Boating for coral – increasing staff loyalty

I joined boating for coral organized by my company on 16 Aug 2009. During the trip, we saw some beautiful natural creations, and then we had a countryside walk in a small island, called Tai Mun.

Regis Mckenna’s 7S includes Structure, Systems, Strategy, Skills, Staff, Style and Shared Value. During the boating, staff not only enjoyed a family day, but also had better communication with others. Company values can be shared during such activities, such as “Nature”, “Environmental”, “Family” and “Education”.

Our cruiser left the pier.

My wife and I took a photo in the bow of a cruiser.

We left Science Park.

It is Ma On Shan (馬鞍山) as the shape of hill is like saddle.

We saw a Marine Police.

A small crystal boat we employed for seeing coral.

We saw the coral through the glass on the keel of the boat.

See! Many Coral!

Coral can be found everywhere near the coastal beach.

After that we went to Tap Mun (塔門) for lunch and countryside walk.

Fish and octopus were sun-dried.

Then, we went to Tin Hau Temple (天后廟).

A front view of Tin Hau Temple (天后廟)(A protector of fisherman and sailors, Tin Hau – the Queen of Heaven – is honoured with the most prayers from coastal peoples such as the Cantonese, Fujianese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese.)

Many very large and colorful spiders were found. It must be poison.

My wife and I took another picture.

Then we went to “Balanced Rock” (疊石).

It is like two of square rocks which are stacked together.

People like to stay there to enjoy sunset.

The cow was clever to have rest under trees. It was a really hot day!

After that we went to Lai Chi Chong (荔枝莊) for a while.

Twenty years ago, I joined a camp in Lai Chi Chong (荔枝莊). The terrace was very beautiful and distinct. But it is not so distinct now.

Do you see two jump fishes (彈塗魚 Periophthalmus cantonensis) under the rock?

A fighter (suspended) was seen.

When we left, we needed to pass the marine police’s cruiser.

Back to Science Park

網絡的言論自由

本人覺得網絡應該保持言論自由. 只要沒有人身攻擊, 大家把自己的論據說明, 只要大家尊重對方, 道理可愈辯愈明. 如果不能把對方說服, 就只乘下立場的分別.

「破惘」一書記錄了以下句子.
言論自由的意思是指容許他人提出不同的意見，卻並不表示不容許駁斥他人不同的意見，更不表示意見無所謂對錯，不表示永遠無須辯論。

梁文道在am730的文章 “文懷沙事件” (17/6/2009) 及 “公共領域的陽光法則” (18/06/2009)寫得好. 他主要引出伏爾泰的名句 “雖然我不同意你的意見, 但我誓死捍衛你發表意見的權利.” 及 在道理上見真章.

希望在公共領域有一個恆久的陽光法則, 而不是黑暗律法.


參考書
破惘 – 思之旅(星篇) (第五版) 李天命 明報出版社 一九九六年七月

IPO process in Hong Kong

I attended a seminar entitled “IPO Process in Hong Kong & Role of Financial Adviser” on 7 Aug 2009 in Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks (HKSTP). The seminar introduced IPO qualifications and the way a financial adviser would assist a company to reach IPO milestone. Two speakers were Ms. Edwina Lee and Mr. Leo Wong whose service in the Anglo Chinese Group, which provides advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, raising capital, corporate reorganization and rescue, litigation support and regulatory compliance.


Benefit and draw back of IPO has been described as follows:
For Benefit, they are summarized as follows:
i) Benchmark of value,
ii) Increase profile & global awareness of the company,
iii) Monetization for current shareholder at IPO,
iv) Increase attention from lenders and institution,
v) Platform for employee retention & their incentive, etc
Draw backs are:
i) Exposure to public observation,
ii) Leak of competitive information,
iii) Potential legal liabilities,
iv) Short-term strategy,
v) Demanding continuing obligation (requested from HK Stock Exchange), etc.

IPO Qualification in Main Board and GEM were also briefed. Some actions done in pre-IPO preparation were listed below.
Phase 1:
It should appoint a right team and get your house in order.
i) Restructuring
ii) Financial statement
iii) Business plan
iv) Target valuation
v) Equity story / positioning
vi) Appointment of adviser
Phase 2: IPO Preparation / Execution
i) Due diligence → Documentation
ii) Structure and logistics → Marketing preparation
Phase 3: Marketing & Pricing
The whole process needs 5 month theoretically, and 9 month typically.

The role of financial adviser is mainly on problem resolution. It includes pricing, capital commitment, valuation disagreement, listing venue, sensitive disclosure, etc.

IPO team members included Bookrunners, Lawyer, Accountants, and others (Financial PR, Junior Syndicate Members, Printers, etc.).

The key element of an equity story is good positioning which helps promoting the merits of the company and marketing momentum of the IPO process. The cycle may be:

Market share → Management → Track record → Technology → Earning / Profitability → Dividend yield → Growth → Established franchise

After the seminar, I understood that IPO is a long journey and key milestone for company success. Many technology companies in HKSTP would be diligent to achieve IPO process.

Performance Award 2009

I would like to share my team’s honor on earning the company’s performance award on 30th July 2009 for “Development of Solar Energy Cluster” and “Occupational Health and Safety in Technology Support Centre”.

For “Development of Solar Energy Cluster”, it can be referred to the opening of Hong Kong Science Park Solar Energy Technology Support Centre and DuPont Apollo Global Thin Film Photovoltaic R&D Centre. It is the major technology co-operation project to establish a solar energy research and industrial platform in Hong Kong.

My certificate of performance recognition for Solar Energy Cluster

For “Occupational Health and Safety in Technology Support Centre”, we developed OHS management system based on OHSAS 18001 standard in our Technology Support Centre (TSC). There are many different kinds of laboratories in the centre and have different potential hazards to our stakeholders (including staff, sub-contractors, visitors, etc.). In order to protect our stakeholders, we implemented OHSAS 18001 OH&S management system in TSC through the safety training, the development of laboratory safety risk assessment methodology, internal safety audit and inspection, etc. After completed 42 improvement items, we achieved the certificate through HKQAA within 6 months.

My certificate of performance recognition for OHS in TSC

Finally, I would like to share our CEO’s speech as follows:
Say “Yes”.
Say “Yes” as often as you can.
“Yes” begins “Things”.
Saying “Yes” is how “Things” happen.
When “Things” happen, it leads to New Experience.
New Experience will lead you to
- Knowledge
- Wisdom
- Self-enrichment
- Success

My interpretation can be summarized into two sentences as follow:
i) Thing positive (So Say Yes); and
ii) Open your mind (Then Things happen).

Interesting Photos of Annular Partial Eclipse (日偏食)

Today, 22 July 2009, a central total solar eclipse is visible within a narrow path along eastern Asia, extending into the Pacific Ocean. Apart from the path of totality, a much wider range of areas can experience partial eclipse of different degrees. In Hong Kong, I saw an annular partial eclipse (日偏食) (max 3/4 sun coverage) in Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) at 9:15am.

Since I have no special device, I tried to take some photos of the eclipse by placing a digital camera under a Myopia (short sight) Sunglass.

Sun was too bright, eclipse could not been observed in the photo.


However, it was interesting to find a small image of partial eclipse, near the sun, in my photo.

A small image of partial eclipse

It is because the sunglass is a diverging lens and it forms a small and gloomy virtual image of annular partial eclipse in front of the camera.

HKSQ AGM & Medical Device Seminar

The 20th AGM of Hong Kong Society for Quality was held on 10th July 2009. Dr. Albert Tsang (“immediate past” Chairman) presented the Chairman’s Report in which both HKSQ development history and activities organized in the past year were briefly introduced. In 2008/09, Society had organized 3x workshops, 12x technical seminars, 2x technical visit and 1x student project competition.

Up to the end of June 2009, the Society has more than 300 members of various grades. Two new types of membership were approved to add into constitution during the meeting, namely student membership and corporate membership.

After AGM, we are pleased to have Mr. Benjamin Chan (Managing Director, MediConcepts Limited) to give us a presentation.


The presentation topic entitled “Sharing Entrepreneur Experience in Healthcare Products and Medical Devices & Diversify into Medical Manufacturing Business”.

Mr. Benjamin Chan shared the company’s development experience. In 1976, it was a conventional manufacturing group in making timepieces parts / components and high precision plastic injection molding. It was an integrated facility for one stop manufacturing service. Until 2002, it was renamed to MediConcepts and incorporated with R&D. To develop new product, they have sponsored universities for medical innovative projects. MediConcepts is a founding member of the Hong Kong Medical and Healthcare Devices Industries Association (HKMHDIA).

They considered Medical, Aviation and Automotive could be new business & manufacturing opportunities and selected Medical manufacturing to diversify their business by using SWOT analysis. In 2006, Class 100K clean room was established and they obtained ISO 13485 certification from BSI. In that time, they commenced manufacturing of trocar, cannular and surgical valves. Recently, they have worked on a new FDA approved project with non-invasive drug delivery system. (For which, GMP production environment is required.)

Mr. Chan identified the challenges to Inventors as follows:
i) Unfamiliar with manufacturing technology
ii) Lack of Product Engineering knowledge
iii) Lack of Project Management skill set
iv) Large “Expectation Gap”

The success factors of the speaker’s company are:
i) Understanding user requirements
ii) Cost effective product development and prototyping
iii) License right to manufacturing and to distribution

Finally, the speaker used the following sentence to conclude the presentation.
“Tell me, and I will forget.
Show me, and I may remember.
Involve me, and I will understand.”

During Q&A session, participants asked the keys for getting success in manufacturing transformation. Mr. Chan affirmed to keep the operation size as small as possible (i.e. low overhead) so as to facilitate resource allocation. For example, some US biomedical companies had only 30 people with very good knowledge to support the business development period that could be 1 or 2 year. The other hint is to focus on the area which fits your manufacturing profile.

Dr. Tsang presented the souvenir to the speaker.

For more information: please visit http://www.mediconcepts.com.hk/ & http://www.medicaldevice.org/ .

Hong Kong Jockey Club's Racing Laboratory

My wife and I visited to The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Racing Laboratory, organized by The Environmental and Consumer Goods Subcommittee of the Hong Kong Association for Testing, Inspection and Certification Ltd. (HKTIC) on 4th July 2009.

A beautiful Jockey Club environment and my car

The Racing Laboratory is located on the 6/F of the Central Complex.

In the beginning, Dr. Wan, Chief Racing Chemist, introduced the history of the Racing Laboratory. The laboratory was established in 1970 (39yr) and have achieved HOKLAS accreditation since 1992. There are about 45 similar racing laboratories in the world. The Laboratory has 43 staffs. Among of them, more than 30 staffs are degree holders, including 7 staffs with doctor degree and 7 staffs with master degree.

Some of their researches had been published in international journals for sharing purpose.

Dr. Wan leaded us to visit Drug Laboratory, Drug Store & R&D Laboratory.

Then we had a chance to visit the main laboratory. They have 27 sets of mass spectroscope (17x GCMS and 10 LCMS). Because of restricted drug testing, all process in each instrument was recorded by CCTV (with very high resolution and each instrument monitored by two cameras).

The racing laboratory is using “Laboratory Information Management System” (LIMS) to achieve the objective of paperless and to facilitate the report reviewing system. Dr. Wong showed the amendment of electronic report.

After that we visited the Specimen Store. The Specimens were kept in -4C. For positive samples, there are 3 refrigerators set at -80C for storage.

The sample bottles were also introduced. The bigger one is 200ml for horse’s urine collection and the smaller one is 50ml for rider’s urine.

The sample bottle for horse’s blood specimen was shown.

This special sample bottle was for 200ml horse’s urine and used for Olympic Game.

There are different types of vegetable for horse feeding and all need to be tested.

Dr. Wan said the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s racing laboratory is one of the top laboratories in the restricted drug testing in the world. The average percentage of positive result is 0.06% in the past 7 years in Hong Kong, and it is 0.26% in the world.

Finally, the vice-chairman of the Environmental and Consumer Goods Subcommittee of HKTIC presented souvenir to Dr. Wan.

The accredited test information of the racing laboratory can be found in HOKLAS Directory below.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club - Racing Laboratory (Registration Number 043)

ITEMS, MATERIALS OR PRODUCTS TESTED
Equine, canine and human body fluids; materials that an animal may have received or may have been intended to receive

SPECIFIC TESTS OR PROPERTIES MEASURED
Chemical tests:-
Qualitative and, where relevant, quantitative analyses for prohibited substances as defined by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and the Rules of Racing of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and overseas clients

Visit to KMB Bus Captain Training School

Chartered Quality Institute, Hong Kong branch, organized a technical visit to KMB bus captain training school, located at Shatin, on 27 June 2009 and my wife, as CQI member, joined the event.

KMB has about 4300 buses and more than 8000 bus captains. The training school aims to make all captains known about the company policies, captain disciplines, driving skills, and guidelines for services providers. The school principle introduced the training to bus captains based on both theory and practices.

A training scheme has been developed for beginners and on-job captains. A standard training model is ready for beginners. Any captain arranged to a new routine, a routine with changes, or to drive a new type of bus, would have training before the job taken.

Re-training for captains resumed to work after holidays (longer than 30 days) and for captains needed additional instructions (e.g. after accident or related to complaint) are considered. Further, high level training sessions are constructed for excellent captains to enhance their service behavior and skill, so as to assist them to develop their career.

Bus Driver Simulation Training

During the visit, bus history and types of training bus were reviewed.

My wife learnt that KMB training school has a very good documentation system on training manual development. For a new bus, Training Team would assign a staff to attend the training provided by the bus supplier. Then, the respective training manual would be written by the staff. All records of the development are properly documented, including training certificate provided by the bus supplier, draft training manual, comments from involved persons on the draft manual, good draft of the manual, and the acknowledgment of the established training manual by the trainer.

My wife said the visit was organized very well and the content was useful. KMB colleagues shared with participants with valuable experience to deal with training.

Group photo taken

Innovation / Creativity Management (BS 7000-1:2008)

Recently, I have read an article entitled “Channelling Creativity”(1) which stated the way to create the future in an organization through a standard to guide innovation management. In the article, the author introduced the standard BS 7000-1:2008 “Design Management System – Part 1: Guide to management innovation” and the key objective was to extend readers’ perspectives beyond technical innovation on products.

Let’s review some definitions of related terms below (2).

Creation: an original product of human invention or imagination
Creativity: the main tool to develop innovation
Discover: to be the first to find or observe a place, substance, or scientific phenomenon
Invent: to design and/or create something which has never been made before
Innovation can be defined as:
· the act of something new
· something newly introduced
· implementing new ideas to create value
· a contrary to established customs

The distinction between “Invention” and “Innovation” is that invention is the creation of a new idea or concept, and innovation is turning the new concept into commercial success or widespread use.

Another famous term will be correlated to Creativity / Innovation is TRIZ (The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving”. The father of TRIZ is Genrich Altshuller. He born in the former Soviet Union and joined the Army during World War II. After the war, he was assigned to the Navy as an inspector of inventing, a job which he saw as an opportunity to help inventors find creative solutions to technical problems. He studied 200,000 patents and selected 40,000 patents as representing the most effective solutions. He found that evolution of an engineering system is not a random event, but governed by certain patterns. TRIZ has Altshuller’s 39 parameters and 40 principles (3).

Genrich Altshuller said “My only intention in this book is to show that the process of solving technical problems is accessible to anyone, important to learn, and very exciting to work through” (4).

After reading Altshuller’s book, it is observed the application on TRIZ requires people with strong fundamental scientific knowledge (especially physics and chemistry) so as to use its methodology to solve different problems.


The standard BS 7000-1:2008 (Design Management System – Part 1: Guide to management innovation) gives guidance specifically in the design and development of innovative and competitive products that satisfies customers’ perceived needs and aspirations in the long-term future (5).

There are 16 stages to managing innovation at the organizational level as follows:
Stage 1) Review current innovation practices to determine potential for improvement
Stage 2) Create future vision
Stage 3) Draw up mission statement relating to innovation
Stage 4) Distil innovation objectives and strategies from organization’s overall objectives and strategies
Stage 5) Determine the innovation highway
Stage 6) Plan introduction of new approach to innovation
Stage 7) Communicate essence of innovation mission, objectives and strategies
Stage 8) Promote an innovation-nurturing culture
Stage 9) Reinforce infrastructure and expertise to manage innovation
Stage 10) Draw up master innovation programme
Stage 11) Implement programme and support new approach to innovation
Stage 12) Evaluate progress and contribution of master innovation programme
Stage 13) Build distinctive competencies and competitive advantage through innovation
Stage 14) Document, share, publicize and celebrate achievements through innovation
Stage 15) Enhance organization’s reputation through innovation
Stage 16) Review and refine overall approach to innovation

It can be interpreted as organizational innovation management (OIM). OIM is addressed as a kind of managerial method, which provides an organization with an underlying momentum for innovation, encouraging and facilitating the development of inventive ideas from an organization-wide perspective.


Creativity / Innovation can be generated from two situations. One can be produced from systematic approach such as OIM, TRIZ, BS 7000-1, and the other created from chaotic circumstances such as illumination (洞悉) and Eureka (頓悟). (Eureka means “I’ve found it!” in Greek.)


A great idea for creativity / innovation could be a common or simple thought. Sometimes, it could also be irrational, unsafe and unacceptable.


I like to quote Albert Einstein’s statement to conclude the creativity:
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”


Reference:
(1) Alan Topalian (2009) “Channelling Creativity”, QualityWorld (www.thecqi.org), Vol 35, Issue 6, pp.28 – 31.
(2) 方勵行 “Introduction to Innovation Management”
(3) John Terninko, et al. (1998) Systematic Innovation: An Introduction to TRIZ, CRC Press LLC.
(4) Genrich Altshuller (translated by Lev Shulyak) (1996) And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared – TRIZ, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, Technical Innovation Center, Inc.
(5) BS 7000-1:2008 “Design Management System – Part 1: Guide to management innovation”

六四民運的啟示

記得當年六四時候，我正在考中學會考。六四後入了城市理工攻讀應用科學，我從來不主動參與政治活動。

轉眼間，今年已是六四民運二十周年。偶然找到太太在二十年前購買的兩本書：「悲壯的民運」及「北京學運 – 歷史的見證」，再加上不認同近年香港各政黨的政治表演，決定通過閱讀這兩本書重新認識六四。

從四月十五日 – 胡耀邦逝世至六月九日 – 鄧小平亮相展示實力，令整個學生運動升級是於四月二十六日在人民日報的社論「必須旗幟鮮明地反對動亂」。看過「悲壯的民運」一書，它是用日誌方式記錄所有發生的事件〈包括當年新聞報章的報導〉。發現中國政府有多次機會可以和平解決學生運動，及當中有斷斷續續可以緩和的時機，但最終結果是血腥鎮壓，確實不明白！

當知道「改革歷程」一書是趙紫陽的完整錄音，第一時間買回家中閱讀。發現當時共產黨內的政治鬥爭很激烈，最終犧牲了學生及導致趙紫陽下台。

六四民運的啟示〈首兩點適用在辦公室政治〉

(一) 公司遇有重大事時，高層不可外訪！
四月二十三日，趙紫陽出訪平壤期間由李鵬代理主持常委工作，他把學潮情況說得非常嚴重，最終引至4.26人民日報的社論。﹝社論節錄在「改革歷程」第一部份 二十七頁﹞

(二) 不可把老闆推到前臺！
四月二十五日，鄧小平同李鵬等的內部講話被李鵬向各級幹部廣泛傳達，引至4.26人民日報的社論。雖然鄧小平不滿李鵬大範圍傳達他的講話，但李鵬壓中了。〈這是非常危險的！〉 ﹝「改革歷程」第一部份 二十九頁﹞
五月十六日，趙紫陽透露鄧小平是舵手。他本來是要維護鄧，結果引起大誤會。如推卸責任，在關鍵時刻把鄧拋出來。趙紫陽完全壓錯了！ 〈這是非常非常危險的！〉﹝「改革歷程」第一部份 六十五頁﹞

(三) 言論自由和獨立思考的重要
「破惘」一書記錄了以下破除謬誤的句子和方法：
言論自由的意思是指容許他人提出不同的意見，卻並不表示不容許駁斥他人不同的意見，更不表示意見無所謂對錯，不表示永遠無須辯論。
破除謬誤的四不架構如下：
· 不一致的謬誤：邏輯　/ 自相矛盾、自我推翻、雙重標準
· 不相干的謬誤：人身攻擊、牽強類比、偷換論題〈即離題謬誤〉
· 不充分的謬誤：以偏概全、假值傳遞、居後為果
· 不當預設的謬誤：循環論證、混合問題
如要深入研究，請閱讀李天命的「思考藝術」 (終定本)。

本人認為言論自由和獨立思考是非常重要的，更重要的是用科學方法來求真。對於平反六四，我認為要再過多三十年〈一般平反動作會在事件五十年後發生〉，待中央機密文件解凍後才有希望。現在最重要的是把所有有關六四的書籍收藏於圖書館內，供日後人民閱讀。

今晚是六四民運二十周年，我和太太在家中紀念六四學生及死難者。

順便一提，在「破惘」中對科學方法有以下說明：
它的核心是 〝假設演繹法〞：
第一步是 界定問題
第二步是 提出假設
第三步是 邏輯演繹 (即進行推理)
第四步是 以觀察或實驗來檢驗真偽

參考書
悲壯的民運 (第四版) 明報出版社 一九八九年六月 (港幣二十元)
北京學運 – 歷史的見證 (第二版) 星島出版社 一九八九年七月 (港幣五十元)
改革歷程 趙紫陽 (第一版) 新世紀出版社 二零零九年五月 (港幣一百二十八元)
破惘 – 思之旅(星篇) (第五版) 李天命 明報出版社 一九九六年七月 (港幣六十二元)
李天命的思考藝術 (終定本) (第五十八版) 明報出版社 二零零八年一月 (港幣八十四元)

悲壯的民運

北京學運 – 歷史的見證

改革歷程