ANQ 2009 Opening & Technical Seminar I

HKSQ has several representatives to join ANQ Congress every year. This year is the 7th ANQ Congress held in WASEDA University, Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Albert Tsang (Past Chairman), Dr. KS Chin (Past Chairman), Minda Chiang (Secretary) and I (Chairman), together with two members – Dr. Andy Wong and Mr. Sammy Wan, joined the ANQ 2009.

Photo taken before opening


The first keynote speaker was Mr. Janak Mehta (Chairperson – Asian Network for Quality) and his topic entitled “Quality for Societal Wellbeing”. He suggested to maintain constancy of Purpose/Goal, adopt strategies following the Asian Way in consonance with the Core Values as stated in the ANQ Way.



Mr. Mehta pointed out prosperity from holistic perspective was linked to societal wellbeing. It implied adult literacy rate and human poverty rate with an important component of health. He also introduced a systemic model for improving literacy rate.

The second keynote speaker was Mr. Masahiro Kakane (Chairman of the Board Komatsu Ltd.) and he presented “Quality-Oriented Management in Komatsu Ltd.

The speaker introduced main products of Komatsu which are construction & mining equipment. From the world economy, it noted that the rate of product demand in Japan was found reducing but it has been increased in China and other Asia countries. Lastly, he shared the KOMATSU Way:
1) Strengthening Corporate Governance
2) Reinforcing “Mono-dzukurl” Competitiveness
Where “Mono-dzukurl” 7 ways is the core:
i) Commitment to Quality & Reliability
ii) Customer Oriented
iii) Defining the Root Cause
iv) Workplace Philosophy
v) Policy Deployment
vi) Collaboration with Business Partners
vii) Human Resource Development
It aims to grow continuously by enhancing every employee’s improvement capability.


HKSQ Group photo

Lunch time

Photo with Prof. Yoji Akao (Father of QFD) and his friend, Dr. Kozo Koura.

(Left: Dr. K.S. Chin, Prof. Yoji Akao, Dr. Kozo Koura, Dr. Albert Tsang and I)


After that, I joined the section “EMS/ISMS”. The 1st speaker was Mr. Khandoker Mahmudur Rahman (United International University, BSTQM) and his topic was “Economic and Social Value Addition through Environment Management in the Organization System: A Triangular Comprehensive Framework for Action”.

Mr. Rahman proposed Triangular Model (integrated EMS as a part of mainstream management system) to harmonize achievement of value in addition to the economy and society. The Triangular Framework included three regimes; they are Government, Private Stakeholders, and Citizens.


The 2nd speaker was Ms. Yu-Hui Cheng (CSQ) and her presentation was “The Study of the Relationships among Green Supply Chain Practices, Risks and Environmental Performance. The speaker concluded four green supply chain risk factors, which were information and resources acquisition, market situations, resources control, and flow transformation; and three environmental performance factors which were environmental management performance factors, positive economic factors, and negative economic factors. Finally, Ms. Cheng hopes the future research might use the quantification index of green supply chain risk and the environmental performance rather than the subjective perceptions of managers to study.

I was the 3rd speaker and the topic was “Integration of Quality Management System and Information Security Management System – HKSTP implementation case. During the presentation, I described the development of integration of Quality Management System (QMS) and Information Security Management System (ISMS) model, i.e. QMS based Information Security Management (QISM) model. Then the Information Security FMEA was introduced. Further, the model was verified by implementing QISM in IC Design and IP Service Centres in HKSTP.

At the end, I concluded the QISM by using a word “SECURE” that means:
“S” – Standardization
“E” – Effectiveness
“C” – Clearance
“U” – Unique Identification
“R” – Recovery
“E” – Efficiency


Photo with Dr. Chin (my Supervisor) and the section chairmen

Photo with my wife

After that my wife and I attended the section “QM in Healthcare”.

The 1st speaker was Mr. Sano Masataka (Waseda University, JSQC) and his presentation entitled “A Viewpoint List of Patterns in Medical Incidents for the Process-Oriented Analysis Method”. The process-oriented analysis method (POAM) was proposed by Mr. Masataka in order to analyze the incidents due to medication-related errors. He considered 513 actual medication incidents, identified the causes of those incidents, and developed a viewpoint list.

The 2nd speaker was Dr. Chi-Jen Chou (Nation Hsing Hua University, CSQ) and he presented “Application of Healthcare Failure Mode and Effects Analysis to Improve Blood Transfusion Process”. Dr. Chou briefed the application of FMEA techniques in healthcare industry and it is called (HFMEA). He used 17 abnormal cases of the blood transfusion process in 2005 for the study and modified the FMEA by removing the element of Detectability. It was the criticized point during Q&A discussion.

The last speaker of the section was Mr. Kento Fuji (The University of Tokyo, JSQC) and his topic was “Construction of Structured Knowledge Base for Prediction and Prevention of Troubles in Healthcare Processes”. Mr. Fuji constructed a structured knowledge base for the prediction of troubles in healthcare processes. He studied the special features of some common troubles encountered in healthcare processes from actual trouble reports of hospital and designed a trouble mechanism structure.

Post Presentation

Dr. Andy Wong (MEEM Dept in CityU of Hong Kong, HKSQ) had post presentation and the title was “A Modified Particle Swarm Optimization to Improve the Performance of Job Shop with Assembly Stage”. Dr. Wong developed a modified Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and encouraged the performance of Assembly Job Shop Scheduling Problem (AJSSP) could be improved by using Lot Streaming (LS) technique.

Mr. Sammy Wan (Analogue Group of Companies, HKSQ) joined both Oral and Post Presentation and his topic was “Dynamic and Balanced Performance Management for Delivering Quality Building Services Installations in Hong Kong”. Mr. Wan concluded that Balance Scorecard (BSC) could enhance performance only if managers understand the cause-and-effect relations. In addition, various capabilities (perspectives of, such as financial, customer, internal processes and learning & growth) should be enhanced by necessary resources allocation, proper feedback, sharing, reporting and corrective actions defined by the project team.

The next section we joined was “TQM Practice”. The 1st speaker was Mr. Firmansjah (IQMA) and his topic was “The Quality Journey of PT Jasa Marga Tbk: Total Quality System Development for Business Sustainability”


The 2nd speaker was Ms. Kaewkarn Manosudprasit (NSTDA, SQAT) and her topic entitled “BSC Implementation in S&T Agency: NSTDA Experience” Ms. Manosudprasit briefed a successful story of implementing Balance Scorecard (BSC) in the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) which aimed to strengthen and enhance the national economic and social development in Thailand.

She identified 5 key success factors as follows:
i) NSTDA executives are the leaders of BSC implementation and always give high priority on BSC issue.
ii) BSC core-team is fully in charged to drive BSC as a management tool in their unit.
iii) BSC is integrated in the core process.
iv) Monthly report to executives is the key factor in monitoring the progress effectively and brings in corrective action if necessary.
v) Consistent and effective communication of BSC concept is crucial.

Then we moved to the section “TQM/Statistical Tool”, for attending Prof. Shu Yamada’s (University of Tsukuba, JSQC) presentation. His topic was “Application of Statistical Tools in Digital Engineering for Quality Management”. He discussed the application of statistical tool in the field of digital engineering. One of examples was wire bonding simulation using Al wire. Prof. Yamada advised if other materials, such as golden wire, were used, the application should be considered case by case.

The last topic we attended was “Quality Function Deployment Software for Innovative Product Development” which was presented by Mr. Promphong Limchokanun (Chulalongkorn Unviersity, SQAT). He employed TRIZ technique in QFD software development to ease the design process and shorten product development time, etc. It was an excellence software I met for QFD. Prof. Yoji Akao (Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Yamagata University; Chairman, International Council for QFD), Father of QFD, were also attended and gave some comments.

We then returned to Hotel by underground (JR) and had dinner with Albert Tsang and Sammy Wan.

Proficiency Test Interpretation

I have joined a seminar entitled “How to Interpret Performance in Proficiency Test / External Quality Assessment Scheme” organized by Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) on 11 Sep 2009. The speaker was Mr. Daniel Tholen (convenor of the ISO drafting committee on ISO/IEC 17043; and the chair of the APLAC Proficiency Testing Committee). This seminar reviewed the accreditation requirements of HKAS, APLAC (Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) and ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) and summarized as follows.

What is proficiency testing? It is an evaluation of participant performance against pre-established criteria by means of interlaboratory comparisons.


In the beginning, Mr. Tholen introduced the responsibility of Proficiency Test (PT) provider, Laboratory and Accreditation Body. PT provider should ensure their competence and quality to comply with the accreditation requirements; it should establish open communication policy, document both procedures and complaint, as well as, maintain confidentiality. Accreditation Body should use ISO/IEC 17043 to assist design of appropriate PT, establish policy and train assessors on proper use of PT. Laboratories should choose competent PT provider and they need to follow the instructions from the coordinator and the accreditation body. The most important is to use routine method for PT and self-improvement.

He also briefed the ILAC P9 requirements and APLAC PT 006 Benchmarks. The frequencies for different areas of testing and calibration were shown as follows:
· Medical: 10/yr
· Chemical (environmental and mineral): 2/yr
· Biological: 2/yr
· Forensics, chemical, veterinary: 1/yr
· Specific Calibration fields: 1 per 2 years

Apart from the requirements of ILAC P9, the accreditation body should ensure participation when PT is available, appropriate and at a frequency that reflects best practices and/or best local norms.

Based on ISO/IEC FDIS 17043, the Varieties of Proficiency Testing included:
Sequential measurement
Simultaneous (bulk) testing
Single time programs
Continuous programs
Measurable (quantitative) properties
Nominal and ordinal properties
Data transformation or interpretation
Inspection and sampling

Mr. Tholen mentioned the preventive actions, investigating non-conformance, root cause analysis, corrective actions and monitoring of corrective actions. During monitoring the corrective actions, it could be found that correction might not be correct! Lastly, he discussed the policy on confidentiality. There are four questions for discussion below:
· Strictly confidential?
· Shared with accreditation body?
· Shared with regulatory agency?
· Shared with other participants?


The next section was interpretation of the PT results. Mr. Tholen showed several PT reports regarding Total Heavy Metal, Melamine in Food and in Fish, and DC current calibration.

Z-score is very common in use for PT. z = (X – X*) / SD where X* is computed mean from robust statistics and SD is standard deviation of estimated from robust statistics.
Interpretation: Z ≦ 2 (Satisfactory); 2 < Z < 3 (Questionable); Z ≧ 3 (Unsatisfactory).


Reference:
Presentation file at http://www.itc.gov.hk/en/quality/hkas/doc/seminars/Seminar%20Materials/ProficiencyTesting/interpretperformance.ppt

APLAC PT 006:2008 - Proficiency Testing Frequency Benchmarks

ILAC-P9:2005 – ILAC Policy for Participation in National and International Proficiency Testing Activities

ISO/IEC FDIS 17043 – Conformity assessment – General requirements for proficiency testing

ISO 13528:2005 – Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by interlaboratory comparisons

Biomedical MEMS Public Lecture

A public lecture “Biomedical MEMS” was organized by City University of Hong Kong today on 10 Sep 2009. The invited speaker was Prof. Richard Syms (Head of the Optical and Semiconductor Devices Group in the EEE Dept. Imperial College London).



Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) is a method of constructing integrated sensors and actuators using layer deposition, surface patterning and etching to form 3D structures in semiconductors, metals and plastics.

Prof. Syms introduced the application of MEMS devices for small diagnostic systems in chemistry, biochemistry and medicine.


He shared some biomedical cases such as Caliper (Lab on a chip components & systems), Cardio MEMS (In-vivo monitoring system). Then he mentioned the Mass Spectrometer employs MEMS Quadrupole (The device is formed from two bonded silicon-on-insulator (BSOI) substrates, which are attached together to form a monolithic block.) Then he briefed Nanoelectrospray can be used in LC-MS and CE-MS, and MEMS is used in Nanospray source.

Mass Spectrometer chip on PCB

MEMS devices for cell control for In-vivo experimentation, and MEMS cell stressing device were mentioned.

Moreover, the technique can be applied in the sensors for internal in-vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging so that the resolution could be improved (19F Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy) for identifying the Cholangiocarcinoma (It is a cancer of the bile ducts which drain bile from the liver into the small intestine.). Another application is in RF tissue fusion (cutting by using RF).

Finally, he concluded that many applications of MEMS could be found in biomedical engineering, microanalytical instrument and system for in-vitro experiment, etc.

Reference:
Geear M. and Syms R.A. (2005) “Monolithic MEMS Quadrupole Mass Spectrometers by Deep Silicon Etching” Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp.1156-1166.
http://www.microsaic.com/

Challenges on Information Security

I was invited to be one of the speakers to give a talk about the implementation of information security management system, for the seminar entitled “Embracing the Challenges of Emerging Information Security Threats” organized by Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) and supported by Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) on 27th August 2009. The summaries of different speeches were shared below.

The first speaker was Mr. You Cheng Hwee (Managing Director, Maximus Consulting Pte Ltd.) and his topic was “2009 Information Security Trend and Protect Yourself using ISO/IEC 27001 ISMS”.


Mr. You shared the independent information security reports and presented the trend of different threats (such as Virus, Insider Abuse, Laptop Theft, Unauthorized Access, Bots, Financial Fraud and DNS) from 1999 to 2008. He said new threats like Bots* and DNS** are emerging.

{* A bot (short for "robot") is a program that operates as an agent for a user or another program to simulate a human activity.
** The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network.}

He emphasized the importance of internal audits for compliance verification, which indicates “human” factor in managing security is one of critical success factors.
Information security management is more than just technology and proper protection by formalized mechanism is required. He pointed out the risk management would let you know what the things you wish to know. Then he summarized four critical success factors when considering ISMS as follows:
i) Understand the ISO 27001 standards
ii) Understand your business objectives
iii) Choose your ISMS framework and risk management methodology
iv) Select your ISMS implementation scope

I, Lotto Lai, was the second speaker (Quality Manager in HKSTP and the Chairman of HKSQ) and my topic entitled “A Case Study of ISO/IEC 27001 implementation in IC Design & IP Servicing Centre of HKSTP”. After introduced the background of ISMS, five control objectives groups were discussed as Policy, Process & Procedure, Organization Structure, Software Systems, and Hard ware Systems. The objectives of IC Design Centre and IP Servicing Centre were then outlined as follows:
i) To support IC development in a protected environment
ii) To facilitate the use of and license of Semiconductor Intellectual Properties through the Centres

Five steps for ISO 27001 implementation were listed as:
1st Step – Perform Information Asset Evaluation (based on Confidentiality, Integrity & Availability)
2nd Step – Perform Risk Priority Assessment (based on Severity, Occurrence and Detectability)
3rd Step – Perform Risk Treatment Plan (based on the result of risk assessment)
4th Step – Develop Supplementary ISMS Manual (based on PDCA)
5th Step – Record Statement of Applicability (SOA)

In my conclusion, I stated that ISMS framework created value on our new business model “Secure Virtual IP Chamber” in which operational model has been changed from physical service to virtual service and it caused world-class IP companies willing to sign agreement with HKSTP.
Lastly, I summarized the execution tactic of information security management system (ISMS) into one word “SECURE”. It means:
“S” – Standardization
“E” – Effectiveness
“C” – Clearance
“U” – Unique Identification
“R” – Recovery
“E” - Efficiency

The third speaker was Mr. Ronald Pong (Consultant, Technology & Special Project, CNLINK Networks Limited) and his topic was “ISO 27001 in IDC Environment”
In the beginning, Mr. Pong introduced the IDC* security adopted nowadays in the business world

{* Internet data centers (IDCs) provide businesses with a range of solutions for systems deployment and operation. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression) and security devices, etc.}

Mr. Pong shared problems he encountered such as Security Management mapping with IT operation management and which required to fulfill different compliance criteria. He said IDC provided co-location service, virtual hosting, facility management, netheath & security, as well as, SOC.

Mr. Pong elaborated the risks they faced as follows:
i) Distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack): it involves saturating the target (victim) machine with external communications requests, such that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, or responds so slowly as to be rendered effectively unavailable.
ii) Botnet: It is often associated with malicious code/software but it can also refer to the network of computers using distributed computing software.
iii) Hacking (it breaks into computers, usually by gaining access to administrative controls)
iv) Economic Espionage (the theft or misappropriation of a trade secret a federal crime)
v) Crime
(and more, every thing can happen in IDC)

Mr. Pong continued that knowledge/understanding and appropriate documentation were the requirements to make IT operation management effective. The key word for security management and incidence response strategy is “Compliance”. In order to organize your IT security management, using framework of ISMS (such as ISO 27001) was recommended to make people understand what they should do.

The last speaker was Mr. Philip Chan (Auditor, HKQAA) and his topic entitled “Security Incident Zero-day Attack”. He explained security incident and zero-day attack as follows:
Security Incident – “Any real or suspected adverse event in relation to the security of computer systems or computer networks.”
Zero-day Attack – “The day a new vulnerability is made known. In some case, a “zero-day” exploits is referred to an exploit for which no patch is available yet.”

The following photo briefed the concept.

Then Mr. Chan mentioned three risk management theories.
Theory 1 is Control Type
- Preventive
- Detective
- Corrective
Theory 2 is Defense-in-Depth
- Determine
- Detective
- Delay
- Response
Theory 3 is risk management like AS/NZS 4360.

In the next section, Mr. Chan carried on different Six Sigma methodologies employed for information security especially on zero-day attack such as DMAIC, SIPOC, Process Flow, FMEA, Tree Diagram, Force Field Analysis, Critical Path Analysis, Value Stream Mapping, etc.

Lastly, the most important items of ISO 27001 (ISMS) were summarized as his conclusive remarks:
- Process Approach
- Risk Based Approach
- Security Policy
- Asset Management
- Communications & Operations Management
- Access Control
- Information Security Incident Management
- Business Continuity Management
- Compliance

Innovation – From Art to Science

I would like to share the seminar entitled “Innovation – From Art to Science” which was organized by HKSTP on 22nd August 2009. The speaker was Mr. Darrell Mann (Director, Systematic Innovation Ltd (UK)). He had serviced at Rolls-Royce in R&D for 15 years as the chief engineer responsible for the company’s long term future military engine strategy. Before attended the seminar, I expected it would introduce the traditional TRIZ principles. However, Darrell gave us an overall of systematic innovation philosophies with some practical examples.

In the beginning, Mr. Allen Yeung (VP – BDTS in HKSTP) gave opening speech and introduced the speaker – Mr. Darrell Mann.

Firstly, Darrell presented the overall business model in his company. Systematic Innovation Ltd is not a big company. It has only 40 full time staff and 150 networking partners. Yet, it is valuable to learn how the company runs a business as creative solution provider. There are four elements: “Problem Solving Consulting”, “Research”, “Systematic Innovation Method” and “IP Generation / Licensing”. The most important role of the company is “Coordination”.

Then he showed their services track record. Their services were provided to many famous companies and he quoted some examples to illustrate solutions implemented in cross-industries such as “PILKINGTON and ILFORD”.

Darrell said the company extracted most of best practices from all fields of human endeavour, including Business, Science, Patents and Creative Minds, to create its own Breakthrough database.

He showed an accelerating world moving from limited competition to global competition. In my quality point of view, “Stability” is QC and Six Sigma, “Continuous improvement” is QA/QM and TQM. And, TRIZ (The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) could be the quality aspect for “Continuous Innovation”.

Darrell continued that 97% of patents would never pay back the filing cost of the patents! It indicated that invention is not necessary to be a good return innovation. Then, he asked what “WOW” solution is. Some participants said good return innovative idea would be iPod, iPhone, etc. He added innovative idea is non-obvious at first and it does not fit the current ‘common sense’ but it becomes the new common sense.

Another example was self-timing egg. The idea is only to print a temperature indicator on the egg shell to show the degree of cooked so it can be marked up 40%.

Then he introduced the “Ideal Final Result” deployment philosophy. The ideal final result is a theoretical solution in most senses; however, it could be a system to get closer and closer to the destination.

“Evolution is a Convergent Process.”

Darrell emphasized the contradiction would be found from customer’s expectation. But it can be innovation opportunities to solve these contradiction cases.

The photo showed a perfect solution which the speaker likes to use the most.


During the Q&A section, some questions are summarized as follows:
i) When we use other industries’ solution, do we need to pay for their patient?
ii) If you sign the NDA with one company, how do you use that company’s idea to help other industries?
The speaker shared that they use the fundamental knowledge or published knowledge which is not protected by the patent and to further develop a new solution or new patent.

For more information, please refer to Darrell’s best-selling book entitled “Hands-On Systematic Innovation for Business & Management” published by IFR Press, Malaysia in 2004.

In this book, it introduces seven pillars in systematic innovation:
i) Ideality (Ideal Final Result and S-curve)
ii) Contradictions (business conflict/trade-off elimination Matrix)
iii) Functionality (Main Useful Function)
iv) Resource (Maximization of use of everything)
v) Space, Time and Interface (Jump out of patterns / thinking out of the box, psychological inertia)
vi) Recursion
vii) Emergence

My another related article: Innovation/Creativity Management

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.

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