My customer asked to go to Singapore for a “little thing” which we were unwilling to yield in business model. I struggled this issue for a long time before I figure out what the real cost of that! It cost we less than 50K NT$/month, yet, it takes lots of administration works which we are not so sufficient at SGP site. So I plan to yield the unit price instead of this expense & job. After many phone calls and email discussion my customer finally loss control. He asked me to go, face to face, talk about this subject, with a cool tone....... my boss like to take the cost long time before this trip, he just ask me go there to see what “behind surface”, why they so insist in this “little money”...... so I took the morning plane and came back the second day! Flying 8000 km just for a one hour meeting......

The Hotel

This time they gave me a "small" room, like the motel in Taiwan, just for Q-K ............

You can see when the chair pull off, there is no room to walk through .... by the way, the coffee on the desk was the worst I ever had!

Link hotel the worst hotel I have been accommodated in Singapore! Room, service, location and food (terrible breakfast), wow, all you can figure out are bad!

The only advantage is the free web-access, not so speed, yet, available!

Dinner

This is my dinner. Looks good but very bad to eat! The rice is as hard as sand.............

my dinner-2: 水粿ㄗㄨㄟ_ㄍㄨㄟˋ ? : 粉好吃, 4 pieces one S dollar.

I bought it here:

 Aug. 27

I found that I lost my jacket! This is the 3^rd one I lost! Fortunately, Jerry found it in Johnny's office ..........

On the way to the airport, I chat with the taxi driver. When I complain that I have suffered from diarrhea this morning, the man got exciting and nervous. He said that Singapore is a very clean place, he has been travel lots of places and found no place like Singapore, it is impoosible to have any dirty food here ...... I'm afraid that he will have a stroke while driving in the highway(the driver was aged), I just start to give an excuse for myself..... maybe the food is too spicy for me, and I asked he to “take easy”!

Crazy! Arrogant patriot! You can always meet some in this small island!

人實在太多，我們得緊緊跟著司條慢理說著奇特國語的導覽員，以免在這迷宮般的異地走失。因為有中文導覽員，我發現本團多了好些人，而許多”真正的團友們”早已流連【販賣部】，……各取所需嗎？

參觀的步調實在太慢，我那扭傷未復的腰部不斷抗議著，一抓到機會『能坐就坐』!

ㄧ行人來到【亞洲藝術區】(actually, 把亞洲換成中國也沒甚麼不對)，看過許多「支離破碎的」佛像後，在下圖中的『大壁畫』前駐足。導覽員詳細說著此壁畫的歷史，記得沒錯，它是從華中某山某廟的牆上『整個』搬來的，從下圖中應該可以隱約知道『壁畫 』的雄偉吧！

「這麼脆弱的東西，就讓它好好留在牆上不行嗎?」

「這麼大一面牆怎麼拆？」

「不，它應該是一小片一小片剝開，運回來再組的」

「這樣不就破壞了嗎？不考慮風險……」

就在我和一位團友坐在椅子上很不爽地討論這些問題時，一位一直默默“跟團”的小姐走過來，

一開口就知道她是來自對岸的，她劈頭就問：

「請問您們打哪來」?

「台灣」

「你們覺得這個壁畫掛這兒，有啥感想」？

她很認真、很直接的問，我那團友哈哈不知所措；

她朝我看來 ，我也很認真、很直接的說：

「這些土匪、強盜，不要臉，小偷……」

瞧小姑娘心花怒放的！

於是我問：「小姐您打哪來」？

「這壁畫就是從咱故鄉來的」

說著說著，頭低下去，一副要飆淚的樣……

「請各位跟上，我們要到下一個地方參觀……」

後來，她就沒再” 跟團“了!

哲學之道

水流、雲流、櫻花流

車流、人流、相機流

哲人斯逝

君子風流

哲思盈胸心無法

勤學只緣伴櫻花

君子之風如流水

穿花尋道添華髮

我自佇立

這小小一方土丘

年年怒放璀璨的英華

陪伴太陽的傳人

崢嶸的幕府

我猶獨自佇立

這小小一方土丘

依舊年年怒放璀璨的英華

飲盡千百年風霜雨雪

領受千萬人讚頌目光

如今

戴著桂冠

卻得不到

樹底下親切盤坐的歡愉

PiPi：是這樣嗎？

地點：台中精誠一街

店名：岩島燒

Map:

map: google map

建議:　串燒、竹筍沙拉

喝口湯吧!

5/10

        BNP sent a Mercedes Benz to pick me up. It costs NT$ 2300, just the same fee as I call a cab in Hsin-Chu for the same purpose. Amazing!

        I experienced the longest distance flight today of my life. 5:50 ( Taipei time) am left Hsin-Chu; 19:300 ( London time) I was at the other side of earth, London . Not so good experience, I have to admit!

        It was 21:00 now; the sun is unwilling to going down! Brand new to me!

        I gave up accessing to internet for it takes ₤14 per day! I try many ways and I have to recognize that the network infrastructure is not so solid here………… Headache!

5/11

        I wake up early for “hot weather” & a good sleep after cups of champagne! Never thought that the weather is so good here! I took pictures around the hotel in the morning of 6 o’clock. The sky is so “bright”; the sun is strong at that moment.

        Walking alone the street, there are amazing signs! Look at the buildings, colors, flying birds and trees, I think people like us deserve this life…………. You know what culture means, as long as you stand still like me……..

        I have a ₤28 breakfast! Terrible! ₤28 * 60 = NT$ 1,680.- ! It includes: Fruit bar plus one English breakfast (a cup of coffee + 2 sausages + 2 pieces of bacon + 2 pieces of toast +1 roasted tomato in 2 pieces + 2 eggs with sun on top + a few of potato chips + 3 pieces of “something that was burned” (I really don’t know what they are and I did not tasted them at all))! I’ve been robbed! Anyway, BNP buys!

        後來才明白為何早餐要像”餵豬”一樣吃那麼多，因為午餐要等到下午一點才開始!

        中午櫃買中心在 L’Autre Pied 設宴，那是一家別緻的法國餐廳，東西算O.K. (her coffee is really good)，但是上菜速度(以台灣的角度而言)實在令人無法恭維。原計兩個鐘頭的午餐，前菜上桌時已經過了一個半小時，而真正主菜可能兩分鐘就被大家狼吞入腹……我想，多半是因為『餓了』！甜點無暇品嚐，一行人便驅車而去!有些因為太無聊而點咖啡的朋友，還得被迫”乾咖啡”(I  have to give credit to the coffee, fantasy! I did not “swallow” it, I order one as soon as I have my seat)……。比起早就坐在隔壁餐廳露天座的那些客人，我們真的是『急了點』，不知道是『焚琴煮鶴』還是真的有『要務』在身！

        唯一可提的餐點---前菜，not because it was delicious, but for its “outlook”

比起下午的city tour，L’Autre Pied的午宴，真的nothing！

        We have a wonderful city tour in London . We’ve been lucky to have a rare fair weather after a period of cold and rainy days of we used to know of the London . The sun is so shinning and the winds gentle breeze all day long. A professional guide makes a trip more succeed than it should have. Miss Liu introduces the insight and history of this city with her humor and bountiful knowledge. Everyone was enjoying this afternoon.

        I run out of all electric power in the afternoon! What a disaster! I did not ring the recharger with me for I believe my P5100 can use two cells for the trip! How come! My God! I shall take my D40X with me!

        If we keep on this kind of trip we might ne “dead fat” soon. Finally, we got a good meal in “royal China ”, great and plentiful.

5/12

        When I went out of the hotel in the gentle breeze of this morning, I was so touched. The sun shinning with beautiful blue and there are clouds with snow white over the sky. I think it must be the most gorgeous day of London . I feel so lucky! Where is the foggy London in my textbook …………..?

        What a challenge to have a road show like this! We have interview with those potential investors whole day long, one hour for each one. Some of them just did not know what the “wafer testing” is! Boss mentioned the history and strategy of our company over and over again and answer for the numerous kinds of questions (hardly comment they are good or bad. I was listening to those questions and trying to answer in my brain, for a practice! More strategic oriented question, in compare with, Taiwanese investors and analysts brought out last week in Taipei! It seems they concern longer time fence. Hope so! I wish someday I can handle this alone…….

        倫敦居，大不易

        London is probably the most expensive city to live. Everything costs lots of money. You have to spend ₤ 3.5 for one hour car park in week days; some of the parking lot costs you ₤10 per hour; I bought a 50 cc bottle of water with NT$ 51; Even though, there were over 10,000,000 people struggling for their live here. I just wonder “how they support their live”.

        You know what: it cost me ₤ 259(NT$ 15,540.-) per day for my hotel charge! Almost double of the fee of 5 starts hotel Caesar in Taiwan ! Sort of robbery, right!

It takes us over 3 ours to have our dinner in “Pearl Liang(漂亮)”. The meal is good yet hard to finish it for the long hours and some of us are almost falling to sleep.

        While waiting for the desert, the reporter and lady of BNP & Efun were guessing “how much does the meals in two evenings”. Funny! The answer is:

Royal China : ₤460/table (12 men)

Pearl Liang: ₤500/table (12 men)

有生以來第一次吃飯吃到想睡覺……

5/13

        I heard China got a huge earthquake in CNN this morning. God bless those children who are still trapped of the collapse; Myanmar got a big storm, thousands people dead; Record high snowing in middle part of China , people suffered for weeks! What’s going on in this world?

        午餐taste 六、七樣cheese(每樣取一點點)，only for fun and taste(PiPi愛cheese至極，有點為他試試的心情)，也許口味有些差異，全部不合胃口，有一兩樣(帶點藍藍的色澤，so weird)吃起來甚至有點”便便”的感覺…….

        今天”客人”少，趁空檔”看看” BNP building。

這是一間十分『透明』的建築。

一進門便可一覽無遺：電梯是透明的；office可以see through…..，我覺得”主事者”就想營造一種『我們的企業是十分透明的』的感覺──從”表象”開始。

        除了門面比較現代之外，外表和一般很古典、典雅的建築相去不遠，而大樓內卻充滿設計與後現代的感覺。除了”很透明”外，牆上、走廊間擺設許許多多現代藝術品，每每轉折處便有驚奇與設計，可惜相機沒電了!

        建築物中間是一個”圓形透天”的中庭，站在頂樓可以清楚看到每個樓層的office。中庭有簡單的庭院，幾組沙發錯落，有人在喝咖啡打屁，有人在吃便當，真的，是便當；陽光透過玻璃屋頂直接灑落，穿過幾何圖形的鋼構脊樑，形成多變的光影；甚至面中庭的會議室的落地玻璃上也有一些巧思，讓光線穿過時會在房間內”隨時辰不同”產生有趣的影像。我很好奇這些設計背後的想法以及靈感的來源，想了很久很久，只約略從文化、氣候中找到一些關聯。

        大樓外表是方的，六、七樓屋頂卻是圓形。六樓外有園景造型，露天咖啡座林立其間(真的有人，in this working hour，三三兩兩在喝咖啡、聊是非(看起來真的很像)……!七樓就是我們road show的會場，interview的meeting room環繞中庭，meeting room外圍竟然是木頭鋪設的圓形的”步道”，360^。view of London!享受!

Dark Side of London

        古色古香、光鮮亮麗表象外，倫敦還是有很多令人不敢恭維的東西：

Sunday morning，公寓門口。

不知道是車主取走(防盜?)還是被幹走，到處是這種獨輪或是無輪的腳踏車。

很土的我，剛開始還在想：這種腳踏車怎麼騎!

角落有酒瓶，看起來有個醉漢……

錯!

別懷疑!樓梯上的液體聞起來就是”尿尿”……

還好，英國應該沒有檳榔，不然!

不想回想看到了甚麼”腳下”的風光!常看到西方電影中一些恐怖、陰暗和髒亂的場景，原來不是那些美工人員的”創意”!

一堆垃圾袋擺在”古蹟教堂前”，臭味約可”震退”二十公尺外的鼻子不太靈光的我。

Note: 此處離”傑克開膛手”的場景不遠，還好聞起來應該是上禮拜的魚…..

總的來說

        倫敦是個值得一再玩味的城市，可惜這次走馬看花的行程，加上相機電池的烏龍!我想總有一天我會再拜訪她的。

Though I got a serious issue on my waist and I can not sit or stand for long, I still like to offer my opinion:

1. 【我不是科班出身, 所以有些我收到的理論圖我比較無法理解, 如果方便請大家告知小弟】There is no 科班 in fab WIP management. You are the 科班……… You know I'm not taking any excuse like that, ....... right?

2. 【第一個問題是為何BN會把move拉下, 我的意思是假設我就是要投片讓BN愈堆愈高而且我也無所謂,可是BN以前的move我不是一直在賺嗎??為何會掉下來?? 哪些是所謂管理負面效益?? 有例子嗎?? 】

Ivan:

A. I rather not to describe the system behavior of fab WIP/move in a “simple way”; it is a very complicated and independent issue! Every question might get an answer of “it depends” from me now.

B. BN would not reduce the MOVE in a linear system; BN would not reduce MOVE if you have a good WIP control

C. The situation you mentioned only under the conditions of:

D. Before you jump into another conclusion, also, think of the capacity pattern of your fab. Is it streamlined or “big head small tail” or “small head with big tail”? All those patterns might make difference to your judgment!

E. Excess of wafer start always complicates WIP unbalance. 百害而無一利 It would easy to make WIP unbalance before you earn the “benefit”.

F. Excess of wafer start, itself, is the worst so call：管理負面效益; It will blind your eyes, cover the problem of machines or people ……………!

G. You can see the record of Fab2/Fab1 WIP and MOVE before and after I got involved.

3. 【WIP增加TAT變長==>很直接, 但output為何會減少??】

Ivan: same answer of last question, yet,

A. OUTPUT will reduce as long as you make simple miss in WIP control & machine performance

I. BN

II. Reentrant machines

B. Once we got high WIP, there will be excuse for engineering groups to ignore their responsibility …. As days go by, capability and honor will go!

C. Once I was Etch manager in Fab1, WIP=68000 Output=X; then I took control of WIP, WIP<<48000, Output >> 1.3X

You know when I was in Fab2 Output plus 40% and WIP reduce 30% more in the first 3 months!

High WIP is evil, no matter what points of view you take!

My dear brothers, the most difficult part of WIP control is

--- to believe that you are right!

--- to let your boss 100% trust you!

遵循馬偕醫生指示，躺了兩天毫無起色，身體只要稍微動到便痛徹心扉，終於體會腰傷的厲害。

兩天來都在床上"辦公"，電話不斷進來，同事、朋友、廠商大都知道我的遭遇，有的獻策、有的介紹”名醫”，有的則是來一段葷笑話讓我哭笑不得(會痛是也)……我想，平常我應該做人不錯!

周三，我已經傷了四天，狀況依舊，連下床都要用爬的。Brady，my friend，乾脆到我家，直接載我去國術館”喬”(原先並不想也不敢這麼早進入”民俗療程” ，因為醫生在”診視”我傷勢的同時，嘴巴超音速的唸出”椎間盤”、”坐骨神經”、……等等讓我汗流浹背的名詞，在我還沒有克服痛覺開口問他之前，他便叫我:做復建、回家先睡兩天，下一個……)! Brady像是扭傷經驗豐富的樣子，但依舊無法改變他”路癡”的特性，找了好久終於在一條巷底找到他印象中的國術館。

我側歪、彎曲著身體”滑步”進入國術館，接下來當然是一場任人宰割蹂躪的戲碼，不贅述，重點是”師傅”說我的骨盆扭到”移位”，造成”長短腳”，大腿肌拉傷所以無力支撐左側身體，因此不自主走螃蟹步……。我被針了四針，依Brady”現場轉播”，師傅把兩根長達十餘公分的銀針”整支打入”後臀……(Brady，我的貴人，其實這一段還是不要向病人轉述比較好，真的!)

全身被"喬”了許久，原先疼痛不堪的症狀改善”巨大”，尤其是師父在我左手上針了兩針(針還在手上)後，他竟然叫我直接下床、抬腿、蹲下、抬臀、低頭，我完全不敢!但是，you know，在針還在手上時我竟然能行動自如，一切像是沒發生一般!! Shock! 我以為這樣就結束，還沒開始高興，師傅說：一會兒針取下後，不准做這些動作，明天再來……

真的，銀針拔除，我就像洩了氣般”恢復”，但是，說真的，狀況真的改善太多了……。

附圖是師傅傳授的”指壓”秘笈---只有在腰痛時才需要做。