1989/1991 session

Report from the chairman

I am glad to report that we have had a busy and fruitful year, thanks to the untiring efforts of the members of the Executive Committee and members of the Society.

During the past year the Industry Department of the Government has embarked a three year Quality Awareness Campaign to arouse the quality awareness of our manufacturers. The Governor Sir David Wilson launched the campaign personally on March 1, 1990 – the first Governor of Hong Kong ever to take the lead in promoting quality awareness. Since quality is of vital importance to the future of Hong Kong¡¦s manufacturing industry and in turn to the economy of Hong Kong as a whole, it is fitting that such a campaign be initiated at the highest level.

Post World War II, Japan rebuilt their nation from war torn ruins to become one of the world¡¦s strongest economy because of quality.

Your Society and its predecessor formed since 1986 with the objective to create and promote greater awareness of the need for quality in Hong Kong fully complements the Government¡¦s various activities of the quality awareness campaign.

Report on Programme

• Seminar on ¡§Implementation of ISO-9000 Quality System – A European Experience¡¨ was presented by Mr. BJ. Kusmic, Quality Manager of Sittard Plant of Philips Nederland on May 22, 1990.
• Seminar on ¡§Introduction to Design of Experiments for Quality Improvement with Some Emphasis on Dr. Taguchi¡¦s Approach¡¨ was presented by Professor Lai K. Chan, Head of Department of Statistics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada on June 13, 1990.
• Seminar on ¡§Computer Aided Quality Control¡¨ was presented by Mr. N. Gasper of SAS Institute and Mr. M.K. Au-Yang of Allen Bradley H.K. Ltd. in September 1990.
• Seminar on ¡§Process Capability Analysis – Loss Functions and Tolerance Design¡¨ was presented by Professor Lai K. Chan, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada on December 17, 1990.
• Seminar on ¡§Market Driven Quality¡¨ was presented by Mr. Paulo Pires, Program Manager of IBM Asia Pacific Region on January 15, 1991.

All of the above seminars were well received. Mention should be made on the ISO9000 quality system implementation experience, which was perhaps first of its kind in Hong Kong. The lecture theater of Hong Kong Polytechnic was packed with some 120 attendees.

We are pleased to learn that Professor Lai K. Chan has accepted the Vice-Chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Region of International Chapter of ASQC, of which your society is one of the affiliated Society. Hopefully, Professor Chan will visit Hong Kong more often offering us advice and guidance.

Recently, Professor Lai K. Chan has been elected fellow of ASQC. He is among the 17 fellows elected this year by ASQC in recognition of his outstanding contribution to research and teaching in statistical quality control and reliability and for his leadership in promoting international cooperation in continuous quality improvement; promoting quality at the university, industry and government interface.

Visits

• A visit was organized for members to visit the Precision Machinery Training Centre of Vocational Training Council on Aug 11, 1990.

Training Courses

• Practical Statistical Quality Control – a 24-hour training course was conducted between March and May 1990.
• Life Testing and Weibull Analysis – a 20-hour training course was conducted between January 8 and February 8, 1991.
• Total Quality Management – a 20-hour training course was conducted between April 11 and May 17, 1991. The course was over subscribed and a repeat run of the course will be offered some time in the third or fourth quarter of 1991.

Extension Services

Your Society has concluded affiliation with American Society for Quality Control and acts as Proctors for their certification program in Hong Kong. Certification is available to quality professionals in various specialities including quality engineering, reliability engineering, quality audit, etc. Professionals who have been certified through ASQC are recognized worldwide.

The Society¡¦s name and its services are listed in the Quality Guide Book for Chief Executives published by the Industry Department of Hong Kong Government. It is gratifying to note that in the guide book the name of your Society is among the major institutions having an interest in quality promotion and in quality services in Hong Kong.

Internationally your Society — HKSQC — has been listed on the World Directory of Quality Control Associations published by the International Trade Centre UNCAD/GATT Geneva 10, Switzerland.

In the year ahead, your Society will continue to promote quality awareness and to provide seminars on contemporary quality technics and to offer training courses on TQM, SPC, Taguchi, etc.

In total quality management, we advocate continuous quality improvement in the fashion of an upward going spiral, so is the direction of your Society — unending progress upward.

Prepared by Warner S.Y. Yeh

Chairman 1989/1991 – HKSQC