2019-06 鳳凰專案的二三事 Remnant Memory Re Project Phoenix


鳳凰專案的二三事                                                               陳立寰 
----"回憶kuang的往事                                                華邦工號  79344

因為工作的性質,法務智權與公司很多不同的部門有合作的機會,且多是在技術授權、合約談判的部分。 Kuang合作,卻起始自一個迥然不同的角度。

那是一九九六年的十月, 華邦新建將完工的三廠發生了一場小火災。 由於是在無塵室內,所以煙燻損害 就非常的嚴重了,不僅僅是財產險、工程險 以及各種不同損失的精算,我們在最短時間內,面對一個初上市公司各個功能的風險處理。

火災發生後一週,當時身為研發主管的Kuang臨危受命,接下了 Project Phoenix 鳳凰專案 (取自浴火重生之意) 的專案主持人工作。混亂中,Kuang使用由美國品質管理大師愛德華‧戴明(Edwards Deming)的「PDCA循環」,我們在研發大樓成立作戰室,每天清晨由Kuang親自主持晨會, 傍晚更新工程記錄簿。同仁搬來一整面牆的白板,於是,不僅在不同的教科書裡面才能看過,同事們真正見識了一位嚴格訓練出來的專業經理人 ,應該會的標準解決問題的手法。我們在作戰室裡工作超過 三個月。

在這面對對公司絕大的危機的一百多天裡,大家一起穿梭於泥濘,吃風飛砂的便當,喝雞精加維他命。素來溫文和氣的Kuang 在作戰室裡,一個個項目的 審視當天的計畫,進行差異分析,掌控人事時地物,沙盤推演,然後再進行下一步的 action 周而復始 ,主持艱鉅複雜的鳳凰計劃。

那是一場牽涉國內外十七家保險公司與至少兩家再被險公司,產業 的談判 ,需要進行數萬件採購項目的價值精算。八個多月之後,經團隊的努力,我們獲得了 近百億台幣的賠償, 繼續前行。
 
猶記,那年七月,百年最強的賀伯颱風當天, 園區停電,靠在Kuang辦公室窗邊,幾個同事,藉著暴雨中的日光 ,一起梳理一家日本大公司的授權合作合約。他在台灣的日子,經常在科學園區的打球。網球場就在園區宿舍 的附近。 偶爾經過, 也會也會互相點頭問好。
之後,流浪在不同的科技業大公司裡的我,每到一處,也都 堅持在辦公室裡,要有那麼一整面牆的白板。
而,對那浴火重生的日子,我們共同走過,永誌不忘。


Remnant Memory Re Project Phoenix                                             LH Chen

----“The special days working with Kuang“                              WEC ID 79344  

It is legal’s job to co-work with various different WEC function, mostly in the areas of tech licensing or contract negotiation. The assignment with Kuang, however, had started from an entirely different angle.

October 1996, a small fire accident occurred at the then nearly completed WEC fab. The origin of the fire might had started somewhere in the clean room, which meant a devastating smoke contamination, resulting in property damages, construction damages as well as intricate actuarial loss calculation, the newly IPOed WEC suddenly had to deal with all facets of risk management.

The week after the fire incident, Kuang, the then head of the research and development, stepped in as the project leader of project Phoenix (meaning: to rise from the ashes). Braving the chaos, Kuang lead us via adopting the PDCA cycle from the American quality management maestro Edwards Deming.  We set up a war room in the research and development building. Kuang hosted the daily early morning meetings, then update the engineering note books in the evenings.  People installed a long wall of white boards in the war room, thus we were able to experience, in addition to some random reading from various textbooks,  in first hand, the standard problem solving know how an extensively trained professional manager should be well versed in. We stationed in the war room for more than three months.

During the one hundred some days when WEC faced, by far, its biggest survival challenge, we treaded through mud and grime, ate lunch boxes mixed with wind blown dusts, had chicken essence and swallowed vitamin pills together. Kuang, soft spoken and mild, checked the daily agenda task by task, explored the deviation analysis in men, machine, material and method, the boundary of our sand box, the team devised the next actions. Pressing on with the cyclical PDCA drill, Kuang managed this labyrinthine project with the team members.

The war of negotiation was against seventeen international insurance companies and, at least, two re-insurance conglomerates. Tens of thousands procurement items went through the valuation. After eight long months, the team’s effort resulted in an insurance payment close to three hundred million USD. WEC marched on.

Some people might still remember, one July afternoon, the year when typhoon Herb, the biggest one  in the century, loomed over the science park,  the power was out, several of us gathered in Kuang’s office to sort through a major Japanese tech license and coop contract by the window. When Kuang was in Taiwan, he played tennis in the park tennis court near the residential zone. We would exchange some pleasantry or simply nod when our paths crossed.

Then, during my roaming years among high tech giant companies, I would always insist on putting up a whiteboard wall in the offices where I went.

Yes, the project Phoenix days the WEC team walked through together will be fondly remembered.