SGS 50th Anniversary Luncheon

SGS 50th Anniversary Luncheon was held on 28th Sep 2009 at Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel. I, represented HKSQ, am pleased to be one of invitied guests.

Many guest speakers (including Mr. Chris Kirk - CEO of SGS Group; Mrs. Rita Lau - Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of HKSAR Gov; Mr. Bruce Hicks - Member of the Strategy Sub-committee of the Council for Sustainable Development of the HKSAR Gov; and Mr. Spence Yeung - ED of SGS Hong Kong) gave speeches related to Testing, Certification, CSR, Green trend, Six Pillar Industries, etc.



Photo taken for memory

(Mr. Ben Tsang, Mr. Malcom Reid (Executive VP - SGS), Dr. John Chai (MD - Fook Tin) and I)

Moreover, I met many SGS friends including Dr. Ivan Chan, Ms. Phoebe Lee and Ms. Miranda Kwan, etc.

HKQAA 20th Anniversary Cocktail

It was my honor to be one of the guests invited to join HKQAA 20th Anniversary Cocktail at The Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel on 25th September 2009.

Profession Peter Mok (Chairman of HKQAA) gave an opening speech.


Then Mr Gregory So Kam-leung was invited to give a speech, which was related to Six Pillar Industries.

During the cocktail, I met several friends in the field of testing and certification, including Ir. Otto Poon (ATAL), Mr. Sammy Wan (ATAL), Mr. Terence Chan (HKAS), Mr. John Hung (Testing & Certification, ITC), Mr. Clement Cheng (RHU, DoH), and HKQAA friends, etc.

Photos for memory

(Left: Mr. Clement Cheng (RHU, DoH), Mr. John Hung (HKCTC, ITC), Mr. Terence Chan (HKAS), and I (HKSQ))

(Right: Dr. Micheal Lam (CEO, HKQAA) and Mr. PC Chan)

(Right: Mr. Tony Ho and I)

Dinner with Mr. Gregory H. Watson

Tonight, Dr. KS Chin and his wife, Minda and I represented HKSQ to have a dinner with Mr. Gregory H. Watson and Prof. Shu Yamada (Yamada was a student of Dr. Noriaki Kano and Dr. Kano was a student of Dr. K. Ishikawa.) in Tokyo, Japan.

Mr. Watson shared his experience and mentioned some stories about Quality Gurus such as W.E. Deming, J.M. Juran, P.B. Crosby, A.V. Feigenbaum and K. Ishikawa, etc. He is the President of International Academy for Quality (IAQ) and past Chairman and President of American Society for Quality (ASQ).

The International Academy for Quality (IAQ) is an independent, self-supported, non-profit, non-governmental organization that is administered by a collegial assembly of Academicians who have been elected by their peers from the most respected, active and experienced protagonists of quality in the world.

For more information, please visit http://iaq.asq.org/ .

ANQ 2009 Technical Visit to Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (Oppama Plant)

Minda and I joined a technical visit to Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. – Oppama Plant on 18 September 2009. During the journey, we passed the Tokyo tower and then, we had lunch at Yokohama Kenshu Center.



Lunch place

We had taken a photo with SQAT friends in front of NISSAN Motor Co., Ltd.

We took photo in front of the company.

Photo taken with SQAT friends

The exhibition centre and NISSAN cars

Production line simulation models were shown.

We were guided to a meeting room and got a toy car as souvenir (Scale 1/61).

The NISSAN quality manager shared the quality management system of car production, and had discussion with us.

Then we visited the Vehicle Manufacturing Plant and Logistics areas.

They explained the main processes of making engines and chassis from Casting, Forging, Stamping to Machining, Assembly and Inspection. The production capacity was 20000 per line per year. There were total 150 component suppliers, of which oversea suppliers were only 2%. The components were delivered to the plant every 4hr, which helps to keep a very low stock level.

They use QRQC for quality control. QRQC means Quick Response & Quick Control. The clamping guarantee device for detecting the completion of work was employed (an example of Poka-Yoke application). During final inspection, 120 items are checked, including steering adjustment, speedometer, lights, brakes and exhaust emissions control systems, etc.

In the production floor, components were delivered to assembly line by automatic component trolleys. We observed the assembly of the car “CUBE” which was found to be famous in Japan.

At the same time, primary school students were visiting the floor.

After the visit, we came back to the meeting room for Q&A section. Speaker told NISSAN have 132 QCCs and suggestions raised by QCCs were all accepted by management.

For new staff, they needed to attend 2 week class training and 2 week on-site training before started to work.

Before leaving, a group photo was taken for memory.

(Photo with Prof. Phulporn Saengbangpla (Honorary Advisor - SQAT)

On the way back, a ISO 9001 certified label was observed on the back of truck.

ANQ 2009 Farewell Party

We joined the farewell dinner of ANQ 2009 and many memorable times were recorded as follows.

BSTQM (Bangladesh Society for Total Quality Management, Bangladesh)


CAQ (China Association for Quality, China)


CSQ (Chinese Society for Quality, Chinese Taipei) & SQI (Singapore Quality Institute)

HKSQ (Hong Kong Society for Quality, Hong Kong) - we sing a song "Kowloon, Hong Kong".

ISQ (Indian Society for Quality, India)

ISQM (Iranian Society of Quality Managers, Iran)


IQAM (Indonesian Quality Management Associate, Indonesia) / KSQM (Korean Society for Quality Management, Korea) / VQAH (Vietnam Quality Association of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

NQPCN (Network for Quality Productivity and Competitiveness Nepal, Nepal)

SQAT (The Standards and Quality Association of Thailand, Thailand)

JSQC (Japanese Society for Quality Control, Japan)

ANQ 2009 Technical Seminar II & Closing Ceremony

On ANQ 2009 Day Two (17 Sep 2009), my wife and I joined the technical section “TQM/Management System” in the morning.

We left hotel and took a photo in front of art centre and also the interesting picture in the station. When we reached the Waseda University, we took some photos in a university bus.

The speaker was Ms. Fan Qing represented China Association for Quality (CAQ) who gave presentation on behalf of Mr. Qi Weiming. Her topic was “Quality Management in China – Review of 30 Years’ Development of China Association for Quality”. Ms. Qing introduced the development of China Association for Quality (CAQ) which was established since 1979 and overviewed the quality movement in China.

Then we joined the other section entitled “QM in Service”. The speaker was Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin from National University of Singapore (SQI) and his presentation title was “The Great Service DNA in Singapore”.

He adopted 5-S Model of Customer Experience. Above the level of “Satisfy” was “Delighters” including Surprise and Suspense; and below “Satisfy” was “Dissatisfies” including Sacrifice and Shock. Lastly, he concluded that the Great Service DNA produces the moments of MAGIC. MAGIC is stand for Making A Great Impact on Customer.

Mr. Ho Huu Lan, the speaker from Waseda Mailinh Group (Vietnam), presented his paper called “Mailinh Taxi Service with TQM & KAIZEN”. Mr. Lan presented the strategic quality of Maillinh in 3 phase.
Phase 1: Apply ISO 9001 in the parent company.
Phase 2: Consider TQM, Kaizen as a process tool to enhance the effectiveness of the ISO 9001.
Phase 3: Apply other systems (e.g. ISO 14001, SA 8000, OHSAS 18001, etc.) and support management under ISO 9001.

After that I was invited to be one of section chairmen for “TQM Practice”.
I took a photo with Prof. Toshiaki Nishi (OKAYAMA SHOKA University – Faculty of Economics) before the section started.

The 1st speaker was Mr. A.M.M. Khairul Bashar (BSTQM) and his topic was “Performance Improvement of a Power Transmission Grid Sub-Station through Embracing Quality Management Tools”. Mr. Bashar shared experience on the change in the sub-stations management system with the practice of TQM tools.

Ms. Supreeya Sukpanthavorn (SQAT) was the 2nd speaker and her topic was “The Reduction of Non-Value Added Activities in Paper Converting Process”. She presented the application of P-M analysis and TPM concept in the Thai Paper Company Limited. The company employed Total Productivity Management (TPM) since 2001 and focused on continuous improvement to maintain product quality.

P-M Analysis defined in follows:
P:
Phenomenon – Deviations from normal to abnormal state
Physical – Physical analysis to understand the physical principles behind an abnormal event
M:
Mechanism – Understand the mechanism of abnormal phenomena and equipment
4M – Machine, Man, Material & Method
A:
Analyze causes and effects

The 3rd speaker was Mr. Avik Mitra (Director General, National Academy for Customs, Excise & Narcotics, Govt. of India; ISQ) and he presented the topic “Quality in Public Services Framework Standard for “Assessment-Improvement” for Public Services”. He introduced the framework standard for “Assessment – Improvement” which was a Service Delivery Excellence Model to achieve excellence in public service delivery. The model included 3 modules and they were “Citizens’ Charters & Service Standards”, Public Grievances Redress Mechanism” and “Service Delivery Capacity”.

The last speaker of the section was Mr. Subodh Pandey (ISQ) and his presentation entitled “Replenishment Model for Selling Branded Re-bars in India”. The speaker shared the QFD process to identify the key needs of consumer and to ensure availability of all Stock Keeping Units at all the 1700 retail outlets spread across the country at all points of time.

After the break, we joined the “HM/Education” section. The first speaker was Mr. Taro Oya (JSQC) and his topic was “A Study on the Relationship between Improvements by Learning Typed PDCA and CAPD Cycles and Differences between Self-evaluations and Others’ Evaluations”. Mr. Ova examined the trends in the differences existing between self-evaluations (e.g. students) and others’ evaluations (e.g. by Ms. Kobayashi) in terms of Ability, Goal and Result. The case was based on student learning by using either PDCA or CAPD cycles.

Dr. KS Chin (CityU of Hong Kong, HKSQ) was the second speaker and his presentation title was “Development of a Brand New Degree Programme of Total Quality Engineering”. Dr. Chin is one of pioneers to initiate a new degree programme which might be the first fulltime undergraduate quality engineering related degree programme in Hong Kong. The programme addresses the issue of quality control and product assurance in the international trade, and also focuses on safety, health, and environmental consequences of products.

Then we attend Mr. Dinesh P. Chapagain (NQPCN) and he presented the topic of “Re-engineering Industrial Quality Control Circles in Class for Students’ Personality Development”. Mr. Chapagain performed an expert survey on Students’ Quality Circles which were adopted version of industrial Quality Control Circles (QCC) applied in class rooms.

Another topic I attended in the section “QM in Service”. The speaker was Ms. Hsiu-Chen Chang (Yu Da University, CSQ) and her topic was “Developing an Information Asymmetry Management System for the Banking Industry”. She studied the information asymmetry phenomenon of lending behavior in the deposit and loan market of the banking industry. She indicated 3 clusters in bank deposit and loan markets and they were “Senior Large-Scale”, “Low Interest Rate Loan Small-Scale” and “High Deposit and Loan Interest Rate”.

Closing Ceremony and Keynote Speaker section:

Mr. Gregory H. Watson (President, International Academy for Quality – IAQ) was the first keynote speaker and his presentation title was “Shared Prosperity: The Value of Quality”.

He mentioned “value”, “ethics” and “governance”, and some points were extracted as follows:
· Quality is excellence. (Aristotle said: “Excellence is a habit!”)
· Doing quality is not enough. Being quality is required.
· The idea of “quality for prosperity” is a macro-economic application of quality “thinking and doing” so that it can become a “cultural way of being” that applies to society as a whole.
· IIyin was right: mankind’s salvation is through quality!

The last keynote speaker was Dr. Noriaki Kano (Honorary Chairperson, ANQ; Professor Emeritus) and his topic entitled “The Role of TQM in Economic Crisis – Category A Strategy vs Category J Strategy”.

Dr. Kano explained Category A (America) was “Decision Making → effective” such as Purchasing, Mergers and Acquisitions, Closing Plant, etc.; and Category J (Japan) was “Decision Making + Company-wide Efforts → effective” such as Quality Improvement, World Class Company, etc.

Then he introduced the house of TQM and Boat Model. Finally, he concluded crisis can be overcome by using Category A + J Strategy. He also stated “Crisis and leadership make people sweat for Quality”.

Best Paper Award Presentation

There were about 10% of papers selected for best paper award. It is my honor to be one of them.

The organizer summarized the ANQ 2009 Congress as follow photo.

ANQ 2010 will be held in India.

Invitation to the farewell dinner