Quality Alchemist (品質煉金術師): The 24th ANQ Congress Chengdu, China 2026 – Day 1 (Part A

2026年9月16日星期三

The 24th ANQ Congress Chengdu, China 2026 – Day 1 (Part A – Opening Ceremony)

Asian Network for Quality (ANQ) Congress 2026 was held by China Association for Quality (CAQ) in the Chengdu, China from 14-18 Sep 2026. The congress theme was “Integrating Asia and the World: Igniting a Quality-Driven Sustainable Future”. ANQ Certification and Examination Centre (CEC) meeting and ANQ Board meeting were held on 14^th and 15^th Sep 2026, respectively. Day 1 was held on 16 Sep 2026. Minda and I took a photo in front of the congress banner in the hall.

In the morning, we had breakfast together.

We met SQI team included Mr. Tu Jianyu (涂建宇), Mr. Tan Gheng Een (陳敬賢), Mr. Tan Swan San. Johnson (陳川昌) and Prof. TN Goh (吴桐毅).

And took photo with Mr. Janak Mehta (Honorary Chairman, ANQ) and Prof. Pedro Saraiva (Director of PLANAPP Portugal).

Minda and I selfie with Ms. Wang Shengqi (王圣淇) and Ms. Tong Jing, Twinkle (童菁).

Before congress start, I took a photo with Prof. Shu Yamada (Former Chairman, ANQ).

Mr. Howe Ng joined us and we took a group photo.

We met Dr. Surani Sharmalee Dias (Former Chairlady, SLAAQP) again.

Then I took a photo with Mr. Narayanan Ramanathan (co-founder and past President of ISQ) and Mr. Prabhakar Shettigar (Executive Director, ISQ).

I also met Mr. J. Ravikant (GC member, ISQ; Sr. VP & Head – Corporate TQM SRF Ltd.), Dr. Roland K. Jahnke and Mr. AKM Shamsui Huda (President, BSTQM).

After that Minda and I took a photo with IAQ academicians Prof. Miroslav Drijaca and Dr. Dag Kroslid (CEO, NorDan Group).

Photo with Mr. Vadim Vorobyev (First Vice President, Russian Organization for Quality (ROQ)).

Photo with Dr. Zandra Meningas (President, Philippine Society for Quality).

Dr. Aaron Tong arrived the venue and we took a photo together.

I also met KSQM representatives and they are Prof. Uk Jung (Dean, Dongguk Business School, Dongguk University) and Prof. Seungbeom Kim (Deputy Director, COSS Biohealth, Hongik University).

Ms. Wang Wei (王卫) seat with me and she was representative of Guangxi (广西).

The congress started, Ms. Huang Danhua (黃丹华) (President, CAQ) gave opening address.

And then Dr. Duan Yonggang (段永剛) (Chairman, ANQ) gave opening remarks.

After that Mr. Janak Mehta (Honorary Chairman, ANQ) gave opening plenary entitled “Natural Disasters, Climate Change and The Quality Profession”. Firstly, Mr. Mehta reviewed the disaster records spanning the thirty years from 1980 to 2026. Then he briefed the role of quality profession.

During the break, I took a photo with Ms. Wang Lin (王琳).

Minda and I also took a photo with Mr. Juhani Anttila (Academician, IAQ).

Afterwards, I took a photo of Dr. Jane Wong, who was photographing the group shot of all ANQ members on behalf of HKSQ.

In this moment, I had the pleasure of taking a photo with Lei Jun (Founder & CEO, Xiaomi). He was the first keynote speakers and a strong supporter of quality.

Firstly, Lei Jun highlighted Xiaomi's commitment to a technology-driven approach and its continuous increase in R&D investment; the company invested a total of 105 billion yuan in R&D over the past five years and plans to invest over 200 billion yuan in the next five.

Furthermore, Lei Jun mentioned that AI has ushered in a new era for quality. While leveraging AI to improve quality management, Xiaomi continues to emphasize real-world testing

In recent years, the company has deployed nearly 3,000 test vehicles and conducts lifecycle generalization testing even after products hit the market. In conclusion, Lei Jun stated that for a technology company, there are no shortcuts to quality.

Prof. TN Goh (Professor Emeritus, National University of Singapore) was the second keynote speaker and his topic named “Paradigm Shifts in the New Era”.

Firstly, he introduced quality in 7 C that were Conformance, Control, Consistency, Certification, Continuous improvement, Creativity and Customer satisfaction. He added another three Cs were Congress at Chengdu, China.

And then he employed the traditional PDCA with different innovative interpretation including classic, realistic, practical, competitive, pervasive, organizations undesirable, personnel effective, cultural negative & positive, new horizons with AI and future of quality management.

Lastly, Prof. Goh concluded five important roles played by ANQ that formed PANDA in Chengdu!

The third keynote speaker was Prof. Wan Seon Shin (Professor Emeritus, Sungkyunkwan University) and his presentation topic was “Pro-search: New Roles of QM Professionals in the AX Era”.

In the beginning, he pointed out four modes of division between AI and the professional that “AI first, highly automatable” (67.8%), “AI leads, human verifies” (21.3%), “Human only, AI cannot own” (10.3%) and “Human leads, AI supports (0.6%). Then he employ dimensions analysis from strong to weak empathy in y-axis and Strategy & Creativity and Optimization in x-axis.

Finally, he concluded to train Pro-Search quality manager with AI platforms.

Last activity was presentation of QC Circle Achievement. The QC group named “Recreate Glory & Refine Continuously” and their topic entitled “Development of a New Process Technology for Runner Static Balance Test in the Gezhouba Large Unit Retrofit”.