gawieong's Xanga

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 06:29:39 GMT

Top Gear Telly!

Clearly my most favourite Motoring TV entertainment. Top Gear Season 11 is back and is running for 2 weekends now. As always the delightful trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond never cease to wow viewers with their antics and tire-screeching cameraderie. If you're a diehard automobile junkie, then Top Gear is your great entertainment companion. Just head on to Final Gear's website for the torrent download links of all the episodes you've missed. As for this new season, every new episode torrent will appear on Monday, usually a day after they're aired on the BBC, or as they call it, the "beeb".

For the past two episodes in the "news" section, there is this mockery of a certain Dacia Sandero car about to be launched sometime next year. FYI, Dacia is a Romanian automaker and is owned by Renault. The thing is, Top Gear is famously always mocking these run-of-the-mill daily commuters which are of no interest to them (unless they've got PPOWWERRRRR), and it was at one point a few seasons back that there was a certain comment from some viewers that lament that there're always no mention about these cars, which the public would be most interested instead of supercars and the like.

So this time, Top Gear did at least mentioned and introduced these type of cars and right now, in the form of the new Dacia Sandero. But it is on the air for only a few seconds before they wittily switched to other cars of their interest...Check out this clip: 1st part from the 1st episode and 2nd from 2nd episode. Absolutely hilarious!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:48:40 GMT

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

I know it's a little too late to talk about the movie since it's quite a long time since it's been shown at the theatres. Don't be surprised too since I'm a car buff and I've only watched this movie yesterday night...for the first time.

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about the cars or the drifting scenes. I wanna talk about a scene that caught my attention and was quite inspirational. It's from the scene when the character Han was giving a pep-talk to Sean on this rooftop futsal field.

Wanna know what Han said? Download the scene HERE.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:00:03 GMT

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

And another one...

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Tue, 27 May 2008 12:52:51 GMT

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

Here's another one...

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Tue, 13 May 2008 13:51:58 GMT

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

My favourite BBC Radio programme. The host, Humphrey Lyttelton (87), passed away recently, and I'm sad that the programme may die with him....

Wikipedia Entry

I'll be sharing some classic clips that I think are funny...here's one....

More to come....

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Sun, 04 May 2008 10:21:30 GMT

Day-trip to Bukit Tinggi

Head on to my Facebook photo album link below. I think it's self-explanatory....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34467&l=12a33&id=622030755

Friday, April 18, 2008

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:16:27 GMT

Ceramah Perdana Stadium Perak, 14 April 2008

YAB Datuk Seri Ir Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, MB Perak

Saudara Nga Kor Ming

"MCA - Make Chinese Angry"
"MIC - Make Indians Cry"
"UMNO - U Must Not Object"

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:31:33 GMT

TCMA Serendah Welcomes Carlos Ghosn

21st March 2008 will go down as one of the most historic day for TCMA Serendah as it welcomed it's most highly anticipated and most distinguished visitor ever, Mr Carlos Ghosn - CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance. It has been almost 2 years since TCMA Serendah started operations and the previous other high profile visitor was MCA President Dato' Ong Ka Ting. But I guess Carlos Ghosn's visit will be the one that will go down very well in everyone's heart and mind. Preparations were made even one month before the big day and it got a little rushy towards the day when everyone went round the whole plant to check that everything was perfect and spanking clean. The news that he will be flying in by helicopter got everyone excited.

Alas, the big day arrived and even our Tan Chong chairman, Dato' Tan, came very early in the morning and caught the plant management by surprise. I guess Dato' Tan was a little excited too and couldn't sleep well. Our managers ran here and there as they didn't expect him to arrive so early in the morning - I heard he came as early as 7am - when he demanded for breakfast served in a special room. Well, that's the life of a boss....

Anyway, Carlos Ghosn and his entourage touched down on our makeshift helipad (our skidpad) at around 9.10am. The top management including Dato' Tan was on hand to receive him. The helicopter was borrowed from Khazanah (notice the UEM and PLUS logo) as it was Khazanah who actually invited him to Malaysia to speak in a forum. You might have read about it in the papers. Anyway, for the record, he came in by his private jet.

The entourage was ferried all the way to the front office building with all the operators and staffs lining up along the route to wave and cheer at them. This is a Nissan Teana costing at about RM230,000 a piece in CBU form. There were 3 of them and that already totalled up to more than half-a-million ringgit there. Anyway, those are company cars. Mr Ghosn and his entourage were whisked into our PR hall for a welcome speech.

After his welcome speech and management presentation, he went on and carried out the plant tour. First up in line is the bodyshop and they were eagerly on hand to receive him, even got a piece of paper printed with his picture and his visitation details for him to put his billion dollar signature on it. The laminated treasure is proudly hung somewhere in the bodyshop.

(L-R) Low Seng Chee-Executive Director, Carlos Ghosn, Lawrence Lee-GM-Manufacturing, Tong Chee Hong-Bodyshop COO. For your information, TCMA Serendah is segregated into 3 buildings - namely Bodyshop, Paintshop and Assemblyshop. These shops operate seperately and quite autonomously and hence each shop have their own chief, which we cheekily call them Chief Operating Officer (COO). Hence, we have quite an interesting system whereby 3 seperate "business units" operate in one enclosed area. Even the buildings are seperated and connected only by overhead hanger ways, transporting the vehicle bodies from one shop to the other.

Cold towels and chilled drinks for the visitors. I can see that they weren't still accustomed to the hot and humid Malaysian weather. But we got that covered. Next in line, of course, is the paintshop. There weren't many places for them to visit and view because the paintshop is quite a dangerous place and many areas are off-limits. Paintshop COO, Shalizam Othman (left) led the way.

Finally, it is the assemblyshop, and of course it's the most interesting part of the visit since this is the place where you actually get to see cars being assembled from skeleton to completely built-up products. Below is our assemblyshop COO, Jeffri Sidin, briefing Carlos Ghosn.

I don't know whether the management wanted him to try out the car or the other way round. Anyway, he got into our production Nissan Sylphy and was driven by Jeffri Sidin to our test track.

Contrary to many beliefs, our test track is not those tracks you typically see - meaning there is no high speed banking curves and all that. Our test track is a simple route consisting of uneven, cobbled, or stony roads to simulate severe rough roads to detect any loose fittings and a very short "high-speed" long straight. And course our skidpad. That's all. You'll find "proper" test tracks in Proton and Perodua though.

This is our Alliance Vehicle Evaluation Standard (AVES) centre, so called the Quality Department's home. This is where production cars are randomly checked for quality concerns such as quality of fitment so that cars delivered to customers are of the highest quality. Being true to the Japanese way, defects that even the customer does not see or bother are highlighted and passed back to production for repairs. I carried this experience and went to look at a certain new Malaysian model and could immediately see a HUGE difference in their quality system. Our QD checkers really have ninja eyes and feel.

In our VES centre, Astro Awani's reporter (can't remember his name, but you've defnitely seen him on TV) was on hand to interview him.

After the plant tour, it was back to the front office building for lunchtime. And this time, they didn't have the luxuries of Nissan Teanas to ferry them back.

I remembered this "pond" was erected just 2 days before Carlos Ghosn's visit. Not bad. The luncheon was provided by a certain 5-star hotel. Shangri-La if not mistaken, as that was the hotel Mr Ghosn stayed at.

The final party-piece was the official unveiling and media preview of the Nissan Sylphy. Nothing to shout about.

One last group photo with the Tan Chong top management before flying back to his hotel.

Sayonara and Au Revoir, Mr Carlos Ghosn. Please do come again....

Note: Pictures are sourced from specially-chosen photographers among the staffs as cameras are not allowed in the plant. Even the 120 odd journalists and reporters who came to cover the event had to surrender their media kits if they did.

For media coverage, please view the following links:

The Star Business_1
The Star Business_2
The Star Business 3
The Star Article
Paultan.org Automotive Blog
For Wheels Automotive Blog
(This fella had a pic showing part of our assembly line. Wonder where or how he got it...)
Autoworld Automotive Blog
MotorTrader Online

Friday, March 21, 2008

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:55:33 GMT

TCMA - SERENDAH

Before going on to the Carlos Ghosn visit, maybe we'll have a sneak preview of the place first, shall we? We head on to the front office/reception building first.....(Pardon the non-sharp pictures. I shot them using camera phone)

As you walk pass the main door, this is what will greet you. Although I doubt it will be the same the week after, since all these were prepared hastily in the event of Mr Carlos Ghosn's visit.

On the right, this will definitely be permanent - the reception desk. Although the same can't be said about the receptionist...

Along the hallway, hangs all the illustrations of Nissan models offered in Malaysia.

The long hallway will lead to the plant. Employees normally enter through a side walkway.

I guess this decor is specially-made for Mr Carlos Ghosn's visit. Probably will be a permanent fixture...

In conjuction with Mr Carlos Ghosn's visit, he's invited together with Tan Chong management to launch the Nissan Sylphy. For the Malaysian market, they dropped the "Bluebird" name. Other markets get to call the full name - Bluebird Sylphy.

These 3 Nissan Teanas were brought in specially to ferry Mr Carlos Ghosn from our makeshift helipad to the reception building. Those 3 are already more than 1/2 million ringgit there. Yes, he came and left in style...More on that later.

Sorry, no shots allowed within the plant. Off-limits to cameras. However you might be able to have some feeling about what it's like to be inside the assemblyshop when I get my hands on those visitation pictures in a few days' time.

For the past week, besides preparation for Mr Carlos Ghosn's visit, I was the facilitator for 3 Nissan engineers who came to help level up the quality assurance for our assemblyshop. All 3 were first-timers to Malaysia so we organised a short KL tour for them, as is the tradition for all newcomers. We brought them to Istana Negara, Central Market, Petaling Street, Dataran Merdeka, and of course the twin towers.

With Yonemura-san and Yoshida-san in front of Agong's house.

With Yoshida-san and Fujita-san. Fujita-san is the main guy among them.

Farewell shot. Me in my TCMA executive uniform and Yonemura-san in his Japanese plant uniform. As for Yoshida-san, that's Navara/Frontier T-shirt. Fujita-san left a few days before.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:46:25 GMT

Missing-in-Action

Dear readers....or reader....very very sorry for neglecting my blog. Chwesonhamnida. I will update this weekend. Tomorrow (21st March) is the plant visitation of Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan. In other words, the big boss is coming, so many preparations were done and we were super busy. More on that this weekend, I hope.

gawieong's Xanga

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Top Gear Telly!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Sunday, June 22, 2008

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Day-trip to Bukit Tinggi

Friday, April 18, 2008

Ceramah Perdana Stadium Perak, 14 April 2008YAB Datuk Seri Ir Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, MB Perak

Saudara Nga Kor Ming

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

TCMA Serendah Welcomes Carlos Ghosn

Friday, March 21, 2008

TCMA - SERENDAH

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Missing-in-Action

Ceramah Perdana Stadium Perak, 14 April 2008

YAB Datuk Seri Ir Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, MB Perak