©ASME International HK Section. June 2003.

Feel free to copy without alteration.

The Official Newsletter Published by the ASME HK Section

June 2003

Hong Kong PolyU ME Students’ “ Moving on Up ”

First Place Winner in the 11

International Student Design Contest 2003

With full optimism and confidence beforethe competition, a HKPolyU student team( Wong Kar Ho, Chan Wang Hay, Cheung HoiYan, Cheung Ching ) and Ir K K LO, FacultyAdviser, made another success in the studentdesign contest. Prof M C So, Head of MEDept., was the champion of the projectentitled “Moving on Up”. It won the first place in the international contest. The teamoutperformed the previous first place teamfrom the Indian Institute of Technology. Photo(Top) : Ir C W TSO making an informalevaluation of the setup while K K looked on.Last year, another team of undergraduatestudents in Mechanical Engineering led by K K won the second place in Region XIII. The project was named “Baseball Frenzy”. Theevent took place at New Orleans November 2002. Student members were Wu Ka Ho,Cheng Man Kit, Li Man Fai and Cheung ChinFai (Photo with Ir K K Lo). The machine isrequired to toss 30 balls into three target holesin less than two minutes.

ASME HK NEWS

Major Event

In this issue

Messagefrom the SectionChair

SecretaryColumn

News from LiaisonSub-Committee

Focus6Articles

Members’Column

8Year Plan of IndustrialCommittee

PhotoCollection

Disclaimer: neither the ASME International or its Section office bearers shall be held liable to any responsibilitywhatsoever arising from the use or misuse of the information contained in this publication. June 2003.

©ASME International HK Section. June 2003.

Feel free to copy without alteration.

2Ir C W TSO

I am very honoured and delighted to be elected as the Chair of ASMEInternational Hong Kong Section for the session 2003/2004 at the AGM held on 14March 2003. Year 2002/2003 was an exciting one and indeed a great success in bothquantity and quality. I believe that it was a result of your unfailing support and active participation in activities, the resourcefulness and hard work of our past ExecutiveCommittee and most importantly the unquestionable dedication and visionaryleadership of our Past Chair Dr Chris Chao. Chris has set a very impressive track record on all fronts that Icertainly find it very difficult to match. On behalf of Hong Kong Section, I wish to register our deepappreciation to Chris for his tremendous contributions during his two years tenure of Section Chair.Trust you recall that the outbreak of Atypical Pneumonia in Hong Kong took place few months ago withthe first case of SARs recorded on 10 March 2003. It was in the interest of the heath and safety of participantsthat the Executive Committee had to cancel the 6

Asia-Pacific Rim sROB Meeting scheduled on April 25-26,2003, thus missing the rare opportunity to meet our President and Executive Director from HQs. AustraliaSection has now agreed to host the next Asia Pacific Rim sROB Meeting on September 25-26, 2003 in Sydney,and representatives from our Section will attend.I would like to take this opportunity to share with you my thought on the threat to job security in thecurrent economic climate. We are all aware that many countries are still suffering from the global economicdownturn and the situation in Hong Kong is even more difficult as a result of the onslaught of SARs. In order to stay in business in today’s knowledge-based, highly competitive marketplace, almost every organizationincluding our Government is striving to cut costs by various means, such as streamlining operation process,outsourcing non-core service and work, cutting employment benefits, downsizing the work force, etc.In order to survive and thrive, we have to prove to our employers that we are cost effective and are usefulassets to them. This means that we must keep on learning, and be versatile to acquire wider and neededknowledge and skills to take up the challenges of today’s fast-changing business environment. I am of the viewthat activities organized by the Hong Kong Section can facilitate interactions with engineering practitioners andrelated professionals from the industry, universities, government authorities, and other professional institutionsto share information, to exchange experience and to build up contacts. I believe that this can help all of usacquire some of the knowledge and skill needed to gain competitive advantages in our pursuit of career advancement.Finally, I must say that the Section is very fortunate to have in place very dedicated, energetic and talentedExecutive Committee and Sub-committees. This together with your continued support, suggestions andencouragement, I am confident that we can have another fruitful year so that our Hong Kong Section can growfrom strength to strength

Message from the Section Chair

©ASME International HK Section. June 2003.

Feel free to copy without alteration.

The International Hong Kong Section of

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

c/o Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong KongPolytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

URLhttp://www.me.ust.hk/~asmehk Section Officers List

Section Chair

Ir C W TSOEmail:cwtso@hec.com.hk

Imm. Past Chair

Ir Dr Chris CHAOEmail:meyhchao@ust.hk

Vice Chair

Ir Janet LAMEmail: janetlam@emsd.gov.hk

Section Secretary

Coriolanus LAM

Email:

Coriolanus.lam@polyu.edu.hk

Advisory Committee Chair

Ir W K CHOWEmail:wkchow@clp.com.hk

Education Committee Chair

Ir K K LOEmail:mmkklo@polyu.edu.hk

Industrial Committee Chair

Ir Y H WONGEmail:yh.wong@towngas.com

Liaison Committee Chair

Ir Henry HOEmail:Henry.Ho@hko.gases.boc.com

Publication Committee Chair

Samuel W H NGEmail:ngw@asme.org

Treasurer

Dr Anthony LAWEmail:alaw@hk.net

Secretary Column

Having served the Executive Committee of StudentSection for the past four years, I am honoured anddelighted to be elected as the Secretary of the Hong KongSection of ASME International for 2003/2004 Session. As pointed out by our Section Chair, the past session washighly successful and I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Ir JanetLam, for her tireless efforts and significant contributions.As a result of the continued shrinkage of primary industry in Hong Kong, it isnot surprising to have so many youngsters pursuing their tertiary education in business, finance, accounting or non-engineering disciplines. This is based onthe belief that as Hong Kong is shifting more and more to become a “servicing” business hub there are more opportunities for employment and better career prospects in banking, insurance, accounting, legal, logistic and hospitalitysectors in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Section is working urgently inconjunction with HKIE MMNC Division and IMechE Hong Kong Branch toaddress this pressing issue and is striving to map out the way forward to correctsuch misleading perception on engineering career. Members will be keptinformed of the progress and development of this important task.On the operations of the Section, I wish to report that in order to address issuestimely and work out necessary action plans, the Executive Committee meetingis now being held on a monthly basis. The Executive Committee has alsodecided the need to align with the calendar adopted by our Headquarters on thefollowing:-- Session starts in the month of July (instead of March/April inthe past) and so does the fiscal year -- Next AGM will be held in June 2004 to facilitate thecommencement of Session 2004-2005 in July 2004As the Section has to move with time to meet the needs and expectation of members, the Executive Committee has set up a task force led by Ir Janet Lam,Section Vice Chair, with the support of Ir W K Chow, Past Section Chair, toconduct a thorough review of the Section’s By-Laws and Terms of Reference. Acopy of the current version of the aforesaid is posted on the Section’s Websiteand suggestions from members are most welcome. Proposed amendments will be issued to members in the second quarter of 2004 and an EGM for discussion/approval will be held in June 2004.Finally, I sincerely hope to meet all of you all in our activities and look forwardto receiving your feedback, comment or suggestion