Wishful thinking... Does Ross Brawn fancy a job?

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.

Fabulous Interview with Francis Ford Coppola

by Andrew Einspruch Leave a Comment

 

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)

Some thoughts about Ross Brawn

December 5, 2013 by Joe Saward

 

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

Dr Mahathir reconsiders decision to quit Petronas

KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) is rethinking his decision to quit as Petronas adviser.

 

(Wouldn't it be great if Dr. M would advise Petronas to fund my project and suggest they continue their successful relationship with Ross Brawn)

Today is the first day of ASLI auto conference 2013

 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.

UK online Learning... BBC articles make interesting reading.

The BBC has two interesting articles on Virtual learning.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24109190
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24804803

It seems many UK and USA colleges are going online.

Here is a list of UK and Irish Universities using online learning.

FUTURELEARN UNIVERSITIES

• University of Bath
• University of Birmingham
• University of Bristol
• Cardiff University
• University of East Anglia
• The University of Edinburgh
• University of Exeter
• University of Glasgow
• King's College London
• Lancaster University
• University of Leeds
• University of Leicester
• Loughborough University
• Monash University
• The University of Nottingham
• The Open University
• Queen's University, Belfast
• University of Reading
• The University of Sheffield
• University of Southampton
• University of Strathclyde
• Trinity College Dublin
• The University of Warwick

Interestingly 3 of these Universities have physical University campuses in Malaysia
Monash, Warwick and Nottingham have large campuses in the KL area.

Online learning is obviously growing, as the technology required to support it becomes more and more robust.

These Universities are obviously embracing the future.

Good luck to them!

Update : John Mansfield and the Serenity prayer

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!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 



Lotus Business Development Manager position

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".

Akong Rinpoche, the ROKPA founder has died.

My charity book, Innocence lost in the ice cream forest, gives all of its royalty payments directly to ROKPA.

Akong Rinpoche, the founder died on the 8th October 2013 in China.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tibet/10365064/Monk-who-founded-first-Tibetan-Buddhist-monastery-in-UK-killed.html

Very sad news.

The charity, ROKPA will no doubt carry on. Should you wish to donate. Please feel free to buy the book!

It is available on Amazon. To read the story behind the story, get buying options please click this link.

Benchmarking, copying, 3D printing and original ideas.

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.

http://www.bfm.my/