Well, if there’s one thing I can say, it’s that my writing has dropped off considerably since coming to Malaysia.
Not sure if that’s good or bad. Let’s face it, I’ve been busy. Work is a challenge. MEI, the local engineering, procurement, and construction management firm (EPCM), has come to realize that this is a much bigger, and more complex, project than what the thought they were bidding on. The problem wit that is that they won the work as a lump sum big, essentially saying that they’d do everything for a fixed price. And everything is turning out to be more than they bargained for—a lot more. So each bit of extra work they have to do, and each new staff person they have to hire, they’re profit is diminished. That’s painful for any business. And to take on such a big project, and not make (or even lose) money, is not an easy prospect to accept. So they have been slow, or reluctant, to do what needs to be done. Hire more people being the worst part of it. It takes a big design staff, and a big construction management staff, to do a project of this magnitude.
The 60%design review was in December, and they essentially failed to meet the goals for that stage of design, and have been falling further behind ever since. They been on the project for 9 months, and some of the things that should have been done in the first couple of months still aren’t done. Like a project procedure manual, and a “boiler plate” RFP (Request for Proposal—the document you use to bid work to supplier’s and contractors). So we’re all trying to pull together the RFP, while trying to bid things the same day—not good. And things need to be bid, in order to get them fabricated, shipped, and installed in time. They have no scheduler, and I did a schedule that has over 3000 line items on it, and it’s nowhere near complete. And this is a schedule-driven project. Again, not good.
Still MEI is trying to do their best, and they people they do have are dedicated and hard working. But they’re getting tired of being over-worked. You can see it in their faces, and their performance. SunPower has them over a bit of a barrel, and knows it. Yet MEI signed on for this work, so it’s their own fault. Kinda the unstopped force meets in immoveable object.
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find help, resources, for MEI. But when I do, they complain that they are too expensive. They did bring 2 guys from the Portland office over to help with some engineering, and it seems to be paying off in spades. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg. At times I think that MEI is also taking an attitude that, if they can’t get it done, they’ll rely more on assistance from SunPower. SunPower’s approach to project delivery is basically the same as Jacobs’. They learned it from us on earlier projects. So another problem is cultural. MEI has a different approach, and doing things the SunPower way is causing them so real grief. MEI is used to farming out large and complicated systems to vendors, and having the vendors do the design—in hopes of getting the work when it’s bid. Clearly, if you did the design, you’d have an inside track on winning the bid. Sunpower wants systems that are leveled as far as design goes, so that bidding brings out the best possible performance for the least possible price. So MEI is having to do work that is more involved, and at times work that they’ve never done before. So besides being short on staff, and having to use a culturally different approach to the work, they’re also having to do work that they just don’t have the ability, or experience, to do. It’s painful.
Now admittedly, SunPower is trying to train MEI to be their Malaysian design firm, and to do things the way SunPower wants and needs. But it’s painful and difficult to train and do simultaneously. For both parties. Everybody is working hard. Attitude is still pretty good—thank god. So, the days go buy, and little improvements are made, and things get better. For me, it’s hard to find a way to help SunPower and MEI structure a win-win pout of this. SunPower has more money for EPCM, and they’re already spending some of it—on thing like, well, me. And MEI needs to continue to step up to the plate--more diligently and quicker. All this takes time, and the clock is ticking on the deadline.
Personally, I like what I’m doing—even the sturm und drang described above. It’s challenging, and chance to place principles before personalities, and look for win-win situations. All which I enjoy. This would be a difficult and challenging project even without some of the issues that plaque at this time. I’m getting an opportunity to be of maximum service and help people—and that’s really rewarding.
But it takes time. Between working and commuting and the day-to day of laundry and cleaning and cooking, my days are full. Still, it’s not all work and no play.
Rob and I go mountain biking almost every day at lunch. And it’s hot and humid here, that’s for sure. I’ve lost weight (hooray!), tho I’m not sure how much. But people notice it, and that’s nice. We ride thru palm olive plantations, rubber plantations, and small roads. The palms are about 20-25 feet tall, and we’re told they get this size in 5 to 7 years. So we cruise along thru this tunnel of palm fronds on gravel roads, or take single-tracks paths up into the rubber plantations. Some of the climbs are monstrous, and humbling for a rookie like me. Talk about a great way to leave the workday behind for a while. And I’m getting better at mountain biking. It demands a lot of different skills than road biking. It’s fun.
Not sure if that’s good or bad. Let’s face it, I’ve been busy. Work is a challenge. MEI, the local engineering, procurement, and construction management firm (EPCM), has come to realize that this is a much bigger, and more complex, project than what the thought they were bidding on. The problem wit that is that they won the work as a lump sum big, essentially saying that they’d do everything for a fixed price. And everything is turning out to be more than they bargained for—a lot more. So each bit of extra work they have to do, and each new staff person they have to hire, they’re profit is diminished. That’s painful for any business. And to take on such a big project, and not make (or even lose) money, is not an easy prospect to accept. So they have been slow, or reluctant, to do what needs to be done. Hire more people being the worst part of it. It takes a big design staff, and a big construction management staff, to do a project of this magnitude.
The 60%design review was in December, and they essentially failed to meet the goals for that stage of design, and have been falling further behind ever since. They been on the project for 9 months, and some of the things that should have been done in the first couple of months still aren’t done. Like a project procedure manual, and a “boiler plate” RFP (Request for Proposal—the document you use to bid work to supplier’s and contractors). So we’re all trying to pull together the RFP, while trying to bid things the same day—not good. And things need to be bid, in order to get them fabricated, shipped, and installed in time. They have no scheduler, and I did a schedule that has over 3000 line items on it, and it’s nowhere near complete. And this is a schedule-driven project. Again, not good.
Still MEI is trying to do their best, and they people they do have are dedicated and hard working. But they’re getting tired of being over-worked. You can see it in their faces, and their performance. SunPower has them over a bit of a barrel, and knows it. Yet MEI signed on for this work, so it’s their own fault. Kinda the unstopped force meets in immoveable object.
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find help, resources, for MEI. But when I do, they complain that they are too expensive. They did bring 2 guys from the Portland office over to help with some engineering, and it seems to be paying off in spades. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg. At times I think that MEI is also taking an attitude that, if they can’t get it done, they’ll rely more on assistance from SunPower. SunPower’s approach to project delivery is basically the same as Jacobs’. They learned it from us on earlier projects. So another problem is cultural. MEI has a different approach, and doing things the SunPower way is causing them so real grief. MEI is used to farming out large and complicated systems to vendors, and having the vendors do the design—in hopes of getting the work when it’s bid. Clearly, if you did the design, you’d have an inside track on winning the bid. Sunpower wants systems that are leveled as far as design goes, so that bidding brings out the best possible performance for the least possible price. So MEI is having to do work that is more involved, and at times work that they’ve never done before. So besides being short on staff, and having to use a culturally different approach to the work, they’re also having to do work that they just don’t have the ability, or experience, to do. It’s painful.
Now admittedly, SunPower is trying to train MEI to be their Malaysian design firm, and to do things the way SunPower wants and needs. But it’s painful and difficult to train and do simultaneously. For both parties. Everybody is working hard. Attitude is still pretty good—thank god. So, the days go buy, and little improvements are made, and things get better. For me, it’s hard to find a way to help SunPower and MEI structure a win-win pout of this. SunPower has more money for EPCM, and they’re already spending some of it—on thing like, well, me. And MEI needs to continue to step up to the plate--more diligently and quicker. All this takes time, and the clock is ticking on the deadline.
Personally, I like what I’m doing—even the sturm und drang described above. It’s challenging, and chance to place principles before personalities, and look for win-win situations. All which I enjoy. This would be a difficult and challenging project even without some of the issues that plaque at this time. I’m getting an opportunity to be of maximum service and help people—and that’s really rewarding.
But it takes time. Between working and commuting and the day-to day of laundry and cleaning and cooking, my days are full. Still, it’s not all work and no play.
Rob and I go mountain biking almost every day at lunch. And it’s hot and humid here, that’s for sure. I’ve lost weight (hooray!), tho I’m not sure how much. But people notice it, and that’s nice. We ride thru palm olive plantations, rubber plantations, and small roads. The palms are about 20-25 feet tall, and we’re told they get this size in 5 to 7 years. So we cruise along thru this tunnel of palm fronds on gravel roads, or take single-tracks paths up into the rubber plantations. Some of the climbs are monstrous, and humbling for a rookie like me. Talk about a great way to leave the workday behind for a while. And I’m getting better at mountain biking. It demands a lot of different skills than road biking. It’s fun.
After work I spend a fair amount of time messing with my fish pond. First, it had a leak. I’d come home and find the fish struggling around in about 1 inch of water. So once I figured out it was the waterfall, and that water was leaking out behind the rocks, and the pump was essentially doing it’s job—moving water, just to the outside of the pond(!)—I rebuilt the waterfall, and thought I was home free. Of course, there were a couple of attempts necessary to make this happen, and a couple of scary moments of coming home and finding the fish once again slithering thru little pools. But in the end, all was well.Or so I thought. The pond is shallow, and the water gets hot. One day I forgot to turn on the waterfall, as it was leaking yet again, and came home to a bunch of dead fish. I gotta admit I was heartbroken. Poor little guys had already been thru so much, and now, somehow, they’d died. Well, I’ve learned a lot since then. Fish need clean water, that is aerated, and not too hot. So now the waterfall provides the aeration, and stays on, and new pump moves water thru a filter, that also has some “thingies” that provide beneficial bacteria and enzymes, and during the day the 2 umbrellas I bought shade the whole thing from the ravages of the noon day sun.
Simple right? Ya, until you figure in the driving around to learn all this stuff, to find the things necessary to filter the water (buying a ready made filter is, well, expensive—more than the pond and the plants and the fish!), rebuilding the waterfall yet again, checking to make sure the whole system really works. Finally, there was the addition of the anti-chlorine chemical, that removes the chlorination from the water.
Then there’s new fish. And the fish are pretty and all is well. Until I learn, the hard way, that koi and aggressive and pick on goldfish. Poor little goldfish getting chased and bitten. This has already cost me a couple more little friends. I’m still not sure what to do about that, but it seems to boil down to: is this a koi pond, or a goldfish pond?
See how fascinating my life is?
But it’s a hobby, and gets me out of myself, and I like my little fishes.
Speaking of fish, last Saturday we went fishing in the Straits. I caught a 1.9 kilo red snapper, and was the “fisherman of the day.” I was fun. About 10 of us went in 2 boats, stopped on an island to have lunch, and baked in the sun. It was great. And I ate red snapper for the rest of the week. BBQ’d it foil with some onions and garlic—delightful.
On the 13th, there was a local festival--lots of music from many countires, and the costumes were outrageous. The local antique bike clu b showed up, and some of these things a from WW era--absolutely amazing!
As I write this I’m in Langkawi, an island off the west coast of the Malay peninsula. It’s about a 6 hour drive (yawn!) north from Melaka, where I live, and then a 45 minute ferry ride to the island. Saw some incredible rock formations on the way up--it looked like caves that had caved-in, exposing old stalagtites--or some giant kid's sand sculpture, made with dribbles of watery sand.
Langkawi's pretty nice. We’re staying in a little resort and I’m sitting on the porch of my bungalow listening to the was waves and the birds and the bugs. Not bad. Sadly, it’s overcast. And let's face it-- i live at the beach, so it's hardly worth the drive...
Wayne and Rob have taken off to town—we rented scooters and small motorcycles. Last nite, just after we rented them, I took a bit of a tumble. I had rented a scooter, and between the quick responsiveness of those little tires, and the brakes levers being the reverse of my bicycle, and a bit of shear panic, I took a little tumble. I’d just swung to wide on a corner, and then got back into my lane, and in overcorrecting started heading off the road. So I thought I’d just stop on the side, and regroup. Well, I fell. Banged up my shoulder, hip and foot, and scraped my elbow pretty good. I’m ok, but it has taken some of the wind out of my sails for this weekend. And I’m glad it wasn’t any worse—somebody is looking out for me! Afterward, we went on a ride around the local area of the island. Nice. And a good chance for me to improve my skills—which I clearly needed!
Now it’s pouring rain—rats! So much for an idyllic day on the beach, roasting to a golden brown.
Now it’s pouring rain—rats! So much for an idyllic day on the beach, roasting to a golden brown.
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