TUV Open Forum on “How to improve the training effectiveness in cost-effective way”

I would like to summarize today’s forum organized by TUV and HKSTP.Mr. Berry Yeung (TUV) was a nominator for the forum. There were five speakers: Mr. Freddy Leung (VTC), Mr. Tommy Lau (Tommy Felix Consultancy), Dr. Margaret Tang (Margaret Tang Management Consulting), Mr. Sin Chung Tung (Theatre Noir) and I (HKSTP).

In the beginning, Berry introduced TUV background and their service is one-stop solution and combined PSB Academy. He shared the training survey, indicating that satisfaction/need on free seminar, professional training course and workshop were 79%, 53% and 52% respectively.

Tommy Lau’s topic was “Train the trainer”. He summarized adult learning process in a word “IMPACT”
· Identify the need
· Map your approach
· Produce your materials
· Apply your training technique
· Calculate measurable results
· Tract through progress

Mr. Sin considered “Drama” as one of effective training tools. He quoted some meaningful words as follows:
“Learning by Doing” & “Learning by Dramatic Doing” – Roussean
“Experience plus Reflective equals Learning” – John Dewey

Tell me & I will forget; Show me & I may remember; Involve me & I will understand; Make me believe and I will think.

Learning by Doing = Experiential Learning
Learning by Dramatic Doing = Virtual Experiential Learning
=> Cost effective!

Dr. Margaret Tang shared her idea on performers for business results that 20% staff are Star, 70% staff are Core and the remaining 10% staff in Bottom. Effective training could help staff who upgrade from Bottom to Core to Star. She had also introduced BUD concept, where B means Believe, U means Understanding and D means Doing. Different level of management hierarchy has different combination. (See pyramid)

She also introduced the training monitoring and measurement through the following steps:
1. Define training objectives
2. Design the training
3. Secure employees buy-in
4. Post-course evaluation

Mr. Freddy Leung told us the 3-C factors.
C – Competence 才幹 (技能, 經驗)
C – Confidence 信心 (自強不息)
C – Creativity 創意 (尋找商機)

He also introduced New Technology Fund which sponsored 50% of training course. However, the applicant should have training & implementation plan. For more information, please visit http://ntts.vtc.edu.hk/.

My topic was “Through effective training to competence”.
I had summarized the training requirements on several international standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, BS OHSAS 18001, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 17025 in the following table.

And then the certification course in Quality Management for Laboratory was introduced which organized by HKSQ and CityU. The course structure is shown as follows:

Lecture : 8 sessions
Tutorial : 8 sessions
Laboratory Practice : 2 sessions
Industrial Visit : 2 sessions
Examination : 1 session

Practice work and industrial visit are important elements to enhance the training course value.
Finally, the cost and effectiveness on training are discussed.

Lastly, Berry Yeung showed i-LTP model

And he concluded the forum in the following words.

When you hear something, you forgot it.
When you see something, you remember it.
But not until you do something will you understand it.

At the end, Mr. Frederic Maury (Managing Director - TUV-SUD) presented souvenirs & certificates to all speakers.

Photo with Mr. Frederic Maury

Exchange @ Science Park for Life Sciences Community

“Exchange @ Science Park” is an informal event which aims to provide a platform for the community to come together for idea exchange. The 1st Exchange @ Science Park invited Mr. Mikael Øerum, a 30-year veteran in biotechnology and finance sector, as our speaker for the life sciences community on 29 July 2008.

CEO of HKSTP gave an introduction speech and explained the role of science park in biotechnology.

I would like to summarize the content of Mr. Mikael Øerum speech as below.

Mr. Mikael Øerum’s topic was “Building a Biotech Cluster in the Pearl River Delta Region”.
He showed the model of “Medicon Valley” (MV) which is a large Bio-cluster in Europe. And he compared the biomedical research among UK, MV, HK & CN (China).

He told about how to "Building a Biotech Cluster":

Mr. Mikael Øerum showed eight key areas of commercial Interest:
1. Technology of facilitate drug discovery
2. Selected new therapeutics
3. Technology to increase speed or reduce risk in drug development
4. New antibiotics
5. Disruptive technology in medical device and diagnostics
6. Technology in important areas of medical device and diagnostics
7. Technology to reduce costs of manufacturing of biologics
8. Technology to integrate western & Chinese traditional medicine

Finally, he shared seven lessons for building a Bio-cluster
1. High class Universities are keys to provide excellent research and Pool of talent
2. Global Business perspective should drive patenting strategy at the universities and companies
3. Efficient and market driven tech transfer from Universities to Industry is mandatory for growth
4. Hospital network with well established patient records is required for fast recruitment
5. Domestic risk willing capital for seed & follow-up investments in new Biotech ventures are needed.
6. CRO’s, Patent attorneys, consultants etc. will emerge as a result of the cluster building
7. An organizing capacity to take initiative and coordinate their implementation is needed.

After the seminar, it could be concluded that Bio-cluster was led by universities, industries and government related bodies.

Certified Lean Master study sharing (III)

The final section of “Certified Lean Master” course has just completed. I would like to share what I have learnt in this section as follows:

i) Cash-to-cash Cycle Time: By definition, it is a financial ratio that shows the length time for which a company must finance its own inventory.
ii) Mass Customization: it moves the final product configuration closer to the customer and provides small volume make-to-order capabilities with a hi-vol make-to-stock cost structure. There are three types as adjustable, dimensional and modular.
iii) Customer satisfaction is equal to “What customer expects to get” less “What customer perceives they got”. Customer sacrifice is equal to “What customer exactly wants” less “What customer settles for”. (where settling equals no desire to build a loyal relationship)
iv) Lean accounting such as Total Landed Cost and Carrying Cost
v) Lean Supply Chains and its audits

The figure shows the relationship between Value Stream and Cash-to-Cash Cycle.

The photo is the first class participants of CLM in Hong Kong.

I got my certificate.

The followings are classmates’ feedback on the course.

Considerations for Medical Device Manufacturing

HKIE CPD Seminar on “Considerations for Medical Device Manufacturing – Optimization of materials, applications and sterilization and 2008 Healthcare Innovative Solutions by Advanced Medical Plastics” was held on 4 July 2008 in Hong Kong Productivity Council. The followings are summary of the seminar contents.

The first speaker is Mr. Kent Leung who is professional service specialist in 3M. He introduced the basic knowledge for medical device manufacturing such as sterilization, validation, commissioning and performance qualification, etc.

There are 7 principle of sterilization:
1. A process that kills all living forms including spores.
2. The process must have high penetration to reach the product.
3. The process must not destroy the product (non-destructive).
4. The process must be safe.
5. The process shall be easily monitored.
6. The process must be repeatable and controllable.
7. The process must keep the sterile state of the product afterwards (e.g. packaging).

Validation: Demonstrates and documents that a process does what it is supposed to do.


There are 3 common methods for microbiological qualification.
Method A: Survivor curve construction
Method B: Fraction negative method
Method C: Half-cycle method

All methods employed have the following assumptions:
- Organism population is homogeneous
- Process parameters, with the exception of time are constant from run to run
- A semi-logarithmic survivor curve exists
- Exposed & unexposed organisms respond similarly in the recovery medium


The second speaker is Mr. Simon Shih who is program manager – Greater China, SABIC Innovative Plastics (former GE Plastics). He introduced the material varieties and common application requirement, common sterilization methods, biocompatibility and regulations, etc.

The typical market needs are identified:
- Clarity
- Sterilization
- Lipid / chemical resistance
- Biocompatibility, Food contact compliance
- Regulatory

Clarity: clear or transparent resins are often employed for device.
When: Fluid flow is visually
View of contents is required
Colorability for aesthetic enhancements

Sterilization:
1. Radiation
2. Stream Autoclave
3. Dry Heat Sterilization
4. Ethylene Oxide (EtO)
5. STERRAD® sterilization system (~1hr – very long cycle time!)

Lipid resistance (Fat) typically considered to drug or blood carriers. Typically exposure from 3 to 4 days but new treatment technology may be from 6 to 7 days.
Chemical resistance included disinfectants / cleaner (e.g. bleach, ammonia, ethyl ketone, IPA, etc.)

Regulation (WEEE/RoHS) &
Biocompatibility, Food Contact Compliance (US FDA and EU Regulation)

Test protocol / methods:
- ISO 10993: Test standards established by ISO & FDA
- USP Class VI: Test standards established by US Pharmacopoeia
- Both test protocols are still valid.