Friday, March 28, 2008

Guide to set your personal goal

To be a successful person in life and at work, you need to know where you are heading, and how you are going there. Just like driving a car, you need to know your origin & destination before you begin your journey. This is what I call "My own personal goal".

To be really successful, our brains need constant reminders on what our goals are, and how we are going to achieve it.


It is not really that simple to prepare your own goal, based on SMART concept. However, this can be done with some simple guideline, and a format to help you out.


(SMART is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic & timebound.)


To be that discipline to review and keep to the action items in your goal sheet takes extra courage and efforts. There is a saying by Robin Sharma (Author of best seller: The monk who sold his ferarri) that sounds like this : The pain of regret is better than the pain of discipline.


As a discipline person, you will be one of the top successful people.



Statistics shows that out of 100 person, only 5 person set their goal. And out of these 5 person that sets their goal, only 2 person will review their goals daily.


I have attached a simplified version of the goal sheet for your quick understanding of what I meant. Please drop me a mail (mailto:rgkw1999@gmail.com), and I will give you further guidelines. This includes a comprehensive format, a step bu step guide on how to set the goal. Most importantly, I will also share with you sample/samples of the goals sheets that I have came acrossed. With these, you will be able to set your goals easier.

Hopefully, you will begin your successful journey now.

Remember: It is never too late to be successful!






Monday, March 10, 2008

The Goal ..... How it changed my mindset

A few years back, I came across a book that my housemate stuffed it in a pile of books.

He said it was an interesting book that his supervisor insisted him to finish reading. I borrowed it for a week. I was amazed as to how simple the author has conceptualized each manufacturing concept in this book.

I have since changed my thoughts about manufacturing. In simple English, the author successfully made the reader think deeply and carefully. The author later pointed out the essence of the concepts. Mastering the concepts that were being taught, I am able to make better decisions. Believe me, before that, I never have the guts to boldly make a decision without carefully consult my supervisor. Now, by locking these concepts in my mind, I am able to make sound decisions that benefits the majority of the manufacturing. With these concepts, I was able to convince many of my peers on the decisions and the actions that I have taken.

Search using Google, check out the book & read the reviews. It is presented in novel way; thus making it more easy to absorb and read. Here is the detail of the book:

Book Name: The Goal: A process of Ongoing Improvement.
Author: Eliyahu M. Goldratt.


After reading the book, please do post a review comment on Amazon.com website.
Also, I would like to hear from you what you think of the concepts in this book.

4M & 1E

I personally consider 4M & 1E as the "friendly basic compass" to structurally guide program managers. They are the main topic to be considered before a program manager can work on the details of matters in a structural manner. A program manager can group each matter into these 5 categories, before working on the details. This helps the program manager to plan better, and utilize his/her limited resources more efficiently & effectively. 4M: a. Man: All human resources related matter such as direct labor & indirect labor, hiring & firing, training, wages & benefits, knowledge & experiences, etc should roll under this category. b. Machine: Anything related to equipments, testers, jigs, fixtures, calibrations, specifications of the machine, templates, pallets, tables & chairs, tools, etc. c. Method: Any methods, instructions, specifications, guide, tolerance, etc. d. Material: This applies to both direct & indirect materials. Direct materials are the list of materials that is listed in the BoM (Bill of Material). They can be easily counted. Indirect materials are materials that are not listed in the BoM (Bill of Material). Alternatively, they can be items that are difficult to count. For example the materials that are in liquid, semi-solid and powdery form. 1E e. Environment: This applies to work station, temperature, ESD (Electro-Static Sensitive Device), moisture sensitive devices, air conditioned, humidity, vibration, air pressure, clean room environment, dust free requirement, etc. This is a rather small portion, but anything that is related to environment will fall under this category. If you would like to know more on a basic 4M + 1E checklist, please write to me. I hope the templates that I have can minimize your efforts to re-invent the wheel.

Updates on Aug 30 2020:
I have written more information on the topic of 4M & 1E that provides more details. 
Please click on the below link to get to this article:
https://manufacturingprogrammanagement.blogspot.com/2020/08/4m-1e-reloaded.html

Program Management Terminology

On the left are some of the terminologies that you must know in manufacturing program management. These terms are very useful, so that a program manager can really manage a certain situation well.

By knowing the basic, he or she can ask the right questions, and make the right decision. He or she can then lead the team to the right path accordingly.

P/S: If you would like to know more of each terminology now, please drop me a note. I will do my best to explain clearly to you.

What is manufacturing program management?

A small group of people have the misconcept that manufacturing program management has something to do with computer language programing, something related to computer, or project management related.

I would like to share with you my opinion on program management, paying particular attention in electronics manufacturing.

In a nutshell, a manufacturing program manager is a person that wears different hats at different time, juggle a few balls in the air at any one time. He/she leads a team of experts to service one particular customer, or a group of customers.

Most of the time, he or she plays the role of customer interface to work with internal team as well as customers. An outstanding manufacturing program manager has a vast knowledge and experience in people management, production, planning, materials, engineering, quality, operations, MRP/ERP, financials, order management, problem solving, project management, leadership skills, crisis management, & etc. With the knowledge, he/she can effectively play different roles during each different situation.

In my next post, I will gradually share with you more details on the below topics:

a. Important personalities of a successful manufacturing program manager.
b. Knowledge required to be an outstanding manufacturing program manager.
c. Values of a superb manufacturing program manager.
d. Some of the know-how skills to be a successful manufacturing program manager.
e. How to out beat your competitor to be an outstanding manufacturing program manager.
f. The CRM (Customers Relationship Management) 101?
g. etc.

Of course, your most important question is "how can I also become one?"
More tools will also be shared with you on a constant basis.