ASQ InfVoices – Quality Strategy Approach

Mr. Bill Troy shared his five key questions about strategy as August topic of ASQ Influence Voices entitled “Charting A Strategy For Quality – And Beyond”. He would like us to share our strategy in organization, business, professional association or even in our personal life. The photo of Troy’s article was a man in front of Maze and it seems to find the road to the other side. I used a photo which a leader with his people on the top of Transmutation Circle (練成陣) to go to another space.

I would like to use Motorola’s 6 Step to Six Sigma in 1987 (Not GE’s DMAIC) to discuss our Quality Strategy in Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) when I was chairman in 2010 below.

Step 1: Understand your product and service.
HKSQ is a quality professional association and our products / services included Training Courses, Seminars, Symposiums / Conferences, Technology Visits, Study Missions and Student Project Competition. Through our service, we promoted quality awareness to community in Hong Kong.

Step 2: Identify who is your customer.
Our customers were identified as quality professionals, university students in related subjects, any person interested in the topic of quality and companies with quality commitment.

Step 3: Understand your necessary things to achieve your work.
That means necessary resource in HKSQ to provide such products / services including Human Resource, Materials, Venues, etc. HKSQ is a “Lean Society”. We haven’t full time staff and have only voluntary exco members. Our venues usually use University and rental cost is under non-profit organization rate and sometimes is waived for co-organized events. We haven’t office address and all are virtual things (website) but use a mail box service from Post Office. Even though the resource is limited, we still receive a very low membership fee (Only HK$250 per year).

Step 4: Understand how to do it right. Committee members are response to their own profession activities such as Seminar, Training and Visit activities. We all follow HKSQ Administrative Handbook to make sure to do those activities right.

Step 5: Think how to do it better. Before provision of services, we would think how to do it better than the previous time including timing, schedule, venue and transportation. After that this activity (e.g. technology visit or student project competition) arrangement will be our standard operation procedure.

Step 6: Think how to evaluate how well your work done.
After each activity, we would send questionnaire to collect participants’ feedback. Then we analyze it for continuous improvement.

In every year, we will hold HKSQ strategy meeting to identify the theme and related activities to be launched in the coming year. When I was chairman in 2010, I led the theme on “Testing and Certification Era” and many activities were related or co-operated to this direction (See reference). In this year, our theme is “Quality and Innovation Today, Success Tomorrow”.

Reference:
A View from the Q - http://asq.org/blog/
HKCTC Report Summary (Testing & Certification) -http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2010/04/hkctc-report-summary-testing.html
HKSQ’s suggestions to the testing and certification industry posted at http://www.hksq.org/HKSQ_Suggestion_to_HKCTC_20100112.pdf

IIE(HK) 34th AGM cum Annual Dinner

The Institute of Industrial Engineers (Hong Kong) 34th Annual General Meeting cum Annual Dinner was held on 26 Sep 2014 in World Trade Center Club. The theme of the Annual Dinner was “IE in Service Industry”. I was honor to be invited as one of distinguished guests to attend this dinner. Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) had always supported IIE events (See reference). Tonight, Prof. Fugee Tsung, Dr. Aaron Tong and I had participated in the annual dinner.

In the beginning, Dr. Gary Tsui (President, IIE(HK)) gave a welcome speech and appreciated all members support IIE activities. Moreover, he presented a souvenir to Immediately Past President Mr. Larry Li for appreciating his hardworking to lead IIE(HK).

Ir. Dr. Hon Lo Wai Kwok, BBS, MH, JP (Fellow of HKIE) was the first Guest of Honour and his presentation entitled “Improving Hong Kong’s Competitive Edge through Industrial Engineering”. Firstly, he briefed the Budget 2014-15 with competitiveness and its main theme was “Diversified Economic Development”. The he discussed some statistics and prediction of Hong Kong Economic growth. The projection showed the growth to be flat at 2.5% (annual rate of change) after 2025. Labour force would be decline after 2018.

Then Ir. Dr. Lo discussed Hong Kong’s competitive edge. He quoted Thomas H. Davenport & James E. Short (MIT Sloan, Management Review 1990) statement that “We believe that the Industrial Engineers of the future, regardless of their formal title or the organizational unit that employs them, will focus increasingly on IT-enabled redesign of business processes.” Ir. Dr. Lo also said the trends in the 21st Century were the convergence of “Hardwares and Softwares”, “Physical Goods and Information” and “Reality and Virtual World”. Then he mentioned Internet of Things (IoT) and its application in Hong Kong.

Finally, Ir. Dr. Lo concluded the role of IE in the new era that “IE will take the lead in applying IT in process modeling, production scheduling and control, materials management, information systems, logistics, etc., basically in all modern service industries.

We took a photo with Ir. Dr. Lo in the guest table after this speech

During this break, we enjoyed students music performance.

Then the second Guest of Honour was Prof. Kailash C. Kapur (Visiting Professor, IELM Dept., HKUST) and his talk named “Industrial Engineering & Principled-Centered Service Quality”. Prof. Kapur briefed his work named 3R’S meant Reliability, Robustness, Resilience and Safety. Then he would like to talk about the evolution of IE with changes in service economy and Ten Quality Principles.

Prof. Kapur mentioned Hong Kong Service sector that Hong Kong exported US$137.1 billion worth of services, bearing a ratio of 50% to GDP in 2013. He introduced 5I’s of Service included Intangibility, Inventory (Perishability), Inseparability, Inconsistency (Variability) and Involvement. Then he introduced one very interested concept named “iBOYFRIEND” that interpreted as “It is a boyfriend who knows my needs before I know that I have them.”

After that Prof.Kapur stated 10 Principle-Centered Service Quality included ‘System Focus’, ‘Customer Focus’, ‘Process Focus’, ‘Hierarchical Structure’, ‘Future Focus’, ‘Continuous Improvement’, ‘Prevention…Proactive…Strategic Planning’, ‘Scientific Approach’, ‘Integration and Synthesis’ and ‘Understanding the Transformation’. Finally, he concluded IE to be iENGINEERING (iE) that “i” indicating information, integration, intuition, innovation, involvement, improvement…impossible to possible and so on.

Then we took a group photo with all guests to toast for celebrating the success of IIE(HK) Annual Dinner.

The final event was lucky draw. I was invited to draw the winner and the first winner was Mr. MK Lam (we called him LAM Sir).

Dr. Aaron Tong was also invited for lucky draw and the winner was HKU student.

Ir. Louis Ching (Deputy Chairman, MIE of HKIE) was invited to draw the prize.

Then Prof. KB Chan (Chairman, SMT) was invited to draw another prize.

Dr. SH Choi (Associate Head of IMSE Dept., HKU) was the winner for coffee machine.

Dr. Catherine Chan (President, HKQFDA) was very lucky to be drawn a big prize which was a wifi printer.

Many good friends I met during this dinner and took some photos for memory.

(Left: Dr. Sammy Wan (Past President of IIE), Ir. Richard Tse (Past Chairman of HKIE – MIE), I and Prof. Gregg Li (CEO, Gregg Li and Co; Vice Chairman of Business and Professionals Federation of Hong Kong))

(Left: Prof. KB Chan, I and Dr. Catherine Chan) 

We learnt much from Prof. Chan. He said “Quality is Customer Perception” and the most important thing in the company was to remove your staff’s fear.

(Left: Mr. Coleman Tse (Sales & Marketing Director, BSI), Dr. Victor Lo (Vice Chairman - ISIHK), Dr. Frankie Law (PT Lecturer, Business School, HKU), Dr. Alan Chan (Associate Professor, SEEM Dept. of CityU) and I)

(Left: I, Mr. Harry Li (Immediately Past President of IIE(HK)), Ir. Dr. Hon Lo Wai Kwok, and Prof. Fugee Tsung (Professor and Head of IELM Dept, HKUST))

(Left: Mr. Harry Li, I, Prof. Fugee Tsung, Dr. Frankie Law and Dr. Sammy Wan)

I also took a photo with Ir. Louis MT Ching for memory.

Reference:
IIE(HK) - http://www.iiehk.org/
20130510: IIE(HK) Seminar on Delivering Change and Creating Value through IE Methodology - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2013/05/iiehk-seminar-on-delivering-change-and.html
20110115: IIE(HK) visiting TSC in Science Park - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2010/01/institute-of-industrial-engineers-hong.html
20090423: Industrial Engineer at Disneyland and Tian Tan Buddha Visit - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2009/04/industrial-engineer-at-disneyland-and.html
HKSQ - http://www.hksq.org/

Hong Kong Science Park Phase 3 Opening Ceremony

Hong Kong Science Park Phase 3 Opening Ceremony was held on 25 Sep 2014. I joined this event to be the first of witness for our commitment in expanding our vibrant innovation & technology ecosystem for exciting development.

In the beginning, Mr. Allen Ma (CEO, HKSTPC) led stars of incubatees / tenants for drum performance.

Then our Chairman, Mrs. Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, gave welcome speech. She appreciated all staff, incubatees and tenants contribution in Science Park.

Many guests were invited to attend this ceremony. There was little rain in the beginning and then sunny. Mrs. Law Fan said “Water means Money”.

The Hon John Tsang Chun-wah, GBM, JP (Financial Secretary, HKSAR) gave guest speech. Two key points I got were enhancing the investment environment for our Technology Company / Startup and increase funding to support University technology transfer.

Phase 3 Opening Ceremony was started.

Group photo with all guests

Reference:
HKSTP - http://www.hkstp.org
Phase 3 Opening Ceremony - http://www.hkstp.org/en-US/News-Media-Events/Events-Seminars/2014/Hong-Kong-Science-Park-Phase-3-Opening-Ceremony.aspx#.VCRGHPmSzBQ

Prof. Kwok L. Tsui's Quality Talk in CityU 30th Anniversary Technology Forum

I attended Prof. Tsui Kwok Leung’s presentation in CityU 30th Anniversary Technology forum on 24 Sep 2014 entitled “Advanced Manufacturing”. Prof. Tsui’s talk named “A Quality Journey: From Manufacturing to Field Operation with PHM”.

Firstly, Prof. Tsui reviewed how statistical methods for improving Manufacturing Quality included Reliability, Design of Experiments, Statistical Process Control and Sampling Inspection. Then advancement of technology improved from Production Quality to Operation Quality. Those technology advancement included Computation Power (Real Time Data Processing and Computation Capability), Data Collection, Sophisticated Modeling Advancement, and Improving Prediction Capability for Population to Individuals.

Then Prof. Tsui introduced what different using Prognostics and System Health Management (PHM) for improving Operation Quality compared with old one.

Prof. Tsui explained why PHM needs through discussion of consequences of system failure. Many major failures caused significant failure impact which not only consider money but life! For instance, Toyota case happened may be because of complex information system, rare events, very intermittent and electronics No Fault Found (NFF). He proposed to use PHM approach to solve it.

The Objectives of PHM (Pecht):
1. Eliminate unexpected/unscheduled down-time of information systems caused by failures of electronic hardware and software.
2. Develop the technology for self-cognizant electronic systems that can recognize their own health and take autonomous corrective action, thus resulting in ‘personalized health-management’ strategies.

Finally, Prof. Tsui explained PHM through two examples. There were a Simple Bearing and Rechargeable Battery. It observed the process known as degradation.

However, I was more interested in another case named Battery Degradation. Prof. Tsui’s research had three objectives below:
1. To identify data-driven technology, and hence track the battery degradation trend for fusion prognostics.
2. To develop models to evaluate the battery status & predict the remaining useful performance – State of Health (SOH) regarding to external stress, under various current load.
3. To develop models to understand capacity behavior and to estimate State of Charge (SOC) under various conditions.

For SOC study, two experiments were performed and they were Dynamic Stress Test (DST) and Federal Urban Driving Schedule (FUDS).

Reference:
CityU 30th Anniversary Homepage - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/cityu30/index.htm
CityU SEEM Department - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/seem/
CityU Engineering Doctorate Society - http://www.engd.org/

CityU 30th Anniversary Technology Forum

The City University of Hong Kong (CityU) launched a year-long series of programmes and activities to celebrate its 30th Anniversary in 2014. 30 Years of Research and Innovation@CityU comprises exhibitions and technology forums on research activities and knowledge transfer. I attended one of forum on 23 Sep 2014 entitled “Food, Energy, and the Environment” in which mainly presented by BCH professors.

Prof. Paul Lam (Director, State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, CityU) gave an opening address and introduced guest speakers to us.

The first speaker was Mr. George BALAZS (Vice-Chair for the Oceania Region of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group) and his talk named “Magnificent and Mystical Marine Turtles: Cultural Links to Conservation”. Mr. Balazs introduced different types of turtles included Leatherback, Hawksbill Honu’ea, Olive Ridley, etc. Then he demonstrated the satellite tracking of Pelagic North Pacific Loggerheads included HK, China, Korea, Japan, Hawaii and USA.

The following chart showed the number of green turtles nesting at East Island from 1973 to 2014. The number of green turtles increased recently because of changing behaviors. At the end, George concluded that “Of all the things one can take when visiting a New Place, the most important is an Open Spirit”. (In Chinese: 以開放的態度接受與你不同的新地方、人、事物。)

The second speaker was Prof. Henry CHUNG (Professor, EE Dept., Director of Centre for Smart Energy Conversion and Utilization Research (CSCR), CityU) and his presentation title was “Smart Energy Saving Apparatus”. Beginning, Prof. Chung introduced his centre’s research areas included Smart City, Battery Modeling, Lighting System, Energy Metering & Management, Energy-recyclable burn-in System, Solar System, and Smart Power USB.

Then Prof. Chung briefed electrical transmission system in Hong Kong that separated into 3 major parts which were Generation, Transmission and Distribution. He mentioned the history of development in CSCR and explained their technology gave an immediate solution to reduce the electricity consumption without modifying existing infrastructure. He concluded his talk by the statement “Excellence Through Passion and Innovation”.

Prof. Michael LAM (Professor, BCH Dept., CityU) was the third speaker and his topic named “Analytical Tools for Environmental and Food Safety Applications”. He explained to us some advantageous features of sensing technology included in-situ measurement, non-destructive analysis, non-demanding on sample volume, low operating cost, … etc.

Then Prof. Lam introduced Chemosensors for food safety in which a small “sensor” that went together with pre-packaged food products to demonstrate their safety to customer in an eye-catching way. One of Prof. Lam researches was biogenic amines as meat spoilage indicators.

The forth speaker was Dr. YW Lam (Associate Professor, BCH Dept., CityU) and his topic entitled “Genetically Modified Crops: Monster or Saviour?” Dr. Lam briefed the history of agriculture technology and used “cultivated rice” as example. Then he stated the first “Transgenic Plant” which commercialized in 1994 named “Flavr-Savr Tomatoes”. This Tomato was removed a gene and became “Gene Silencing” that kept fresh upto 45 days.

Dr. Lam explained we need GM food to increase the yield of food production to solve the future population of people in the world. The argument of GM food was existing for the long time but Forbes Magazine stated “The debate over the risks associated with GMO food is effectively over” because of the publication issued “The 100 billion animal experiment” (A.L.Van Eenennaam and A.E. Young (2014) "Prevalence and impacts of genetically engineered feedstuffs on livestock populations" J ANIM SCI, Sep 2, jas.2014-8124)

The last speaker was Dr. Paul Shin (Associate Professor, BCH Dept., CityU) and his topic named “Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs”. I left early but I only know that the blood of Horseshoe Crabs could manufacture Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) for testing Endotoxin in Medical Devices. I had also visited laboratory for breeding horseshoe crabs in 2012 (CUBIC event).

Reference:
CityU 30th Anniversary Homepage - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/cityu30/index.htm
CUBIC Life Science Group Tea Gathering - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2012/10/cubic-life-science-group-tea-gathering.html

CityU EngD (EM) Gathering Talk – Innovative Entrepreneurship & 3D Printing

Engineering Doctorate EngD (EM) Society organized a talk on 20 Sep 2014 (Saturday night) at Alumni Function Room in 11/F., AC3, CityU. We are honor to invite Dr. SUN Hongyi (Associate Professor, SEEM Dept., CityU) to present his recently research project granted HK$1.35 Million entitled “Professional Development Platform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship” and I was honor to share 3D Printing in Science Parks.

In the beginning, we introduced ourselves to each other and shared EngD study life. Dr. Rocky Lam briefed the aims of this gathering talk to communicate and connect EngD cohorts for exchanging expertise and creating business opportunities.

Dr. Sun was the first guest speaker and his introduced the CityU education Platform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CePIE) which was a platform for online course to link up Government, Industry and University. It also like supermarket for sharing and trading IP, technology, products, solutions and training. It was supported by UGC and CityU with the funding HK$1.35 Million.

Then Dr. Sun demonstrated the platform at http://www.cityu.edu.hk/CePIE/ and he invited us to join the Industrial Mentor.

After that he mentioned his trademarked Innovation course named “3333”. The first 3 means “Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. The second 3 means “New idea, product and business”. The third 3 means “Thinking, Participating and Going to Market”. The last 3 means “Capability of Learning, Adopting and Leading”.

I was the second speaker and my topic was “3D Printing in Science Park”. I briefed the history and technology of 3D Printing. The concept of 3D printing was able to trace back to 1892 US Patent named “Manufacture of Contour Relief Map”. However the first 3D printer was patented in late 1980s. In late 1992, SEEM (previous named MEEM) Dept. of CityU jointly with the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), a government subsidised agency, developed a technology transfer project on stereolithography (SLA) technology for rapid plastic prototype making (KS Chin, 1998).

Then I introduced five 3D printers which serviced in Science Park as follows:
1. Replicator 2X (Makerbot)
http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2
* Raw material is ABS filament, low cost 3D printer
2. Objet500 Connex3 (Stratasys)
http://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers/design-series/precision/objet500-connex3
* Raw material is resin, advanced multi-materials color 3D printer
3. ProJet660 Pro (3Dsystem)
http://www.3dsystems.com/3d-printers/professional/projet-660pro
* Raw material is powder, color 3D printer
4. Roland Modela ProII MDX-540
http://www.rolanddg.com/product/3d/3d/mdx-540/mdx-540.html
* Soft material used wood and plastic, Milling machine with 4 axis
5. Lumex Avance-25 (Matsuura)
http://www.matsuura.co.jp/english/contents/products/lumex.html
* Laser sintering and milling
* Raw material is metal powder

Finally, I shared some 3D Printing products which made by using ProJet660 Pro to EngD cohorts.

After that we discussed in different topics about EngD studying and future cooperation between industry and university.

Reference:
Engineering Doctorate (Engineering Management) - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/seem/pdf/EngD_Leaflet.pdf
CityU Engineering Doctorate Society - http://www.engd.org/
CityU education Platform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CePIE) - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/CePIE/
KS Chin (1998) “Implementation of Rapid Prototyping Technology — A Hong Kong manufacturing industry's perspective”, Int. J. Adv. Manuf. technol. Vol.14, pp570-579.