HKSQ AGM 2020 & Seminar on Local Production of Facial Mask in Hong Kong

HKSQ Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on 17 Oct 2020 and then a seminar named “Local Production of Facial Mask, Overcoming Obstacles-Lessons from Hong Kong's Reindustrialization (口罩港產化，披荊斬棘之路-香港再工業化的教訓)” was presented by Dr. Aaron Tong (Former Chairman, HKSQ). Because of COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, all HKSQ activities performed in online-base.  Before the end of AGM, we took a group photo for memory.

After AGM, Dr. Aaron Tong (Former Chairman, HKSQ & Managing Director, TQM Consultants Co., Ltd.) shared his experience to revitalize facial mask production in Hong Kong during COVID-19 outbreak period. 
 

First case Dr. Tong shared was the first facial production line which reactivated in Hong Kong. The machine stopped production more than 6 years and Aaron’s team (included MIE friends) to repair it within one day. Double the production amount was within one week and those production throughput was increased upto 8x after two weeks.  They got the order from government within 5 day!

Then Dr. Aaron Tong introduced the government’s Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme which upto HK$2 to 3 million for first 2 production lines.

And then Dr. Tong shared the list of companies joined the scheme.

After that Dr. Tong briefed different difficulties of facial mask production line such as equipment order, setup problem, urgent delivery problem, lack of material, etc. 

The quality of facial mask was not stable because of urgent production and some parts were not from original manufacturer. Many tailor-made tools to fix the production line that cause variance. 

Material shortage was a great problem at that time and even not enough time for testing.

One of key problems was lack of competence technician for machine tinning.  Communication gaps were observed between Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Dr. Tong said one of key cost was cleanroom requirement from Hong Kong Government.  So that the cost and time should be considered for building cleanroom.  

Finally, Dr. Tong briefed that he assisted SGS to overcome the technical problem for establishing PFE testing based on ASTM F2100.

Lastly, he pointed out a challenge of facial mask manufacturers in Hong Kong that supply more than demand!  He said TQM could assist to apply EU and USA requirement for selling mask aboard.

At the end, I invited participants to take a group photo for memory.

Reference:
HKSQ - http://www.hksq.org/
Past HKSQ AGM Seminar:
20190927: HKSQ AGM Seminar on Industry 4.0 in Quality Management - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2019/09/hksq-agm-seminar-on-industry-40-in.html
20180804: HKSQ AGM Quality Innovation Seminar on “Extenics and AI Application” - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2018/08/hksq-agm-quality-innovation-seminar-on.html
20170728: HKSQ AGM 2017 and Extenics Seminar - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2017/07/hksq-agm-2017-and-extenics-seminar.html
20160812: HKSQ AGM 2016 and QFD Seminar - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2016/08/hksq-agm-2016-and-qfd-seminar.html
20150717: HKSQ AGM 2015 and Zero Defect Strategy Seminar - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2015/07/hksq-agm-2015-and-zero-defect-strategy.html
20140726: HKSQ AGM 2014 and IP Audit Seminar - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2014/07/hksq-agm-2014-and-ip-audit-seminar.html
20130719: ASQ Master Black Belt Seminar after HKSQ AGM - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2013/07/asq-master-black-belt-seminar-after.html
20120819: The 23rd HKSQ Annual General Meeting - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-23rd-hksq-annual-general-meeting.html
20110729: The 22nd HKSQ Annual General Meeting and Quality Seminar - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2011/07/22nd-hksq-annual-general-meeting-and.html
20100724: The seminar on “The Best Renewable Energy for Hong Kong” - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2010/07/seminar-on-best-renewable-energy-for.html
20100724: The 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM) – Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2010/07/21st-annual-general-meeting-agm-hong.html

CQI Webinar - Top Tips for Remote internal auditing

CQI Webinar named “Top Tips for Remote internal auditing” was held on 15^th Oct 2020. I summarized it for sharing below. Before the seminar, Mr. Alexander Woods as facilitator to introduce the seminar and speaker – Ms. Judith Hargreaves.

Firstly, Ms. Judith Hargreaves (NQA Regional Assessor) introduced NQA background that is top 3 of CB in UK.  In this talk, she would like to share the effective internal auditing.  She shared her auditing steps included confirming the scope, desktop or live - paperwork and checklist or improvement tools.

Then she mentioned the Pros & Cons of remote auditing in the following table. 

And then she discussed the planning for remote audit including the best method to view the information and communication with your customer.  Moreover, the members involvement of customer team should be agreed in advance on audit dates through detailed plan.  The plan included Date & Time, Location/Department/Function, Method, and Indicative Records Required.

During inviting confirmation and participation, it should ensure everybody knew their role for the day of audit and availability.  Test the communication methods such as Zoom or Skype should be performed before audit.

Ms. Judith Hargreaves always asked us to keep it simple, effective and enjoy the audit.  After that she shared some tips in Context, Leadership, Planning, Support and Operations, as well as, Performance Evaluation & Improvement.

i)                    Documented information (e.g. Quality Manual) could be assessed via email, verified through internal audit.

ii)                  For leadership, based on the quality policy to discuss risk, roles & responsibilities, customer focus. (Remark: Your role is really to verify you are doing what you say you are and you have information to check without heaps of paperwork to review.)

iii)                Quality objectives are the only required documented information which can be emailed over and then discussed.  (Can we verify if these are effective?)

iv)                We can be emailed documented information for monitoring & measuring resources (7.1.5.1), calibration equipment (7.1.5.2), competence & training matrixes (7.2) and documented information control (7.5)

v)                  In operations, could customer arranged virtual tour such as using mobile, camera or even drone. (But it should be safe!)

vi)                Sampling orders should considered compliance at random. Could it be online and screenshare?

vii)              Performance evaluation on documented information, management review and internal audits as well as non-conformances should be considered.

Finally, Ms. Judith Hargreaves shared some key points for participate to take away below.

i)                    If document could get by email, we had time to review it and prepare a bank of informed questions for audit use.

ii)                  Conversation is still very important.

iii)                External auditor managed audit day exactly and internal audit to conduct the audit in a relaxed timeframe.

iv)                Be aware of information security (e.g. GDPR)!

At the end, Ms. Judith Hargreaves showed NQA services to support company work / return to work safely. 

Q&A

Reference:

CQI-HK - http://www.thecqi.org.hk/

CQI-UK - http://www.thecqi.org/

20121106: CQI Seminar on "Life after Quality" - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2012/11/cqi-seminar-on-life-after-quality.html

20130708: CQI Seminar "Quality is a Matter of Life or Death" - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2013/07/cqi-seminar-quality-is-matter-of-life.html

20140714: IRCA & CQI Seminar on Risk Based Audit - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2014/07/irca-cqi-seminar-on-risk-based-audit.html

20140426: CQI Site Visit to HK-ZhuHai-Macao Bridge - Reclamation Work - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2014/04/cqi-site-visit-to-hk-zhuhai-macao.html

20150608: Seminar on Enhancing Brands for Overseas Markets - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2015/06/seminar-on-enhancing-brands-for.html

20160531: IuPDI Seminar on SME O2O Business Transformation - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2016/05/iupdi-seminar-on-sme-o2o-business.html

20160514: The International Academy for Quality (IAQ) General Meeting and Dinner - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-international-academy-for-quality.html

20200714: CQI Webinar - Risks ain't wot they used t'be - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/07/cqi-webinar-risks-aint-wot-they-used-tbe.html

20200728: CQI Webinar – Dare to think: guidelines for the effective quality manager - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/07/cqi-webinar-dare-to-think-guidelines.html

20200909: Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) AGM 2020 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/09/chartered-quality-institute-cqi-agm-2020.html

20201002: CQI Webinar - Digital process transformation and the quality professional - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/10/cqi-webinar-digital-process.html

PolyU Webinar Series (2) - How does AI reinvent industrialization in HK?

The Institute for Entrepreneurship (IfE), PolyU organized a series of webinar in the theme “Booting Re-industrialization” so as to drive Hong Kong’s reindustrialization.  The second webinar named “How does AI reinvent industrialization in HK?” was held on 14^th Oct 2020.  Mr. Basil Wai (CEO, The Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association) was moderator of this webinar.

The first speaker was Mr. Kingsley Wong (Assistant Government Chief Information Officer (Industry Development), OGCIO) and his topic entitled “Applying latest researches and technologies to innovate government services”.  

Firstly, Mr. Wong introduced some pro-innovation initiative in Government including Procurement and Smart Government Innovation Lab.  For example, technical weighting increased from 30~40% to 50~70%. 

Then he also mentioned how Smart Government Innovation Lab to assist different government department to use innovative technology.  Moreover technology forums were performed to connect government departments with IT sector to facilitate industry involvement. After that he described the innovation competition for all staff from Open invitation to submit proposals, and then to short-list proposals and select the winning teams.

Finally, Mr. Wong briefed different successful cases such as Intelligent road works robot named “Roadbot”, Anti-bot technology to prevent automatically booking for public facilities, GovHK Chatbot named “Bonny”, Complaint and Enquiry Case Information System, Intelligent Search and Automation of Data Verification, etc. The service needs were posted at https://www1.smartlab.gov.hk/en/govt/list.xhtml .

Lastly, Mr. Kingsley Wong showed the recently technology employed during COVID-19 that was home quarantine monitoring electronic wristband and “StayHomeSafe” Mobile App.  At the end, he mentioned the Smart City Blueprint 2.0 would be available later this year.

The second speaker was Mr. Ng Hon Yu, Peter (VP, Enabling Technology Group, ASM Pacific Technology) and his presentation named “Industrialist’ insignths: Smart manufacturing is a way of re-industrialization for the electronic industry in Hong Kong”. 

In the beginning, Mr. Ng said COVID-19 disrupted the global manufacturing operations such as facial mask.  There were four points from McKinsey about next normal below.
1.    Distance is back / Resistance to Globalization
2.    Resilience AND efficiency
3.    The rise of the contact-free economy
4. Changing industry structures, consumer behavior, market positions, and sector attractiveness.

Then Mr. Ng briefed the vision of smart manufacturing in ASM through corporate video and then introduced their autonomous factory approach (i4.0) in three key elements that were Flexible Control & Automation, Connectivity, and Intelligence.

Finally, Mr. Ng stated the essential competence requirements in smart manufacturing.  He also mentioned R&D personnel in full time equivalent ~4.5 population in HK working in I&T industry in 2018. Lastly, Mr. Ng briefed R&D Capabilities especially in local universities, technology infrastructure including HKSTP and Cyberport, etc.

The third speaker was Prof. Cao Jiannong (Chair Professor of Distributed and Mobile Computing, Associate Director of University’s Research Facility in Big Data Analytics, PolyU) and his presentation topic was “How does big data drives re-industrialization?”

Firstly, Prof. Cao discussed reindustrialization via industry 4.0 that big data is the key element in digital transformation. He also discussed Big Data Innovation including optimizing resource utilization through detecting anomalies and predicting events from uncover hidden patterns and correlations.  

After that he discussed some cases such as big data driven airport resource management, demand dispatching for autonomous on-demand services (e.g. GoGoVan), intelligent prediction for the expansion and shrinkage of PCB in production.

Finally, Prof. Cao introduced Big Data Industrialization such as Big Data-driven Intelligent Control of POWERDRY and Non-target Contaminants Detection in Milk Production.  Lastly, he introduced some R&D projects at PolyU.

Panel discussion

The last guest speaker was Dr. Alfred Ng (Executive Director and CTO, Suga International Holdings Limited) and he shared his view on big data in business.  One of his businesses related to big data on pet. And then Mr. Kingsley Wong mentioned government open data policy could help ecosystem.  

Reference:

Re-industrialisation Funding Scheme (RFS) - https://www.itf.gov.hk/en/funding-programmes/facilitating-technology/rfs/index.html

HKSTP AMC - https://amc.hkstp.org/

FHKI - https://www.industryhk.org/en/

20200930: PolyU Webinar Series (1) - Booting Re-industrialization - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/09/polyu-webinar-series-1-booting-re.html

20200810: HKPC Webinar - Introduction of Re-industrialisation Funding Scheme - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/08/hkpc-webinar-introduction-of-re.html

20191028: CityU Seminar on Hong Kong Reindustrialization - Textiles and Clothing Industry Case (香港再工業化的前景：以香港紡織及服裝工業為例) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2019/10/cityu-seminar-on-hong-kong.html

20190327: CMATCL & HKSTP Meeting for reindustrialization - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2019/03/matcl-hkstp-meeting-for.html

20180213: FHKI Seminar on Bay Area Soar by Innovation and Industrial Upgrading Opportunities (大灣創新騰飛, 工業升級良機) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2018/02/fhki-seminar-on-bay-area-soar-by.html

HKPC Webinar - How Machine Learning & AI work in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

HKPC held a webinar named “How can Machine Learning and AI in RPA solution accelerate digital automation?” on 9^th Oct 2020.  Robotic process automation (RPA) has proven as a money saving tool by automation which can reduce human errors and improve efficiency.  Before the webinar, Ms. Vanessa Chin (Senior Consultant, Intelligent Enterprise, HKPC) was facilitator and introduced the schedule and speaker.

Mr. Greg Wong (Director of Analytics, Platform & Technology, Centre of Excellence, SAP Greater China) was the guest speark.  He shared his success story on AI in Robotic process automation (RPA) (It is a software robot).  

In the beginning, Mr. Wong briefed the capability of RPA what it can do and can’t do.  One of good example to employ RPA in airlines industry during COVID-19. The airline built an RPA “bot” in just six days and this bot was able to address 80% of the airline’s cancellation requests or about 4000 per day!  (equal to at least 6000 manhours of work)

Then Mr. Wong showed some evidence that RPA is growing significantly.  Robotic process automation adoption looks strong in a post-COVID-19 said by Mr. Wong.  And then he discussed which department in company to provide most value using RPA.  He said most valuable to use in finance department (excel related), data extraction, and external web site data collection.

However, initial RPA project fail rate was high upto 30% to 50%.  There were two key problems that too much complexity and fail to Scale.  And then he introduced the overlapping area between RPA and AI.  It aimed the outcome to give out-of-the-box solution.  Some red flags in RPA were discussed such as OCR, Workflow

After that Mr. Wong introduced SAP Intelligent RPA + SAP Cash Application (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOoYX-GAZeE)

Finally, Mr. Wong introduced the business technology platform for integration of processes using RPA. 

And he demonstrated the Celonis Process Mining for Accounts Payable process. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwryDeicpsU) 

Lastly, Mr. Wong shared some tips to initiate RPA project and alerted to reserve enough time for accident and avoiding OCR.  

Reference:

HKPC Academy – https://www.hkpc.org/en/hkpc-academy/rttp

Robotic process automation adoption looks strong in a post-COVID world - https://siliconangle.com/2020/05/21/robotic-process-automation-adoption-looks-strong-post-covid-world/

20190930: HKPC AI & 5G Workshop: Alibaba Damo Academy and Huawei (阿里巴巴達摩院及華為工作坊) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2019/09/hkpc-ai-5g-workshop-alibaba-damo.html

20190617: HKPC AI Impulse 2019 Summit - Day 1 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2019/06/hkpc-ai-impulse-2019-summit-day-1.html

20190618: HKPC AI Impulse 2019 Summit - Day 2 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2019/06/hkpc-ai-impulse-2019-summit-day-2.html

HKIE Webinar on Combined Top-down and Bottom-up Approach in Facilitating Innovation Projects

 The HKIE webinar named “Combined Top-down and Bottom-up Approach in Facilitating Innovation Projects” was co-organized by Civil Division and Building Services Division and held on 7^th Oct 2020.  The guest speaker was Mr. Cheung King Yip, Eric (Innovation Manager in ATAL Engineering Group) and he shared ATAL iBS-Smart Energy Management Platform firstly.  He said big data in buildings could be collected through sensor and equipment that would change the way we managed energy.  Then he briefed the ultimate goals were HVAC optimization, fault detection & diagnostics, and data visualization.

And then Mr. Eric Cheung briefed different modelling techniques including empirical model, physical model, machine learning model and physics-guided machine learning model (PGML) they employed.  He said ATAL is the first to apply PGML in AC Control and successfully overcomes data-related issues.  PGML employed that could overcome insufficient data.  

After that he demonstrated different Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) examples including Equipment Deterioration, Chiller Supply Temperature Control, Instability Propagation and Thermal Discomfort, etc.  

He also mentioned the “Dynamic Optimization of Peak Demand Charge” in which employed Machine Learning – Random Forest in Operation. The morning start-up completed before 8:45am and the peak demand was reduced.

In the second part, Mr. Eric Cheung discussed ATAL Multistage Flocculation Magnetic (AMSFM) R&D Report.  AMSFM reduced time consumption from ~2hr down to ~8min!

Finally, he introduced ATAL digitalization roadmap to us.  There were several areas stated in the table and he focused on self-developed IM²S system for E&M system and Self-developed ACSA system for E&M Maintenance.

He briefed the existing pain points such as schedule and progress information fragmented and repetitive manual work, frontline technician repetitive basic job information hand writing, as well as, lack of one-click summary of maintenance work for management.  The IM²S workflow was introduced which used Android mobile device to collect worker attendance record in efficient way. 

Lastly, Mr. Eric Cheung explained how “Chairman Innovation Awards” brought innovation from bottom-up and it encouraged frontline staff to innovate.

Reference:

HKIE - https://www.hkie.org.hk/en/

ATAL - https://www.atal.com/

CQI Webinar - Digital process transformation and the quality professional

CQI Webinar named “Digital process transformation and the quality professional” was held on 30^th Sep 2020. I was missed on that time but review the record through CQI website again and summarized it for sharing below. The guest speaker was Mr. Rich Seddon (Managing Partner, PMI) and his expertise in digital process transformation (DPT)

Firstly, Mr. Seddon briefed the PMI definition on digital process transformation that included to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and customer experience of different business processes.

Then he mentioned some of existing solution including IoT, Big Data, 3D Printing, AR, Mobile Technology, Cloud-based services, AI & ML, and Process Automation, etc.

And then Mr. Seddon shared his insights for success such as Strategic Goals + Voice of the Customer + Process Knowledge.  He also added “don’t ignore the basics such as PDSA”.

After that he demonstrated some disciplines which enabled success from “Understand Side” and “Measure Side”.

Mr. Seddon showed different case study for demonstration of their DPT.  Those examples including sub-component manufacturing company, professional service company, multi-site retailer, … etc.  He also used poll to survey with the participants about which department responsible to DPT.  Most of participants selected “Business Improvement Team”. 

Finally, he discussed nine successful factors for DPT below.

1.      New Risks? Digital Process transformation can offer significant gains. But it can also introduce new risks.

2.      You’re not done. It is not a one time activity, as with all effective improvement, it is continuous.

3.      Visibility. Many of the new tools are not centrally visible, so how do we ascertain the quality?

4.      Ready for it? This is innovation in its purtest form. Is your business read and able to allow rapid deployment of new processes?

5.      Clarity & Speed. Be clear on your governance process … if every decision has to go through multiple layers of management, issues cannot be detected and corrected quickly.

6.      Skills Development. Understanding the skills requirements is vital. Do you have the right people with the right knowledge to implement and execute?

7.      Identify Talent. Can be found in some unlikely places, spread the responsibility, use it as a development opportunity.

8.      Be prepared to change course. Agility and willingness to change course are crucial to success.

9.      Big I.T. may not be the answer. Understand the art of the possible based on the problem you’re trying to solve, don’t be led by system functionality alone.

Lastly, Mr. Rich Seddon showed us the successful example that brought to life from confirm & collect using the app to analyse & understand performace in automated dashboards.  

At the end, he summarized five key points as conclusion.

1.      The tried and tested improvement & quality tools will serve you well.

2.      Let the business & customer needs you’ve identified lead you , not the system functionality.

3.      Work out how to experiment safely – invest in the time to do it, be clear on the customer impact.

4.      Use digitization as an opportunity to improve the work itself and the outcomes for the customer.

5.      Take the lead, put quality first and embrace the opportunities.

Q&A session

Reference:

CQI-HK - http://www.thecqi.org.hk/

CQI-UK - http://www.thecqi.org/

20121106: CQI Seminar on "Life after Quality" - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2012/11/cqi-seminar-on-life-after-quality.html

20130708: CQI Seminar "Quality is a Matter of Life or Death" - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2013/07/cqi-seminar-quality-is-matter-of-life.html

20140714: IRCA & CQI Seminar on Risk Based Audit - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2014/07/irca-cqi-seminar-on-risk-based-audit.html

20140426: CQI Site Visit to HK-ZhuHai-Macao Bridge - Reclamation Work - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2014/04/cqi-site-visit-to-hk-zhuhai-macao.html

20150608: Seminar on Enhancing Brands for Overseas Markets - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2015/06/seminar-on-enhancing-brands-for.html

20160531: IuPDI Seminar on SME O2O Business Transformation - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2016/05/iupdi-seminar-on-sme-o2o-business.html

20160514: The International Academy for Quality (IAQ) General Meeting and Dinner - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-international-academy-for-quality.html

20200714: CQI Webinar - Risks ain't wot they used t'be - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/07/cqi-webinar-risks-aint-wot-they-used-tbe.html 

20200728: CQI Webinar – Dare to think: guidelines for the effective quality manager - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/07/cqi-webinar-dare-to-think-guidelines.html

20200909: Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) AGM 2020 - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2020/09/chartered-quality-institute-cqi-agm-2020.html

HKSQ Mid Autumn Festival 2020

HKSQ wise everyone had a Happy and Heathly Mid Autumn Festival 2020.

HKSQ is founding member of pre-World Alliance for Chinese Quality (全球華人品質聯盟(籌)) in 2016.  The WACQ logo was designed by HKSQ.  

Reference:

HKSQ - http://www.hksq.org/index.asp