THE TECH

DF AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS SDN BHD

ISSUE NO. 1

HOW A
LECTURER Automated
BECOMING Mobile
AN Robot
ENTREPRE-
NEUR
Get Stunned
With Amount
CEO of Of Awards
DF Achieved
By
AUTOMATION Dr Yeong

& ROBOTICS

"BE HAPPY"
DR. CHE FAI YEONG : LECTURER OF UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
CEO OF DF AUTOMATION & ROBOTICS SDN BHD
PAGE 1 | THE TECH
TABLE OF CONTENTS
02

ENTREPRENEUR
PROFILE
PROF. MADYA DR. YEONG CHE FAI
04

COMPANY BACKGROUND
HISTORY OF DF AUTOMATION AND
05

PRODUCTS
ROBOTICs

FIVE TYPES OF AGV WITH

DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS
09

ACHIEVEMENTS
A FULL CABINETS OF AWARDS
11

KEY TO SUCCESS
WHAT IS BEHIND "BE HAPPY"
12

CHALLENGES
HOW A LECTURER BECOME
ENTREPRENEUR

13

ADVICE IS NICE
MEANINGFULL ADVICE FROM DR
YEONG WHO ALWAYS DEVELOP
OTHER PEOPLE
14
EDITORS
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ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE
Dr. Yeong Che Fai, inspiring lecturer of UTM,
graduated with Doctor of Philosophy from
Imperial College London, UK in Mechatronic
Engineering, finished his master  in Mechatronic
from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and also
completed his degree with Bachelor Degree of
Mechatronic Engineering, UTM. After he finished
his PhD, Dr. Yeong had the chance to become a
Tutor in London then returned back to Malaysia
and was appointed as Lecturer in UTM Johor
Bahru . He has more than 10 years of working
experience in lecturing undergraduate students
in mechatronic -
PROF. MADYA
PAGE 2 | THE TECH
DR. YEONG
CHE FAI
- engineering subjects and recently he has been
teaching entrepreneurship in School of
Electrical Engineering.He also supervised final
year dissertation and design projects. And now ,
Dr Yeong is a super lecturer of Mechatronic
Engineering and a proud
Dr. Yeong is a member of Board of
Engineering Malaysia (BEM), active
in  Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering (IEEE) and graduate member of
Institute of Engineer Malaysia and Electrical
and Electronic Industry (IEM and E&E). He is
incharge in Centre for Artificial Intelligence
and Robotics (CAIRO UTM) and he was a
mentor to the ROBOCON UTM Club in School
of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering UTM. Back in 20 years ago, Dr.
Yeong Che Fai was a normal Mechatronic
Engineering student who was actively involved
in robotic competitions. In 2002, he and his team
won the 1st Runner Up of national level
ROBOCON 2002 and became a Champion of
Robot Climbing Contest in Robofest 2002,
representing Malaysia's representative team
and UTM. In the next year, Dr. Yeong just wont
four competitions in a year which are Quarter
Finalist in Asia Pacific ROBOCON 2004 in Seoul,
Korea ; Champion of national level ROBOCON
2004 ; Best Technology Award in national level
ROBOCON 2004 ; Champion of Robot Partner
Contest in Robofest 2004 and Champion of
Robot Grab Contest in Robofest 2004 ; and 1st
Runner up of Robot Climbing Contest in Robofest
2004 again! From his spectacular history in
robotics how can this guy not be involved in
robot manufacturing as his career.
PAGE 3 | THE TECH
CONTINUE
ENTREPRENEUR
PROFILE
Before jumping into the entrepreneurship
world, Dr. Yeong Che Fai did not have an
ambition to open his own startup company in
the technology sector. But his future changed
when he was tutoring students in London, how
the students’ spirit was different with Malaysian
students. When Dr. Yeong asked his students in
London about their ambitions, most of them
were confident and said they want to work for
the society, give something to other people and
develop others. Their entrepreneurship spirit was
very strong compared to here in Malaysia, when
he’s back to Malaysia and became a full time
UTM lecturer, he asked the same question but
mostly students here did not know what they
wanted to be, which is a common answer. Dr.
Yeong said it was because in Malaysia there
was no success story of unicon company
CEOs like Elon Musk with Tesla , Steve Jobs
and an Apple, or Mark Zuckerberg conquering
the world of data with FaceBook. So Dr. Yeong
wanted to create a success story in Malaysia.
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE
DF Automation and Robotic was not his first
company that Dr. Yeong joined. The idea of
producing an autonomous robot or AGV was
started with a simple demand from a company
who had problems hiring workers to do
repetitive jobs like pushing and pulling trolleys.
Then Dr. Yeong was offered the project with two
of his business partners in DF Automation.
Dr. Yeong got the idea where robot supplies
from other countries like Japan. So with Dr.
Yeong’s experience and expertise in robotics,
he and his team manage to build 10 models
and more to come in the next coming years.
Managing a startup company was a real
deal because he had travelled to Google,
Silicon Valley and other countries like Japan
and China In 2012 he manage to become one
of it with the DF Automations with funded
more than 6 millions ringgit Malaysia from
Cradle Fund, PEMANDU, Equity Crowd
Funding Pitching Competition. He and his
team manage to create a software for the
robot called NavWiz from scratch.
COMPANY BACKGROUND
DF AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS
DF Automation & Robotics Sdn Bhd is a
Malaysia tech-based company that explores
the world of automation and robotics to meet
the global growth of demand and supply. This
company specialized in designing,
manufacturing , marketing and consistently
improving  Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR)
systems for various kinds of industrial and
commercial use. DF Automation & Robotics
Sdn Bhd was incorporated in June, 2012 which
the headquarter was located in Skudai,Johor ,
Malaysia.
This company was founded by three
partners namely Dr Che Fai Yeong as
Managing Director , Ping Hua Tan as R&D
Director and Ricky Yap as Operation
Director.This company consists of about 11-
50 co-workers which are based in
headquarters and may be changed
according to the current situation.
So far, DF Automation And Robotics
Company has opened THREE branches in
different states. The main branch is HQ in
Johor, the second branch is in Kuala Lumpur
while the third one is in Pulau Pinang.
PAGE 4 | THE TECH
Company Background of
DF Automation & Robotics has more than 4
partners that collaborates with this
company. They are Swisslog, Universal
Robots, BIZIT Systems, Istone,MODU and
RK Solution PTE LTD. While their
customers are from Big Company as well
such as Western Digital, Flextronic,
JABIL,ASM, Continental, Smith Detection,
SanDisk, YAMAHA and et cetera. All
Products that DF Automation & Robotics
provide to their customers are reliable
within this century that every factory
nowadays needs to transform to a smart
factory as stated in Industrial Revolution
4.0 .
In addition, So far, DF Automation &
Robotics Sdn. Bhd. only have TWO models that
can be bought directly from their official
websites, while the others are coming soon.
That  TWO model AMR Base is known as
ZALPHA MG and ZALPHA TS. While SUKI MG,
TITAN MG and QUBE TS will come out soon in
their official websites. Here are the official
websites of this company, dfautomation.com.
Customers who want to order their services or
products , can visit that website.
PAGE 5 | THE TECH PRODUCTS

PRODUCTS

AUTOMATED
MOBILE ROBOT
(AMR/AGV) 
PRODUCT
PREVIEW
What kind of product did this
company have created? Well, it is an
Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV).
Automated Guided Vehicle is a “mobile
robot” that uses sensors to guide its
direction and can be programmed to
transport goods from one location to
another automatically. DF’s AGV is unique
as while it has the functions of other
imported commercial AGV’s, is more cost
effective to purchase and maintain.
However, this AGV has various kinds of
shapes, sizes and functions as it is There’re also Autonomous Robots from
designed and built based on the real this Company that have been applied in
problems faced by customers. For one of Japanese Sushi Restaurant in
example, Zalpha Series Laser Guidance Kuala Lumpur which is Kaiten Sushi
AMR is a cost-effective, user-friendly and Halal.All types of these robots just need
flexible mobile robot used to transport to be designed,and programmed
goods in various kinds of industry. according to customer needs. So far, AGV
has been worldwide used in many
Factories , Food & Beverages industry,
Vehicle Workshop and more
PRODUCTS PAGE 6 | THE TECH

PRODUCTS

AUTOMATED
MOBILE ROBOT
(AMR/AGV) 
1. Zalpha MG-S
Zalpha Series Magnetic Strip Guidance AMR –
Standard Size Model

Zalpha Series Magnetic Strip Guidance AMR is a

cost-effective, user-friendly and flexible mobile
robot used to transport goods in various kind of
industry. The robot is using Magnetic strip to
navigate around and is easy to be set up,
programmed and implemented. There are various
types of size and payload can be chosen to fit in
different application.

Uniqueness At A Glance:
Model View L-shape design enables the operator to
access the interface panel (800mm from
ground) easily.
Short body length (750mm) allows minimum
space consumed during travelling and turning.
Differential Drive method allows flexibility in
moving forward, reverse, curve turn and
rotate turn.
Model Applications Flexible pairing with different kind of payload
handler (or top module) for various
applications.
Flexible integration with other devices and
system.
Easy and user-friendly in setup and
programming.

Alternate Model : Come with 3 type of models

Zalpha MG - L
PAGE 7 | THE TECH PRODUCTS

PRODUCTS

AUTOMATED
MOBILE ROBOT
(AMR/AGV) 
2. Zalpha TS-S
Zalpha Series Laser Guidance AMR – Standard Size
Model

Zalpha Series Laser Guidance AMR is a cost-

effective, user-friendly and flexible mobile robot
used to transport goods in various kind of industry.
The robot is using Lidar to navigate around and is
easy to be set up, programmed and implemented.
There are various types of size and payload can be
chosen to fit in different application.

Uniqueness At A Glance:
Laser Guidance navigation method (Natural
Model View
feature navigation) allows AMR to maneuver
around without any physical guide in the
environment.
L-shape design enables the operator to access
the interface panel (800mm from ground) easily.
Short body length (750mm) allows minimum
space consumed during travelling and turning.
Differential Drive method allows flexibility in
Model Applications moving forward, reverse, curve turn and rotate
turn.
Flexible pairing with different kind of payload
handler (or top module) for various applications.
Flexible integration with other devices and
system.
Easy and user-friendly in setup and
programming.
Features
Come with 2 model types
PRODUCTS PAGE 8 | THE TECH

PRODUCTS

AUTOMATED
MOBILE ROBOT
(AMR/AGV)  UPCOMING PRODUCT

3. Other
Products
SUKI MG

1) Zalpha CM

Custom made payload handler for Zalpha

series
Zalpha CM is a custom made payload handler
based on the customer’s requirement.

2) Zalpha HW01

Standard Hooking type payload handler for

Zalpha Series
Zalpha HW01 is a payload handler used to
link trolley with Zalpha series AMR using
“Hooking type”.

3) Zalpha TW01

Standard Towing type payload handler for

Zalpha Series
Zalpha TW01 is a payload handler used to
link trolley with Zalpha series AMR using
“Towing type”.
PAGE 9 | THE TECH
DF Automation and Robotics  Malaysia and showcase its
haved achieve a lot of
achievement over the year and one
of them is : DF Automation and
Robotics was honored to be
awarded the Platinum Award for
Best Innovation for the company
up to RM25 Million Category at the
prestigious Star Outstanding
Business Award (SOBA) 2018. It
was awarded to DF at the Award
ACHIEVEMENTS Night Ceremony held at New World
Hotel Petaling Jaya on 17th
DF January 2019.
The Star Outstanding Business
Automation Awards (SOBA) is organised by The
Star Media Group Berhad, to
and recognize up-and-coming
enterprises and their contributions
Robotic to the Malaysian economy. In line
with the Government’s
commitment to develop
homegrown enterprises, SOBA
seeks to inspire and encourage
local businesses to promote
ACHIEVEMENTS
products and services to the
world. Every year SOBA will
shortlist and award Malaysian non-
public listed organisations that
have led the way with excellent
business principles, ethics and
practices. SOBA winners are
testaments of high achievement
and serve as a benchmark for
others to emulate. 2018 is the 9th
year Star Media Group Berhad
organised this business award
ceremony.
There are a total of 5 Platinum
Award winners for Top-of-the Class
Awards this year. DF is honorable
to be recognized as one of them in
the category. This award marks an
important milestone in DF
Automation and Robotics’s history.
Moving forward, DF Automation
and Robotics will work harder and
continue to focus into building a
world-class technology centre 
ACHIEVEMENTS PAGE 10 | THE TECH

ACHIEVE-
LIST OF

MENTS
From 2015 to 2018 DF Automation and
Robotic also won a lot of awards :-
1) MERIT, Cross Category: Research and
Development at MSC Malaysia APICTA
Awards(2018)
2) MERIT, Cross Category: Industrial
Manufacturing at MSC Malaysia APICTA
Awards (2018)
3) Designer, Good Design Award Japan (2018)
4) Frost & Sullivan 2017 Malaysia
Entrepreneurial Company Of The Year
Automated Guided Vehicle Market
5) Winner, Best of Industrial Applications at
International APICTA Awards Dhaka
6) Winner, Best of Industrial Applications at
MSC Malaysia APICTA Awards
7) Best Cost Effective Solution Award,
Universal Robots Channel Partner Meet
8) Growth Achieve Award, Universal Robots
2016 Distributor Meet
9) Best Industrial Application Award,
Universal Robots 2016 Distributor Meet
10) Winner, Best of Start-up at MSC Malaysia
APICTA
11) Winner, Best of Industrial Applications at VISION : "To be the leading company in South East Asia for
MSC Malaysia APICTA designing Autonomous Mobile Robot(AMR)"
12) Merit, Merit in the Industry Category, MISSION : "Provide process based companies with an
International APICTA Awards Sri Lanka efficient and affordable Autonomous Mobile Robot(AMR)
solution that will further enhance their output."
PAGE 11 | THE TECH KEY TO SUCCESS

First and foremost, giving up is not in
his dictionary. He said it is because
once you've involved in the business,
you'll go through some failure but you
need to wake up. Dr Yeong stated he
never remembered the moment that
he fell, he only remembered how he
came back stronger afterwards.  One
of his keys to success that inspire us is
he has a philosophy to never look back
and question past decisions that
KEY TO
SUCCESS
- have been made. “Why do
you need to do that? It's a
waste of time only.You should
focus on your future and keep
looking forward”, he said.  Dr
Yeong also shared his
philosophy of “use less time &
energy to bring the highest
impact”. It’s quite similar to
killing two birds with one
stone. He also believes that 1 +
1 is equal to 3. It is because
when you work together, the
quality of the outcome is more
powerful. His philosophy
reminds us of Steve Jobs’
quotes; “Great things in
business are never done by
one person”.

“Be Happy. You only have a 70 to 80 years old lifetime and if you pursue it,
be the best but you are not happy so there is no point. But rather than
that I try to pursue happiness. So happiness is my ultimate aim and when I do
a business and when I think if I can make other people happy I'm happy.
Important point is when I see others smile I’m happy."
- DR. YEONG CHE FAI (2020) -
CHALLENGES PAGE 12 | THE TECH

CHALLENGES
through the career

When asked about the challenges that he

faced along his business journey, he said
that at first, he thought it was easy but it is
super difficult. “It’s like grooming a baby
to become a teenager then an adult and
so on”, said Dr Yeong.

When there's an unexpected crisis

- marketing and finance. So, they decided
to get someone who has more
experienced to come in and help. The
person that came in had a wonderful
experience in manufacturing,
management and lab but of course he
came out after a year with a manifesto that
was very interesting which Dr Yeong
didn't quite agree with since it was very
hard to do.
like we are facing right now which is the
coronavirus outbreak, it affects their
business and they’ll face financial
problems.
His first personal hardest challenge
was when the three of them started the
business theirselves. At that time they’re
just mechatronic students like us, who
know nothing about how to do business,

Somehow in that year, DF Automation

started to form and get some deals. The
toughest part was when this person went
to Singapore to do exactly the same thing
he proposed to us. Not only that, he also
pulled people from DF to the other side.
Then only Dr Yeong realised that business
is so tough but of course he didn’t blame
him for what had happened. It was
because for that one year, the person who
came in and helped us didn’t receive any
salary (Dr Yeong and friends too) when he
had a mouth to feed.
PAGE 13 | THE TECH ADVICE IS NICE

ADVICES IS NICE
By
PROF. MADYA DR. YEONG CHE FAI
What it Really Takes To Be an Entrepreneur

WORDS BY DR YEONG
IT SELF :
"I learned marketing from the best ‘sifu’
ever in the world which is Google. From
there, I learned how to do pitching and
get all sorts of information."

"I also attend some sharing talks from

successful entrepreneurs. For example, I
went to Dato’ Ameer Mydins’ talk, and
there I’ve learned about marketing a little
bit. He taught me to take the risk to
experience some loss to gain more
profits."

 “If you want to build a company, the

most important one is the timing for the
business opportunity. Next on the list is,
your team member, your product and
lastly is the funding.”,
said Dr Yeong when asked about his
advice to future entrepreneurs. He also
added “I’ve learnt that when you do start-
ups it’s all about growth, planning and
strategies”.
EDITORS PAGE 14 | THE TECH

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