Well, its New Year again.
Professionally, nothing new to report.
I continue to bug people about my pet project.
It would be nice if this VIP were to give the plan a recommendation!
Personally, I am fit and healthy.
I lost about 5 stone this year.
Having lost it in a healthy manner, I am happy with the results.
MANY THANKS TO THE TRAINERS IN GYM4ALL!! Lee and Jade in particular.
The charity book is still available on Amazon. Many thanks to Claus and Tilo Werner for their help making this happen.Below, Claus and I visit a town near Lobstadt to promote the book.
Both Tilo and Claus worked for free!
To read the story behind the story, and find a link to Amazon please click here.
I just got off a skype call with Sofie. (Pictured). She wished me a Merry Christmas.
Sofie is the owner of Red Palm hostel. She and Tilo (also pictured) along with Hanis, Siti and Kamal ran/run the Red Palm hostel in KL. My second home in Asia!
This time last year Tilo got married to Curtney. I attend the wedding in Leipzig.
It went off well.
pppTilo and Curtney had a reception in Red Palm also!
Siti and Hanis are in the front, Sofie just behind with Intan a friend, who has just been misdiagnosed with malignant cancer... She is still ill, but hopefully she will get better!
Tilo does graphics, he did the work below for me.
Jimmy from Malaysia popped over to the UK for Christmas last year.
This year he is in Italy!
All the best to all of them!
Happy Christmas
Today, I see GM appointed a woman, Mary Barra to the top post.
I don't know Mary. I wish her all the very best.
When I worked in the Opel tech centre, Ruesselsheim, they had one female executive (Rita Forst).
The car park had a ladies only area...
Things are changing. A good thing.
When I worked in GM Germany, I met a few Holden engineers. We used to meet in Wiesbaden on weekends. They were friendly and welcoming. So I was a little sad to see they may be laid off.
GM ships (Daewoo) Chevrolet vehicles to Australia, and some Opel's. So I expect these two GM subsidiaries will suppy all GM vehicles in the future.
Obviously, this will adversely affect Holden Design as well as manufacturing.
I, in the meantime am keeping fit and waiting patiently for my project to take off...
1.Some years ago, I made a proposal to set up a commercial training division for Lotus Engineering (Malaysia).
It wasn't greeted with any great enthusiasm by the then Management. I left soon afterwards!
I believe in the validity of the proposal, and as the following decade has past, this belief has only grown stronger...
I have contacted many people over the years, presented to CEO's and industry experts.
2.Recently, an induustry expert, recently employed by Mercedes Petronas F1 has left his position. In the near future he will take a sabbatical...
3.Another industry professional, also connected to Petronas is reviewing his options.
Below are three short pieces related to the above three (3) points.
What happened was for five years later they revisited it (Patton script) and they had hired George C. Scott and Scott didn’t like the script they then had, and someone remembered this earlier script. So they went back to my script and that’s how I got to be in it. So the moral I want to teach all the young people here is that the same thing you get fired for is what they give the Lifetime Achievement Awards 30 years later. ( Call me deluded... but this is what I see happening with my proposal)
The up-side of such a job would be that Brawn would be able to have a positive impact on the sport and, if at some point, there was to be a stock market flotation, a man in that position would have all the credentials required to become the CEO. One might even say that he could be “the next generation Bernie”…
(It would be fantastic if Ross Brawn would come on board)
Published: Friday December 6, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Friday December 6, 2013 MYT 10:05:25 AM
I have attended the last two ASLI auto conferences.
This year, I have no budget!
Many thanks to Kenanga Simon, who was very helpful during the whole conference, as was the whole ASLI team.
The keynote speaker, ex PM, Dr. Mahathir was and is the Keynote speaker.
Here is a picture of me shaking his hand at the 2010 event.
I presented with the ex CEO of Proton Tengku (Prince) Mahaleel, and Dr. Mahathir's son, Datuk Mokhzani.
I'm still annoying some of the people in these pictures regarding my dream project... Hopefully, my patience will be rewarded!
Here is a Bloomberg video featuring Datuk Mokhzani. I have to say, he was polite, but showed little real interest in me or my proposal.
This blog is supposed to be about my Motorsport University idea.
However, after many years of trying, I have failed to move it forward. I haven't given up, that's not in my DNA.
I just don't have any project news to share!!
Correction: I have just received a rejection letter from Lotus for the Business manager position I recently applied for...
So I will just let you know, that within my sphere of influence is my personal health, here I have made great strides in the last year.
I weigh in at 15 stone... about five stone less than this time last year.
A change in diet (I keep a food diary) and regular visits to the gym have borne fruit.
This is something I can control.
Getting people to invest in my idea is not so controllable.
This is a prayer often used by 12 step groups. It is used because it makes sense.
I research DRB Hicom /Lotus/Proton via Google most days.
Today, I checked out Skiddmark. This blog occasionally carries news on Lotus.
I came across this video on the site. It relates to Mercedes Benz.
It has broad appeal.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope you do too!
Yesterday, Thursday, I went onto to the Lotus website and applied for a job... They have a Business Development Manager position.
The way I look at it, this blog along with my webpage represents a business development plan. At least it might cause DRB Hicom/Lotus to look at the plan.
Lets see what happens.
What I really want is a job at DRB Hicom that allows me to implement my plan. I expect that such a position is not necessarily "Advertised".
Any Auto company I have worked with over the years has benchmarked.
This article from wired.co.uk covers it very well.
I have copy pasted a portion here...
Simulation and modelling also allows GM to measure its new designs against those of competitors before a single weld is made or body panel is stamped. But in order to benchmark against the competition in the virtual realm, GM needs accurate engineering data on its vehicles-something competitors aren't exactly willing to give up themselves.
The beginning of the teardown process is a friendly pass. "First, we want to scan as much as we can without disassembling the vehicle," Pecar said. Next the exterior is scanned with a large blue-light scanner, and then red light scanning is used for details like the interior and seam tolerances. Finally, the position of components is recorded to help put all the pieces together again digitally as the teardown commences. Things start getting unfriendly here. Each component of interest is scanned as the car is disassembled piece by piece. "You can look at a muffler and red-light scan it... it all goes back to the body position of the original model," Pecar said. Some individual pieces, like the muffler or a headlamp, may get cut open and scanned internally to build engineering models from. The end result is a complete set of reverse-engineered computer models of the vehicles brought into the Teardown. In some cases, those models can be even more accurate than the ones used to design the vehicles in the first place. After all, they show the vehicles as-built. Models are shared with GM's designers and engineers, who can use them to study the end product of competitors' design processes and learn from their successes and failures.
I have to say things appear to have moved along a notch since I was last in GM's benchmarking area (Mona Lisa... I have no idea why its called that) in the 1990s.
When I put forward my proposal for an educational venture, I looked at the competition. BPP own Phoenix University.
They have several physical campuses in Michigan. http://www.phoenix.edu/campus-locations/mi/detroit-campus/detroit-main-campus.html
They appear to be successful. The group also has a UK footprint.
Benchmarking a successful company, obviously makes more sense than failures. Particularly, if you are trying to attract investment!
Going back to the GM article, I do find the 3D printer and its uses enthralling.
GM obviously use scanners to reverse engineer. They then use that math data to design around/compare with their products and /or they 3D print it!
An educational institute could obviously do that too. Enabling students to design a part or parts and then send it to a 3D printer and physically produce it in a quick and cheap manner is a very real option.
People like to touch and feel. Designers do too. Virtual is great. HOWEVER! 3D printing brings the design alive. I think its a great addition to the design process.
Here is a video, from YOUTUBE, where the CEO of AUTODESK Carl Bass talks about design and 3D printing. Carl, obviously deals with blue chip companies, and small start ups, as well as individual consumers.
Interesting stuff.
Today, I checked my webpage... It appears the SKY interview on Burnley Football club, and its University are no longer available. So I found this on youtube.
I'll have to update the webpage later...
Well, I sent my CV in to Lotus. They are recruiting. They accepted my CV, sent through their webpage.
On the 21st August I got a reply from Caroline Walker, Lotus HR. Nein Danke.
Nothing new there then!
Its my birthday tomorrow, 10th August. I'll be 58!
Anyway, I'm happy and healthy, and Innocence lost in the ice cream forest, will be free to download.
Each download historically generates $2 USA for the charity ROKPA.
The book is available on Amazon.
To read the story behind the story please click here.
A few days ago the deputy CEO of Proton Datuk Lukman resigned. DRB Hicom are I assume looking for a replacement.
Lotus meanwhile are apparently hiring.
Lotus are operating without a CEO. So it would seem two high level positions are to be filled.
Plus Lotus are looking to increase their staff by about 100. http://paultan.org/2013/08/02/lotus-gets-100-mil-investment-to-create-100-new-jobs/#comments
Obviously, I have been annoying DRB Hicom for a position for some time.
Maybe, the time has come? Time will tell.
Here is a video of a new 'Backpackers' Hotel concept in Kuala Lumpur.
I think the concept of using containers as accommodation interesting.
Incidentally, should you be backpacking through Malaysia, I can personally recommend Red Palm in Bukit Bintang.
I attended my friends wedding in Leipzig on 28th December 2012.
This is a picture of me at the event.
Today, I popped into my local barber, had a haircut,
and had a picture taken with the same jacket.
I would say I was about 20stone at Tilo's wedding. Today, I am a little over 16stone.
My local Gym4all has kindly given me 6 months free membership!
They will use my photo's to promote the club.
I intend to lose more weight through good nutrition and exercise.
I see today that Datuk Lukman the deputy CEO of Proton has resigned. I met him briefly at ASLI auto conference in 2010.
He was polite, but not particularly personable. I wish him well.
I track the traffic on this blog.
Today, I noticed a global blue chip business media company with an office in Singapore had been looking at one of my posts. Here is the link to the post.
Today, I was in formed by Lee Ennis, the manager of my local Gym4all gym, that he was going to give me a 6 month free membership!
In the last 6 months I have lost about 3 stones/42pounds/20 kilo
So I am happy. I still want to lose more.
Here is my before photo.
Well, I do not know the status of my proposed Californian campus...
Never mind.
I looked up a graph of internet users 2000- 2020. http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2020.htm Global broadband access lines, 2000-2020
As you can see the growth of the internet compared to population growth is strong.
This means that a physical campus (plural) combined with virtual learning makes more sense by the day.
Here is another pair of graphs. They are USA based. http://www.calvin.edu/~dsc8/online-learning.htm
On my webpage, I have suggested several potential Motorsport campuses. In California, I have earmarked the old Honda test centre. It has been up for sale for the past two years. http://motorsportuniversitymalaysia.com/index.php?id=29
I checked the CBRE sale site today. It is no longer listed?
Anyone know who bought it? Has Honda changed its mind?
I'd like to know!
I had an email from Jimmy (my friend at Proton, Malaysia) wishing me well, and reminding me it is Ramadan. Jimmy is a Muslim.
So Happy Ramadan!
This is their fasting month.
I weighed myself today, and I'm 16stone 12lb. When I last saw Jimmy, I was about 20 stone. So I have dropped about 20 kilo. http://fatfrank.wordpress.com/convert/
127.0 kg = 280 lbs = 20 stone 0 lbs
107.0 kg = 236 lbs = 16 stone 12 lbs
I am determined to lose more.
On a sad note Swami Dee, my friend and sometimes teacher in America has been ill. Her Doctor has said she may be suffering from a degenerative disease.
She asked me to pray for her. She is a lovely person. I'm not great at praying... but I'll say some for Dee.
I contacted a Monastery in Scotland, Samye Ling, asking them to pray for her. They aren't doing prayers at the moment?
So, I am asking a monastery in Tibet (DOLMA LHAKANG) to pray for her. Small donation required.
Dee incidentally, was kind enough to do a foreword for my Charity book.
Sue Williams, also a lovely person, wrote the recommendation. She has MS. She has kept it at bay for decades. Thinking about it, I know some very special people!
Lucky me.
Sue has just released a new book. This is the Penguin promo video.
My sister is visiting next week. Kath, my sister was head of the junior school, while Sue was head of the senior school.
So I've known Sue a long time. However, as she is based in Sydney, Australia I don't see her that much!
When I had a visit from Jimmy (Proton employee and friend) at Christmas, he mentioned my weight gain!
Here I am, at about 20stone. I am training in the gym and following a low carb diet. I presently weigh in at about 17 stone. I need to lose a bit more. However, I am looking a lot better.
I saw a film at the weekend called http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/
Last night I bought a juicer! It should arrive in a couple of weeks. I'll give it a go. It would be lovely to drop another two stone in a healthy manner. I actually look athletic when I lose weight. Sorry no topless photo's!
I am doing a combination of aerobic and weight training. My local GYM4ALL has free classes. I go to as many as I can. Its having a beneficial effect.
When I was in America, I was informed a chap called Doug had informed the company he would not work for me because I had put on weight! I have to say, I was bemused by this. However, the manager who told me this thought this was a valid reason for not wishing to work for someone.
In any event, plenty of exercise and good nutrition is good for me, and I enjoy training. So its all positive.
Lotus are aware of my wish to join them in my educational venture. Maybe, I'll stick a suit on and send them a photo. Maybe someone will say, "He looks slim and fit. I'd work for him!"
So. To recap. Lotus was mismanaged from Day One by an endless succession of owners who didn't know what on Earth to do with it. People who used it as a tax dodge. Enthusiasts. Massive corporations. All lured into the web by some piece of engineering cleverness in the Fifties. And then all spat out again by the harsh reality that image won't sustain an inferior product for very long.
Lotus is seen as a dead Duck by many. It needs to spend to accumulate. Good money after bad? Not if spent wisely.
I do agree that Lotus is in a time warp. It needs to break out of this. Easily said. We're all experts!
A free download generates on average $2 for my designated charity ROKPA. In my opinion the physical book is much, much better, however you must pay for that. All royalty payments go directly to ROKPA.
I have just watched a programme about Giovanni Trapattoni, presently, the manager of the Republic of Ireland football team.
He left Bayern Munich under a cloud, and returned soon after to finish what he called "Unfinished business".
I know how he feels. I left Lotus after some very personal criticism from my immediate manager.
Suffice to say, I want to return, fulfil my proposals, and walk away happy that I have made a positive contribution.
Lotus Engineering Malaysia no longer exists as such, although as Lotus is Malaysian owned, Group Lotus is effectively under Malaysian management.
I enjoy Malaysia. I did not particularly enjoy working for Lotus. However, this is not a problem. Unfinished business is unfinished business!
It is my intention to return, and leave happily after things are on course and the future looks good.
I have just viewed my picture with Jimmy, from Proton. Christmas 2012.
I was weighing in at about 20 stone in this picture. I have lost over two stone. I am now a regular at the local gym. I hope to return to Malaysia Fighting fit!
Yesterday, I was invited to have a free (month) upgrade job search Premium on LinkedIn.
You can see who has been looking at your profile, and can contact people directly through InMail.
I won't bother.
I have directly contacted people by attending two ASLI automotive conferences. The second one I presented and hosted several discussions with CEO's and executives from SepangF1 Proton and Perodua.
I would like to thank Kenanga Simon and her team at ASLI for being so helpful in making this happen.
Kenanga, recently left ASLI. I wish her well in her new career.
Networking is important. Nothing beats someone recognising you and saying something positive, or negative!
I have made it known to high level people that I want to make my proposal a reality. I'm not a multi millionaire, so I would be happy to work at a level that would give me the budget and freedom to execute the plan.
Additionally, I believe that my plan dovetails with DRB Hicom's global strategy. They have just bought the Lotus dealerships in China.
I have already made this clear on numerous occasions to Lotus/Proton and DRB Hicom. I can't imagine that having a premium LinkedIn account will make any difference.
It would be nice if the hiring team would look at my webpage and blog. Get some feedback, both positive and negative from people who know me, and make the right decision. Hire me. You won't regret it!
I borrowed this picture from the Red Palm hostel website.
Sofie the manager is in blue, Siti heads the table, she is a lovely girl. Tilo the webpage man is sucking on a coke in the front.
The old grey guy is me!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Red Palm. It's a great place.
I phoned them this weekend. The hostel is not being filled. The economic downturn is hurting everyone.
Should you be in KL backpacking, or just looking for a good clean cheap place to stay I highly recommend them!
Yesterday, I called a couple of very good friends in Detroit, to wish them a pleasant memorial weekend.
They were pleased to hear from me.
Herbie is a GM pensioner. He and his wife Ginny were very good to me when I was in Detroit. True friends.
Dee is a swami who taught me yoga and eastern philosophy. She is also a very good friend.
Everyone was doing OK I'm happy to say.
When I lived in Detroit, I volunteered at the Detroit Institute of Arts. If you like art, it is a lovely place.
Detroit is bankrupt, and they, the Detroit Institute of Arts, may be asked to sell their assets. The DIA and the art community in general are against this.
Sad that it has come to this. Outside the city many of the suburbs are dripping with cash.
DRB Hicom have been saying they are working on a business plan for Lotus and Proton.
Not being an insider, I have no idea when this plan will be revealed!
I do know that being a company that has historically been linked with government contracts, DRB Hicom probably felt they would wait and see what happened in the Malaysian elections.
They are now over.
I have a proposal. I sincerely hope they intend to include me and the proposal in their future plan!
Now that the Malaysian General elections are over I think that the Group Lotus owners DRB Hicom can start to concentrate on business for the next few years.
Selfishly, I hope they give consideration to my proposal.
Lets see what transpires in the near future.
DRB Hicom publicly claim they want to turn around Lotus. My proposal would dovetail nicely with that.
The proposed California campus is to the best of my knowledge still available. So getting the deeds to that would be a good first step.
DRB Hicom are manufacturing partners with Honda so maybe they could even extend that partnership further with an educational agreement.
In the coming week, I'll start emailing people.
On the 1st and 2nd of the month (May 2013) Innocence lost in the ice cream forest is available for free download.
A free download historically raises about $2 USA for the charity ROKPA.
I much prefer the paperback.
My fellow team member on this book project, Tilo, has a link to the story behind the story, with links to Amazon where you can download or buy the book. CLICK HERE
