“Greetings to you friends and piece”:
For those of you that remember your Three Dog Night music, that was an introduction to one of their songs. So I thought I’d say it. I’ll try singing it when we all get together.
An interesting week all around. Started with meetings with a fellow that is helping implement a program called Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM). The program is patterned after the Malcolm Baldridge award. It is being brought in an attempt to make Tata a world class operation by making sure management is the best it can be. Over all it is a good program and will make the company better. The process was challenging however. The first meeting was suppose to last two hours and it lasted four. The fellow is from India (Harshdeep is his name) and was very hard to understand. After four hours I had a splitting headache. Harshdeep is a member of the Sikhism religion from India. They are the ones that wear the turbines and don’t shave. Do a Google on the religion, there are similarities with the LDS faith. Anyway after about 10 hours of listening to him this week I need a break.
After the TBEM to start off the week, we transitioned into the board meeting. It started out as an audit of the operations because the board audit committee meet first to find out all the things that are screwed up in all the systems; finance, purchasing, sales, HR, etc, etc. Anyway there are a number of things not being done correctly in manufacturing so when it got to be my turn one of the board members said “isn’t this what we are going to talk about this afternoon”. He was correct so my part was skipped. I could have given the guy a hug. The things that are screwed up are well know and we have been working on them for months. So it’s not like they had to send an auditor to tell us what is wrong. We told the auditor most of the things he found. My favorite one was when he pointed out that the belt scales that weigh in-process material don’t work. He hadn’t planned on saying that there have been numerous attempts to fix the scales but no one in Magadi has the ability to fix them. The technology is above the ability of the Kenyan electrical department to fix. Oh well, I got a pass on my part of the audit. The next day was the entire Board meeting, it also went well. The consultants that have been here had already convinced the Board to spend some mote money and let us fix some of the problems. So my presentation to the Board has few comments. Just get the plant fixed (simple if you day it fast). Looks like we will get some money to make modifications to the plant and try to get production up. It will be a real challenge and the Board will monitor the process very closely. So it better work. It will take about two years to get all the changes implemented so I may be here for the duration of the project. May need to do a little negotiating on the terms and conditions in my agreement along the way.
In addition to all the above, the chemicals that were ordered from the US finally arrived. It took a week to get them through Kenyan customs and to the plant. The folks that came from the US to help with the start-up almost wasted their week. They arrived last Sunday and the chemicals didn’t arrive until Friday and they left today. So they didn’t get to do much. Their being here showed support for the plant and went a long way to winning support for them as a supplier. So that was two more guys to deal with during the week. Then on Friday, the SAP boys came in and wanted me to approve their basic plan for their Enterprise Resource Planning outline (ERP). I was sure happy to see them. I hadn’t done anything all week and was wondering if I would be able to do anything.
And to top off the week, I got an invitation to visit the local Masque and celebrate the end of Ramadan. How many of you have done that? Debi and I went to the celebration. It was an interesting experience. The men are on one side of the Masque and the women on the other side. They bring in a platter of food; rice, potatoes, meat, vegetables, etc and everyone sits on the floor and eats off the same tray with their fingers. (Oops, Robert/Nancy, I was going to have you skip the part of eating with my fingers when you read this to mom. She isn’t too fond of people eating with their fingers. I remember getting in trouble for doing that. My bad). They were excited that we came. I guess they invited many people from Magadi Soda to help celebrate, but Debi and I were the only two that came. So chalk up another experience to the African Adventure.
Found out in church today that the request to form another branch was submitted. The church was packed today. I’ve never seen so many people there. Some say it depends on when pay day is. If people can afford the bus ride they come. Hence the efforts to move the branch closer to where they live. Hope it happens soon.
The children love Debi. She said that one of the little girls continued to run her fingers through her hair during primary. There are beautiful people here. The kids are so sweet and well behaved. Maybe we will get our wish for well behaved children; we missed out on with our own.
Well, I’m out of gas for writing more. Hope all is well with all of you. Sure enjoy hearing from you, so keep the emails coming.
Live ya
Paul/dad
PS: Margaret, we are getting close to having our schedule arranged for after the first of the year, will forward it to you when we are a little closer.
PSS: Uncle Ken and Aunt Sally, let me know if you get this. Hope I got your email correct.
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