, we aim to bring those solutions to anywhere in the world that has major expansions and investments ongoing for the food and beverage industry, to give all regions and specifically the Philippines an equal and fair chance to leverage our learnings,” shared Roland Heymann, Head of Global Food and Beverage, Technical Account Management, Siemens Germany.



Digitalization the Food and Beverage in Industry in the Philippines
The F&B industry in the Philippines is a highly competitive one, and it is expected to amount to approximately US$26 million in revenue this year. For manufacturers in the industry, operating productive production facilities requires many factors for consideration, including a consistently high level of product quality, maximum plant availability, optimum resource efficiency – and, increasingly, the greatest possible flexibility in order to meet more and more individual customer requirements.

Additionally, about 1.3 billion tonnes of food – which is about a third of all that is produced – around the world is wasted due to factors such as poor equipment, transportation and infrastructure, rejection due to aesthetics, and over purchase. The supply chain has to be more agile to allow companies to produce the right amount of products to cater to consumer demands, at the right time and at the right location.

Mastering all these challenges today and in the future is possible only with digitalization. Digitalization is the interaction of the virtual and real world. It is a major trend and innovation driver, creating completely new business and growth opportunities for companies. Digitalization of the entire value chain is crucial for catching new trends and ensuring competitiveness.

This is particularly important for the Philippines, as the country is growing rapidly in terms of population and production capacities. Digitalization would lay the foundation of how the local food and beverage industry will perform in the next few years and be able to compete with other countries in the region.

The digitalization of the manufacturing industry, which is also known as “Industrie 4.0”, is a topic of global interest.

Siemens offers the products and solutions required fully or gradually integrate and digitalize the entire value chain. The Digital Enterprise Suite is Siemens’ answer to Industrie 4.0, and it enables manufacturing companies to streamline and digitalize their entire business process, seamlessly integrating suppliers into the mix. They can begin at any point of their value chain, from product design to service, and can extend digitalization gradually, depending on their current needs.

With the Digital Enterprise Suite, Siemens offers a comprehensive portfolio of software-based systems specifically for the discrete industries. It integrates and digitalizes the complete value chain from Product Design, Production Planning, Production Engineering, Production Execution to Services. The result of the integration and digitalization of the complete value chain is a perfect digital copy of the value chain – the Digital Twin. This enables companies to perform simulation, testing, and optimization in a completely virtual world – before ever committing any resources in the real world. The connection of the virtual and real worlds leads to shorter time-to-market as well as greater flexibility, quality, and efficiency.

Enrico Buergo, Vice President and Country Division Lead, Siemens Philippines, said, “Digitalization is an integral part of the industrial revolution. You have this shift coming, it’s about the analysis, integration and standardization. We’re bringing it here to kick-start a very vibrant market which is food and beverage... and we really want to use it as a way for each company to achieve whatever it is they are aspiring and not to be left in the game.”

“The future is always in motion,” explains Alexander Grimm, Head of Food and Beverage ASEAN, Siemens Singapore, during the beginning of his presentation session. “Digitalization itself, it’s a thing which is in movement. It’s a continuous development.” He later explains in detail how customers have become more discerning in terms of the wants, and how digitalization in production can address these needs at the quicker and more precise way.

Present in the seminar were key officials of Siemens from both the regional and global headquarters including Enrico Buergo, Vice President and Country Division Lead, Siemens Philippines; Alexander Grimm, Head of Food and Beverage ASEAN, Siemens Singapore; Roland Heymann, Head of Global Food and Beverage, Technical Account Management, Siemens Germany; Christopher Roppelt, Key Expert for Food and Beverage Automatic Concepts, Siemens Germany; and Lito Torres, Head of Factory and Automation, Siemens Philippines.

As part of the company’s commitment to the F&B industry in the Philippines, Siemens will be offering a two-day workshop that would showcase in detail products and technology that can be personalized and applied to their operating processes. The workshop will be conducted by product specialists and will be at no cost to participants of the seminar. Those who are interested can get in touch with their Siemens representative.


For more information on Siemens offerings in the F&B industry, please visit https://www.siemens.com/global/en/home/markets/food-beverage.html