Art

I call it "Lunch on the Floor"

USA, USA!

Fantastic game by the U.S. against Ireland tonight. I was very impressed. Outstanding defense, some good attacking, but best of all they played full out for the full 80 minutes. To prove that, they scored a try at the 79th minute. I look forward to watching more of them. Woo Hoo!!

How to Make Cement

How cement is made. By Holcim. Every company should have videos like this.

Part 1

Part 2

Made in ... Wherever

I love stories like these:

Wiffle Ball: Born And Still Made In The USA

Georgia Company Exports Chopsticks To China

Not because of the made in the USA angle, but because location and being the low cost provider are not always the primary factors of business success.

I went to a talk yesterday by Darren Kimura of Sopogy, a Hawaii based developer and manufacturer of solar energy systems (I interviewed Darren for my upcoming book). One thing I found very interesting was their manufacturing strategy. They are pursuing what they call Localization in both their manufacturing and sales strategies.

They originally manufactured in their own plant in California. Then they outsourced to a facility in China. They thought that the low cost of this production would serve their needs around the world, but they found out that wasn't the case. Because of all the additional costs of shipping, export and import duties, and various taxes, the final costs ended up not being so low. So now they manufacture in three different facilities around the world that align with their sales markets.

These examples fit in with my philosophy of define your goals, then determine how you'll reach them.

Rugby vs American Football

Interesting comparison of a few statistics. The difference in the average distance covered in a game stands out the most. That explains the differences in average size of players and max bench press.

I got this from here, if you want to read more.

Will They?

This proves that I am not the only goofy person in the world...




Counting down to the Rugby World Cup. All eyes are on New Zealand.

I saw this on Total Flanker.

Author! Author!

I've been interviewed on the BusinessInfoGuide.com website. Take a look, leave a comment, buy my book, find lots of good info on the site.

Conference Report

The LogSo conference was a great success for me. I think a little disappointing for the organizers due to low attendance, but well worth the trip for me. I learned a tremendous amount about both the challenges and opportunities here, primarily in the supply chain area. I also met some great people, locally and throughout the southeast Asia region.

There were a few key things that kept being discussed over and over at the LogSo conference. First was infrastructure, or the lack thereof. That's an issue that is going to depend mainly on the government, but there is a role for the private sector.

The second, and maybe more important is the general lack of knowledge of supply chain and it's importance to the success of any business. Many people spoke of the lack of awareness about supply chain among executive and senior management, let alone at the lower levels. The awareness is slowly growing, but it is well behind other countries in the region and the more developed countries in the world.

Since there is only a nascent awareness of supply chain, there is also a severe lack of education and training in all aspects of operations and supply chain. The two organizations that spoke at, Vietnam Supply Chain Community & Vietnam Supply Chain Insights / LogSo, are trying to do their part to increase the knowledge in supply chain areas.

Another very important factor discussed was human resource and workforce issues. There is a shortage of people with the skills and education that is needed by companies. That is with specific supply chain knowledge and general education and basic work skills.

But with all the challenges they face, companies are optimistic and many are doing very well.

As far as my presentations went, they went well. I had a lot of good comments after my lunch presentation. After my workshop, I had a couple of gentlemen tell me it was a great presentation. Then after my last presentation on Supply Chain Trends, a man told me how much he and his employees liked it.

Live From LogSo

Well, the lighting doesn't work for picture taking.

The conference is going well, at least from my perspective. Some presentations are in English, others are in Vietnamese. But there are headphones so you can listen to a translator. Interesting, since this is my first time in this environment.

I have been meeting many interesting and pleasant people from all over Asia. It is a very different environment when you realize that here, the U.S. Is not the center of the universe. In all the talks and discussions, the focus is on the region and surrounding countries. Even talking about the customer base, it is customers in the region, Australia, Europe, and the U.S., in about equal measure. China comes up a lot, but not as much as I would have expected.

Well, almost time for lunch.

Vietnam Day 3

More traffic photos and a few conference pics. Detail later.

Da Food! Da Food!

Wow, what a meal! I had heard about how good the food is here in Vietnam, but I had no idea. My host took me for what he called authentic Vietnamese food. He selected about five different dishes, each one better than the last.

I don't know the details, but included was wild boar, oysters, a local fish, very fresh, as I saw them take it out of a tank with a net. Enjoy the pictures.

Oh, and the local beer, Saigon bia, was good too.

Vietnam Day 1

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City about 10:00 pm last night. The crush of people waiting for arriving passengers was quite amazing. Luckily my hotel sent a car to pick me up, and the driver had my name on a long stick so I could see it above the crowd.

After 18 hours of flying, I went right to sleep. My internal clock is not set yet, so I got about 5 hours of sleep before waking up.

After a great breakfast (buffet) at the hotel, I went out for a walk. The heat and humidity was a bit more than I'm used to these days, so I ended up not going very far. Just got a little feel for the place. Crossing the street was not quite as difficult as I expected, but, man, you do have to keep your eyes open and you just have to go.

My host then picked me up and we went for coffee and lunch while talking business. They make good coffee here, this ain't Starbucks. I don't know what I had for lunch, some sort of noodle soup, but it was really good. My host told me we would go to a top of the line pho place another time.

On the schedule for this evening is to go out and try some local beers. Not too many, though, as I've got my first presentation at lunch tomorrow.

Hawaii Youth Rugby U19 Select

CONGRATULATIONS! TO THE PLAYERS SELECTED AT THE HYR STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR THE HAWAII STATE TEAM - DESTINATION

Great Northwest Challenge

U-19/U-17 Boys High School Rugby Tournament

Central Washington University – Ellensburg WA

June 17-19th, 2011

KONA - 9

CHINEN, AISEA – halfback
FANGUPO, DAVID – prop
KAMOTO, SALESI – inside center
NONOA, CALEB – flyhalf
PAOGOFIE, FIAGOA - outside center
PAGOFIE-BUYTEN, TAMATASI – flanker
SEMO, EPHRAM – flanker
TEAUPA, NAFETALAI – flanker
WOOCHING, PSALM – center

HILO - 8

AIAVA, NUULAITI – 1st 5/8; fullback
AIAVA, TANIELU – lock
ANITEMA, SOLOMONE – #8
FINEISALOI, ETUATE – prop
FONG, KAULANA – halfback, 1st 5/8
TOLUTA’U, VILI (MAUI) – flanker
KANEHAILUA, KLAYDEN – flanker
PAVAO, TYSON (SEFO) – flanker, fullback

WAIMEA - 1

SEKONA, RAYMOND – wing

OAHU - 5

BARAVILALA, TEVITA – fullback
FAAMATA, JAROME – flanker
SAGAPOLU, IOANE – lock
SILIKIWAI, KELEMEDI – #8
WILLIAMS, LANCE (KEKE) – flanker

HYR is a non-profit organization making all DONATIONS tax deductible; DONATIONS may also be player or club specific! Please contact me or Helen McCormick if you have any questions.

Hawaii Rugby 7's Season

7's season in Hawaii is starting next week, May 21, 2011 at Kapiolani Park.

Vintage Rugby in Hawaii

I just stumbled upon this, and it is too cool. The next World Vintage Rugby Carnival will be held in Hawai'i (on O'ahu at Kapiolani Park) in September 2012.

Mark your calendars and make your reservations. September 23-30, 2012. Woo Hoo!

To do list:

Find rugby boots
Find more old farts
Train (Hee Hee, just kidding)

iPad 2 For Business

A friend of mine bought a very expensive toy. I bought my iPad 2 for business. Here's what I've been able to do so far, and I am not especially tech savvy. All of this done on the iPad 2.

Created a presentation using Keynote. That's pretty basic, but I've downloaded pictures and use PhotoPad to crop and edit them before adding to slides.

Downloaded video from YouTube using iCab, and Quick Cut Pro to do simple editing before adding to slide. Discovered I can automatically move to the next slide after the video is done - if the video is 10 seconds or less - , but that works perfectly for this presentation.

Created a design for a paddle I have to make for use in a workshop using iDraw.

Use GoodReader to view, markup, and crop PDF files.

Use Save2PDF to create PDF's from other programs (apps), like Pages.

Use KAYAK to find flights. I like KAYAK. It seems to find the best flights and fares (best being a relative term when talking about air fares).

Use Digits for calculating, i.e. mostly adding. I like Digits because it's a pretty basic calculator, but it gives you a running "tape" like an adding machine.

I'm using World Clock to keep track of what time it is in different cities. I have a terrible time trying to figure out what time it is in Vietnam. The time zones, the international date line, it just hurts my brain.

I'm using absolute Board, a white board app, Motion X GPS so I don't get lost, and a few other miscellaneous apps for this and that (Nightstand for clock/alarm, Mobile RSS for my news feeds, NPR to listen to Hawaii Public Radio while on the road).

Now, not exactly for business, but necessary for travel, I'm using yxplayer to watch videos, and iSwifter to watch Flash videos.

To watch movies you could buy / rent movies and TV shows from iTunes or Netflix. But I've got DVD's at home that would be great to watch on a plane, so for this I had to use my laptop along with the iPad 2.

I got iSkysoft's DVD to iPad Converter, ripped the video, and put it on the iPad 2. I used iCab to import it and yxplayer to watch.

And last, but not least, I'm using Blogsy to write and post my blogs. Sweet!

Sprint

I'm going to Vietnam and I didn't know if I could use my phone, because when I went to Scotland I couldn't. I had to get a "loaner", set up with my regular phone number but able to use the network there.

So i checked the Sprint website (I use Sprint). I couldn't find an easy way to tell, but there was I form to ask a question so I filled it out. Now, I wasn't expecting much, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I received a response in about 10 minutes. They told me I can use my phone. My old "dumb phone" that only makes calls and text. Not even a camera on it.

And they told me the rates for calls and text, and how I can sign up for international service to get a lower rate. Both still expensive, but still, I can use my own phone. So I called to sign up for the international service. I was then surprised when they told me I can sign up for only the period of time that I will be traveling. Cool.

This is service. They not only answered my questions, but they did it in a timely manner and they gave me options to save me money. Other organizations can learn lessons in service from them.

This is one of the reasons I've been a Sprint customer for ten years. This and the fact that I never have any trouble with my service.

Hawaii Youth Rugby Championships

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Hawaii Youth Rugby Union
Would like to extend a public invitation to
All Hawaii Residents
To join us for our

4th Annual
Hawaii Youth Rugby
State Championship Tournament

To be begin at 3:00 p.m. at
Old Kona Airport State Park
On April 29th and 30th of 2011
Featuring local Hawaii youth participants
Boys and Girls, Player ages 7 – 19 years old
From Oahu, Maui and the Big Island

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special attention will also be given to
Saturday, April 30th, 2011
As this day will host our
Championship Finals
Event times 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Some portions of this event are sponsored
By our Good Friends at the
Hawaii Army National Guard

Hawaii Youth Rugby
Also ensures their
Clubs, Players, Coaches, and Referees
Are registered members
Of the National Organization
USA Rugby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arf!

iPad sits, silently sleeping.

Suddenly - "Ping!" I've got mail.

Pavlov's dog has nothing on me.

If Only...

If only my iPad 2 could make coffee, then it would be perfect.

Onward & Upward

Well, I certainly haven't been keeping up with this blog lately, have I. Been busy, not that that is any excuse.

Among other things, I've been preparing for a trip to Vietnam. I'm going to give a presentation and conduct a workshop in early June.

I'm giving a presentation to Vietnam Supply Chain related to my next book, titled Deliver on Your Promises. It is a view of Business Operations based on my interviews with numerous companies, and my experiences working with a variety of organizations and industries.




And I'll be conducting a workshop at the Logso Conference, a supply chain conference now in its second year. I'm still working on the details, but this session will focus on what to improve and how to improve it, in terms of Business Operations (assuming that you need to improve something).



Since I will be traveling, I have, of course, been searching for airline flights. I've been using Kayak. I like their format and on my iPad 2 I've found that it remembers my last search so I don't have to re-enter everything when I go back to search again. I've used a few of the flight search websites, and some of the airline's own websites, but I've found that I like how ANA (All Nippon Airways) shows their results.



The results are shown in a grid with 3 days before and 3 days after both your departure and return dates to give you a nice snapshot of possibilities. This is how I want to see the results. Since a day or two on either side of your planned date can often make a big difference, this is how all search results should be presented.

OK, more preparation and planning to do, so that's all for now.

Hawaii Rugby Schedule

Woefully behind on my Hawaii Rugby posts, but here's the schedule for this Saturday's games:

WEEK 4 - 2/19/11

1:00pm Titans RC vs HPU Sea Warriors

2:15pm Hawaii Marist vs Tama Laie Lions

3:30pm Kalihi Raiders vs Hawaii Islanders

4:45pm Hawaii Harlequins vs UHRC

Looking Good!

The special New Year / Year of the Rabbit issue of Vietnam Supply Chain Insight magazine is out - and I'm in it. This is a good looking magazine (and the articles are good too), and I'm proud to be in it.

Here's the English version of my article. And here's the Vietnamese version.

Feel free to let me know which language I sound better in.

Hawaii Rugby Season Starts

Hawaii Rugby season starts this Saturday at Kapiolani Park. More to follow...

U.S. Manufacturing

As far as blogs go, some are good and very many are mediocre. Even in the good ones, not all posts are equal. But occasionally, you come across a very good post that should be shared. And that's what I'm doing here.

Derek Singleton at The Manufacturing Blog writes about 5 Strategies for Growing as a Domestic Manufacturer. He makes some good points.

I would have added Improve Your Processes as a separate item, where he includes it under Invest in Your Workforce. Investing in your workforce brings many benefits that will help to boost productivity, which can include process improvements because of increased training. But I think process improvement should have its own focus. It is a vital, and ongoing, activity that is imperative at any time, in good times or bad.

I could make further comments, but you should read the post first and let me know what you think.