Adventure: Snowman vs Camel

Mall of the Emirates where Ski Dubai is Located

Alex's Office in the Middle of a Desert, Dubai


Ir Alex Leung in the Desert, Dubai

Meeting the Ancient Korean Soldiers in Seoul

Outdoor Inspection for a Metro Project in Seoul

Inspection inside a Building in Seoul

It is my pleasure in contributing to the first article for the HKIE MMNC Division blog as the Division Chairman. I am Alex Leung and a member of an international engineering consultancy firm. Due to the business nature, I need to travel to different parts of the world on projects. May be I could share with you my recent experience on business trips to two different parts of the world with completely different environment, one place has snow on the ground while the other place is in a desert. Can you guess where they are?

By the end of November 2007, I traveled to Seoul of South Korea to perform professional service on due diligence. At that time the temperature was around –3 degree C to 0 degree C in Seoul. During my trip, I have had intensive meetings with the client, concessionaire and contractors, as well as site inspections to verify the process, progress and quality of a metro project. I am proud to say that the international experience and technical expertise that Hong Kong professional engineers possess allows us to contribute to the infrastructural development of other countries and areas. In performing my duty on technical issues, I had to face the natural environment of working in an outdoor condition at around –3 degree C with snow on the ground (actually with melting snow mixed with mud at site). It is always good to have a hot pot of chicken soup after a hard and cold day’s work to inspire oneself spiritually and most importantly to keep the body warm. Another observation is nowadays more and more Korean are learning Chinese characters and Putonghua. In one occasion a young Korean lady has kindly offered her assistance to us in the ordering of food in a native Korean restaurant (with neither English menu nor English-speaking waiters). She used her fluent Putonghua to communicate with us! It is no doubt that various countries are interested to enhance communication and strengthen business link with China, and it is very likely that Chinese will become one of the major international languages very soon.

The other business trip happened in early December 2007 and the destination was a desert – Dubai in the Middle East. Dubai is a fascinating city with a lot of construction works going on. The number of cars running in Dubai far exceeds the number of camels there. It is worthwhile to note that the temperature of Dubai in summer could reach a value close to 50 degree C. Luckily December is a month in the “winter” and the current temperature is around 25 degree C. In this assignment, I have to perform design as well as design management duties on a metro project. The Government of Dubai is investing heavily on its infrastructural development, and the property market is also booming. The development of “Palm Island” in Dubai is one of the famous development projects in the world. The Arabian Tower is a landmark of Dubai which is famous for its prestige status and also extraordinary high expenditure. Another simulating observation is that you could enjoy ice-skiing in the desert at Ski Dubai. It is an artificial indoor ice-skiing field located inside a huge luxury shopping mall. In Ski Dubai, one has to take the cable car to travel to the top of the “mountain” in order to ski down the slope. Golfing is another favourite sport in Dubai where it has nice golf course in the city. In Dubai, you can find people coming from different parts of the world working there in a harmonious environment.

I hope that you would enjoy reading our blog. Your feedback, suggestions and constructive comments would be most welcomed. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Ir Alex Leung
Chairman, HKIE MMNC Division 07/08

Promotion Talk for the Mechanical Engineering Higher Diploma Students of the IVE (Tsing Yi)

A group photo of the speakers and IVE students

The Students & Young Engineers’ Affairs (SYEA) Working Group of the Mechanical, Marine, Naval Architecture and Chemical (MMNC) Division organized a promotion talk for The Mechanical Engineering Higher Diploma students of the IVE (Tsing Yi) on 5 November 2007. The major objectives of our talk were to promote the Mechanical Engineering profession, the HKIE, the MMNC Division and the AMC. We also encouraged students to join the student membership of the HKIE and hence activities organized by the MMNC Division.

The promotion talk started with a brief introduction of the HKIE by Mr. Ben Lam (Past Chairman of the AMC). Afterwards, Ir Alex Leung (Chairman of the MMNC Division) presented a brief introduction of the Mechanical Engineering profession and industry. Mr. Anthony Man (the MMNC SYEA Hon Secretary) then introduced the Scheme A training and presented the past and upcoming activities of the MMNC Division. Most importantly, the advantages of being a member of the HKIE were elaborated and the students were encouraged to participate in the HKIE activities.

There was a sharing session after the talk by the speakers including Ir. Leung, Mr. Lam and Mr. Man. The students raised many questions regarding how to equip themselves before graduation, and the importance of the Scheme ‘A’ training. Their questions were answered with details and they had obtained many useful materials and advices in the talk. The speakers shared their experience with the students in the industry, career path as well as professional development in the Mechanical Engineering field.

It is hoped that through this promotion talk, the students could know more about the HKIE, the MMNC Division, and the Mechanical Engineering profession. The students were also encouraged to join the HKIE as student members and take a proactive role in our activities.

China Delegation to Nanjing and Anhui Province

Chairman of the MC Division, Ir Alex Leung, was interviewed by the local mass media in Tongling of Anhui Province during the visit

Delegates visited the escalator manufacturing plant

The MC Division has successfully organized its China Delegation to Nanjing and Anhui Province in the period 12-16 September 2007, in collaboration with the IMechE Hong Kong Branch and ASME Hong Kong Section. On the day of arrival in Nanjing, the group of delegates led by Ir Alex Leung, Chairman of the MC Division was warmly welcomed by the Jiangsu Association for Science and Technology (JAST). The JAST’s leaders Prof Xu Yaoxin and Mr Zhao Yong Jin, as well as other representatives greeted the group. Ideas were exchanged among the institutions on matters related to the engineering profession and industry in Jiangsu and Hong Kong. The link between JAST and MC Division was enhanced after the interflow.

The Delegation had a very compacted programme and the delegates have visited various plants throughout the trip. The group first visited the lift & escalator manufacturing facility of ANLEV. The lift testing tower was inspected in addition to the visit to the escalator manufacturing plant. It was followed by a visit to the air-conditioning equipment plant CANATAL. The management of the two plants presented special features of their products which attracted the interest of the delegates.

The group then visited a commercial and domestic water heater manufacturing plant of AO Smith. Engineers of the plant led the group in walking through their production line, and explaining the characteristics of their products.

The delegates have also visited a water supply plant (Hua Yan Water) and a gas company (Bauhinia), which the Hong Kong & China Gas Co Ltd is a key shareholder. The management of the plants greeted the group and presented the operation of the plant and the company. The synergy of cooperation between the enterprises in Hong Kong and the local Mainland entities was revealed.

Lastly the group visited a raw copper plant in Tongling of Anhui Province. The manager of the plant delivered a thorough presentation about the organization, operation and financial aspects of the plant. The delegates also visited the plant and were impressed by its scale of operation. At the end of the visit, our Chairman Ir Alex Leung was interviewed by the local Mainland mass media on the purpose and result of the Delegation trip. The response is positive and it is hoped that more interflow between the engineering profession from Hong Kong and the learned societies, companies and plants in the Mainland could be arranged.

Throughout the visit, the delegates enriched their understanding of the technological and economical progress in Nanjing and Anhui Province. It would be beneficial to their career planning, market demand evaluation and business strategies formulation. The MC Division would like to express sincere thanks to the JAST, the visited organizations, the collaborated professional institutions and the delegates who have joined our Delegation to make it a success.

HKIE.MMNC Division AGM

The MMNC Division Committee toasting on stage

Mr. Stanley Hui, JP, CEO of AAHK and MMNC Division Committee members and guests

The annual report was delivered by Ir. Michael Cheung Ping Kuen, the Divisional Chairman of the Session 2006-2007. Ir. Cheung mentioned that numerous activities had been organized by the Division throughout the whole session. In addition, the Division aimed at sharing engineering skills and development with the local and the mainland learned societies. In order to establish a closer relationship with mainland China, the Division had participated in a forum held in March this year in Guangzhou. For local events, the Division had already started to establish Special Interest Groups (Automotive Engineering is the promising one) so as to allow interested members to have additional channel and opportunity to promote and develop certain professional segments.

Ir. Alex Leung Wai-Hung was elected as the Chairman of the MMNC Division for the Session 2007-2008, while Ir. Louis Sezto Ka-Shing was elected as the Council Member of the Division. Votes of thanks were delivered to Ir. Cheung and his committee members for their outstanding works in the 2006-2007 Session. The AGM then continued with the speech given by the Incoming Chairman Ir Alex Leung. In his initial plan for the coming session, Ir Leung proposed to foster cooperation with other leaned societies both locally and overseas so as to widen perspectives and involvements in engineering affairs. He also suggested to encourage active participation of young engineers in Divisional affairs, and to establish a positive image of engineers in the society by active participation in community services.

Before the annual dinner, we had much honour to have Mr. Stanley Hui, JP, CEO of Airport Authoirity Hong Kong, to deliver a speech to our members on "Hong Kong International Airport 2025 Master Plan". It was an inspiring and informative talk on the master-planning of the Hong Kong International Airport for the coming 10-20 years. The event was concluded successfully, and both the AGM and the Annual Dinner were finished in a pleasant and enjoyable manner.