NU12 #5 - #8 (revised) Spentrep - Kevin Toledo

NU12 #5 - #8 (revised)

NU12 #5. New products / product improvements – Kevin Toledo

Easy to  Mount Grease Trap

Since I can remember that we used a grease trap in our kitchen sink, it has been a pain in the ass to install and remove it every time it needs to be cleaned or when it is full of grease already. It is really difficult to install and remove it, aside from the fact that is too unsanitary where as you unscrew its connecting pipe from the sink pipe, tendency is that some foul smelling liquid with grease would splash out. So I thought of a grease trap that instead of using a traditional screwable pipe, it should just use a hose connector with an easy to plug mechanism . Also, I recommend that instead of using traditional stainless steel  drum grease trap, it should be a plastic container that is transparent or translucent so that grease level inside the container can be easily monitored if full or not to avoid overflow spillage of the foul smelling grease. Also, this grease trap must be designed with handle, so that it could be easily carried (I have not seen a grease trap design with handles). This innovation to a grease trap should help lessen possibility of contact to the foul smelling liquid with grease, thereby lessening as well possibility of getting illness caused by the filthy liquid and of course makes the grease trap installation-removing process easier. 4

Anti Car Theft: Car Immobilizer Kit

Nowadays, car theft is really rampant. But with the technology we have today, such crimes could easily be prevented, lessened, and the criminals could easily be caught. My concept of an anti-carnapping-anti car theft kit is that a car should be installed with the following devices:

1.       RF (Radio Frequency) ID as tracking device connected to a GPS

2.       Hidden micro camera remotely activated

3.       Remotely activated circuit breaker (acts as mobile number)

The system will work in such a way that whenever a car has been carnapped it could be easily located/tracked using the RF ID via GPS. Its locations can be shared to the police authorities, where synchronized apprehension will take place. First, the car can be stopped via calling the number of the circuit breaker of the car to activate it, then the car will then be automatically put to stop and all doors will be locked. Of course this will happen when the police are already in its strategic locations to apprehend the carnappers. Also, the hidden camera can remotely take pictures as well anytime  by just calling its number since it also acts like a mobile phone and automatically sends the pictures to the owner's mobile phone / caller. If a car is packed with such security system or just by letting the public know that such anti car theft system is available, I believe the idea of carnapping could be eliminated. People would hesitate to dare do such crime.4

         

                                                                             
NU12 #6. New business ideas – Kevin Toledo

Low Cost Film Equipment Rental

When I was in college, I used to be requested to help in production sets for film projects of my friends. Usually they would ask me to help them in the technical aspects of the set design and in executing the film itself. They were only students and film projects can really be costly especially when it would require some film equipment to be rented for the cameras to achieve certain effects and shots. These equipment usually are dollies w/ tracks, lights, cranes, and mounting devices . In these projects, they would always ask my help to reduce their cost by doing DIYs and improvised equipment that would mimic the capabilities of the rented equipment, such as dollies and some mounting devices. With that experience I thought of conceptualizing an affordable equipment rental services that would mostly cater to students doing film projects, and  to indie film makers who are really budget constraint. The equipment that will be rented out will be fabricated here in the Philippines such that it will be designed to mimic what the original imported equipment do. There would be recycled components as well for every equipment/device to keep the cost low. I haven't come across a business concept like this, as if there is, we could have resorted to cheap equipment rental similar to this, way back in college – I have checked recently, there is still none.

  

NU12 #7. Serendipity walk – take a walk along a busy street near you. List down as many business opportunities you can think of. Just list down. – Kevin Toledo

Serendipity Walk at Pablo Ocampo (Vito Cruz, near St. Scholastic's College)

Vito Cruz is a very busy street where a lot of establishments are located such as fast food restaurants, print shops,  internet café's, laundry shops, grocery, 24-hour convenience store. Most of these establishments cater to the student populations of the schools situated in the area (St. Scholastica's College & DLSU) and also to the residents/households in the area. But still as I take the serendipity walk, I realized that establishments such as the following that I listed down must also be put-up.

Existing establishments:

- Jollibee

- Ministop (24-hour convenience store)

- Copytrade (photocopying shops)

- Dexact (printshop)

- Computer shops

- Grocery

- fishball/kwek-kwek stand

- Baliwag Lechon Manok

- Barbecue stand

- Milk tea stand

- McDonalds

- Automotive repair shops

- Fruit and vegetable carts

Additional recommendable establishment to be put up in the area:

* Barber Shop / Hair Salon – the nearest is at bench fix Taft which is a bit pricey

* Pet Grooming Center - there are a lot of pet owners in our neighborhood but there is no pet grooming center

* Veterinary Clinic – there is even no veterinary center in the area. I believe there should be one.

* Pharmaceutical Drug Store – Drugstore is in the Zobel Roxas area

* Coffee Shop – Coffee shops are located in Taft, there should be a nearby coffee shop to cater to the art students of St. Benilde in Vito Cruz. 3.5

NU12 #8. What pisses you off at the mall? What do you suggest? – Kevin Toledo

Open escalators

I have been pissed off how mall developers and owners have been failing to consider enough safety measures in putting up escalators, considering that most mall goers are families with kids, and there have been many cases related to escalator accidents. Personally, I think that there should be some sort of polycarbonate/glass enclosure in the escalator railings to prevent accidents of falling from it. Further, signs of "watch for your head" is not enough in certain escalator placements. It cannot 100% assure that putting such precautions/signs would prevent a certain accident could happen. By putting up these glass/polycarbonate enclosures, it will surely eliminate possibility of a person riding it from getting its neck broken or from falling from it. 4

Security Checks

I must admit that Security checks at mall entrance pisses me off. The guards are doing it just for the sake of doing it (masabi lang), while some are already harassing. Most especially, it really pisses me off that long queues are made by these time consuming security checks. I suggest that there should be just a scanning device with less human intervention. This scanning equipment would be placed in the mall entrances where people could smoothly pass by. This scanning equipment would already be equipped with detectors that could detect certain shapes pertaining to deadly weapons such as knifes, guns and explosives. With this equipment, long queues could be avoided and it will assure more security than that of the manual security check method. 

NU12# What pisses you off at the school? - (revised) Nelle Canta

 

"WHAT PISSES YOU OFF AT THE SCHOOL?"

Getting a masteral degree is not just for the title, especially for students like me, who pay for my own tuition.  I enrolled in AGSB even if the tuition is more expensive than the other schools that offer MBA degrees. I know that I would get the value for money since if it's Ateneo, quality education is assured.  Quality education means quality professors. It's disappointing when a professor doesn't actually teach, but he just pulls out his powerpoint slides and just read the content, without explaining it, without giving examples and worse, he doesn't even look at his students while he read the slides. I'm not sure if AGSB has certain guidelines for the professors' teaching outline. If there's none, I think AGSB should come up with a guideline for the professors. I suggest also that there should be a "spy" student who will take a video and report the professor if ever he/she reads the slides only. In this way, there would be an actual proof of the inefficiency of the professor. The proof will help the faculty to improve their teaching. 3.5 <there are standards for teaching and which this office strives hard to achieve>

NU12 #2- #4 - Kevin Toledo

NU12 #2 - #4

NU12 #2. New Spending Habits / Routine (revised) – Kevin Toledo

           

Forced Budgeting

Although I am the type of person who buys stuff only out of necessity, I still really find it hard to manage my finances and I end up saving less. I tried to install an expense monitoring application to my tablet but it did not work for me as it still took time to do such recordings and it did not improve my budgeting. So, I thought of a solution to force myself to budget a certain amount of money that will be left to my ATM based account wherein every time I receive my salary, there would be automatic deductions from my ATM account and then transfer those deducted money to other different accounts I would be setting-up. With it, I can allocate certain percentages of my salary into different accounts.  Apparently, this scheme is already existent with BPI Direct Save-Up account. And I will enroll initially 3 accounts to it. Those 3 would be divided into investments, savings, and emergency funds. The remaining money in my ATM will be for my personal expenses and for paying my bills. With this concept, I am forced to budget whatever I have left in my ATM based account, and I believe I can assure myself to have bigger savings. 3

NU12 #3. Professionalism – new work methods, practices (revised) – Kevin Toledo

Scream Room

There would be time at work that you can't help but shout because of stress or someone or something gives you stress. You may get pissed off with someone or with something that could really negatively affect your productivity and performance. We just have to admit that there would be those times that we cannot contain our emotions that we need to release it in the form of shouting. So, I thought of the concept scream room. The scream room is a sound proof room where anyone who enters it could release their pent up emotions by shouting it all out. After shouting it all out in the scream room, the employee should feel a relief and stress levels should have already been lowered. I have always thought of this concept especially whenever I feel like shouting out of stress but I cannot do so because I wouldn't want my colleagues to be disturbed. This idea could really be worthwhile to consider developing as stress levels of employees should be managed.   3                       

NU12 #4. New processes at work, study (revised)  - Kevin M. Toledo

Online Approval System for Overtimes, Official Business Trips and Leaves

It really takes time whenever we apply for our overtimes, Official business trips and leaves. This process in the office is a lengthy procedure of filling-out applications, printing it, having it signed by your General Manager and sending it to HR and logging those to HR document submission logbook. Most of the time, some employees would fail to submit these on time since signature and approval of their GMs are needed. For OTs, it's a must that you submit application forms before cut-off period or else it will not be honored by the HR. So there are also times that employees would miss out submitting these OT applications since GMs would fail to approve and sign the application forms on time whenever GMs are out for business trips. To address this, I propose that approval for such documents must already be made online. There should be a system developed where the employees would just fill-out forms for different purposes and after filling-out those forms, an email reminder would be sent to the GM to check and approve it online. In this case, GMs could approve even if they are out on a business trip via their laptops or blackberry. Further, besides improving the process, it also helps the environment by saving papers. 3.5

NU12 #3 - What pisses you off at the neighborhood? What do you suggest?

Ateneo Innovation and Entrepreneurship "New ideas create more and better new products and services; create more wealth."

What pisses me off are the tricycle drivers that are really rude on the road. I was driving on our way home, when I got bumped by a speeding-drunk tricycle driver. He was coming so fast he didn't have time to step on the brake, and he hit me. What pissed me off was that the bumper of the car fell due to the impact, and my youngest passenger - at that time was only 4 - had a huge bump in his forehead. Tricycle drivers in our area often drive with invalid license or no license at all. What is worse is that most of them are drunk.<they should be jailed>

I suggest that there should be an ordinance strictly implemented about this issue. <Lack of enforcement.  There is an existing LTO law>This is not just for me but also for the safety of other people. The ordinance should state that police will do random check points at strategic locations, but it should be a surprise one. Or they can do it at the terminals to ensure that all drivers will be checked.

The local government should be vigilant about this because there are too many accidents that involved tricycle drivers in our area.3

Sincerely,

Athens S. Cruz

NU# 3 Spentrep Professionalism traffic reporting from taxi (FX) drivers - Jenny Liquete

Ateneo Innovation and Entrepreneurship "New ideas create more and better new products and services; create more wealth."

NU# 3 Professionalism - Jenny Liquete

Taxi Driver/Traffic Reporter

Traffic keeps on getting worse in Metro Manila. increasing the demand of car users for traffic updates. Traffic updates are very helpful in avoiding the routes with heavy traffic. It can save a lot of time and money.

Who can report traffic faster and provide a more accurate roadwatch than taxi drivers?

Taxi drivers are always on the road, wherever their passengers take them. The nature of their work allows them to provide the fastest and most accurate information. The need for convenience raises a high demand for up-to-the-minute traffic updates. It creates a job opportunity for taxi drivers because they can integrate their radio system with MMDA, gasoline stations or its taxi company can create its own app and provide the latest reports.

Unlike the current MMDA app and MMDA twitter, the taxi drivers can provide an additional information that would be very beneficial for the users – tips on the best and shortest alternative routes for the roads that have heavy traffic.

To encourage the participation of taxi drivers, they will be rewarded for each helpful tip they submit. These rewards can be converted to gas points or additional salary.

NU12 #9 - #10 - Spentrep -Kevin Toledo - what pisses you off at the neighborhood?

Ateneo Innovation and Entrepreneurship "New ideas create more and better new products and services; create more wealth."

NU12 #9 - #10

NU12 #9. What pisses you off at the neighborhood? What do you suggest? – Kevin Toledo

Don’t Block the Driveway, Please!

Since we moved in Manila, we would always have trouble on dealing with parked cars in front of our gate blocking our drive way without even leaving a note on where we could find or contact them. Those instances really piss me off! To further add to insult, some of the owners of these blocking cars are not even apologetic. We tried placing a “Don’t Block the Driveway Sign” but it seems people don’t really care at all. As a solution, I’d like to try to place a proximity sensor in our gate to detect the front of our driveway that would trigger an alarm with a voice recording saying “Don’t Block the Driveway Please”. The sensors would be set in such a manner that it would only trigger the alarm if it detects that 15 seconds has already passed since it detected the car that has stopped in front of it, that way the system would differentiate a car that is just passing by from a car that is actually starting to park in front of our driveway. It could also be set that after 40 seconds that the car has been parked, a wake up alarm to one of the person in our household (depending on who will be handling it) will be triggered as well in order for him to advise the car owner who is attempting to park that parking is not allowed in front of our driveway. This system can solve problems of homeowners similar to our case, and I believe such systems is not really expensive as sensors now a days are affordable. 3.5   <there are LTO and MMDA laws that make it illegal to park blocking driveways, even if you own the drive way>     

NU12 #10. What pisses you off in your office/ What do you think must be done? - Kevin Toledo

Time Consuming Biometric Finger Print Clocking & Attendance System

This year, our office adopted biometrics system in replacement of the manual employee clocking system. This system was adopted for efficiency of getting time records and for safety purposes. I really support the idea as it should indeed provide efficiency and record better data. However, it did not really provide efficiency and it pisses me off where the finger scanning really takes time before it could identify the employee’s finger print. There are also times that these finger print scanner would actually fail to recognize finger prints. Further, whenever a group of people logs in or out at the same time, it would always create a queue and before the last person could log in his/her finger print, minutes have already passed. This could really be troublesome when someone comes in the office with just a limited time and he/she is still at the end of the queue. Even if the employee actually arrived before the required reporting time, there are big chances that he/she could be late because the finger scanning process takes time.

The problem lies with the system provider where the software or hardware being used to identify our (employees) finger prints really takes time.  This doesn’t justify the cost of availing the service and the technology. As a solution, I recommend that the system and technology provider must upgrade whatever software it uses in order to improve its finger scanning process, or better yet, change the scanning unit since it may be defective after all.   

Another solution could be putting up another finger scanning unit in parallel to the existing unit in order to avoid queues.