I’ve been asked many times.. what is a good way to build a professional brand? As a result, I decided to compile a list that will be updated periodically to reflect new ideas. Feel free to contribute. Drop a comment. Although it is not set up like so, this is meant to be a collaborative wiki-type page.

Make a Linkedin Profile. Add everyone you know. Devote less of your internet time on Facebook and more on Linkedin. Check out people’s profiles. See who your friends know. See who friends of your friends know. Join groups that relate to your field. Read the discussion posts. Participate in them. Better yet, create a group and try to get members to actively participate. Is there one for your alma mater or school? Remember, as a group owner, you get much more visibility within your own group. Set goals for yourself. Once you get over 500 connections on Linkedin, your profile will simply say 500+. Make this your goal and you will be part of a distinguished group of individuals.

Connect with me.

Learn how to add your Facebook friends on Linkedin.

Attend a networking event. This is a good way to meet people. And talk (or practice talking) to people. There are many people who have the same technical abilities as you. Now, what differentiates your skill set from another person is your ability to communicate.

Have lunch with somebody who is going in the direction you want to move in.

Build a career portfolio. There are a number of reasons you should do this. Check it out here.

For UW students in science and engineering: The SEBA Mentorship Program. Apply before Monday, December 9, 2011.

More ideas to come. Please feel free to make any suggestions as well. Adrian (at) AdrianChu (dot) com. Thank you.

Here is my current one on Linkedin.  I’m sure I have made numerous revisions to it since day one.  Unfortunately, I didn’t save every iteration of the updates.

I am a strong generalist with diverse experiences in developing and commercializing smart technologies and working with built environments in startup businesses, small and medium enterprises, and FORTUNE 500 companies in both the public and private sector. Currently, I am working with the Server CPU Development Group at Intel on the next generation Xeon microprocessors.

At the University of Washington, I worked on Technology Management projects with the New Ventures Group at the UW Center for Commercialization and served as Teaching Assistant in the graduate level Program for Technology Commercialization. I graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering and I discovered my interest in bridging the gap between technical and business disciplines.

While at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, I supported Lean Manufacturing initiatives by developing applications for manufacturing, project management and business intelligence in Microsoft Access and Excel using the VBA language, which have been translating to tremendous savings of time and resources for the customer.

My passion about making a positive difference in the lives of others by bridging connections and mentoring led me to create the UW Career Network, a growing community with 900+ members who work together to help each other develop their careers.

In addition, I performed energy efficiency consulting and research with U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Assessment Center; have been involved in numerous property development projects, managed an Asia-focused international building materials company and am a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Washington.

However, I was able to find one from about a year ago.

Strong generalist with diverse experiences in aerospace/engineering, technology commercialization, trading and real estate development sectors; working with startup businesses to FORTUNE 500 companies and both public and private sector entities. Most recently, my work has been focused on applications to the aerospace industry. I have had two internships with two different programs with Boeing Commercial Airplanes working on manufacturing engineering, configuration management, product integration and certification. Additionally, I have been working with the UW Center for Commercialization in different technology commercialization projects.

Currently, I am a Senior in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington, specializing in VLSI design and energy efficiency technologies. Within the department, I am an Undergraduate Fellow, a member of the Industrial Assessment Center and I have been working on an interdisciplinary code and algorithm development research project in conjunction with the Department of Applied Mathematics. I am an active participant in a number of student organizations and serving as an officer in the Science & Engineering Business Association (SEBA) as well as the IEEE and IIE student chapters at UW.

Also, I am a licensed real estate broker in the State of Washington and have professional experience in retailing, real estate development and the trading of building materials. In addition, I am well versed in East and Southeast Asian culture and business practices. After graduating, I hope to enter industry or pursue graduate level education in Electrical Engineering, Financial Engineering, Systems Engineering and/or Applied Mathematics where I hope to take my research experiences to a new level where I can apply my knowledge into developing solutions to solving problems of humankind. At the personal level, I am passionate about making a positive impact in the lives of others.

It does have many similarities, yet at the same time it does have some updates.  Do you have any suggestions for enhancements? I would deeply appreciate any constructive criticism.  Click here to view the rest of my Linkedin profile.

Photo credit: Chris McKenna, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Borough_tube_station_lifts_01.jpg.

Digital IC Design

Most recently, I have been taking E E 476 and E E 477, VLSI I and II, the senior year classes for the Digital VLSI circuit design track at the University of Washington. In this course, we worked on designing a number of integrated circuits using Cadence Virtuoso from schematic to layout. An example of projects we have worked on include:

1. 10 bit x 10 bit modified Booth encoding multiplier;
2. 20 bit fast Kogge-Stone tree adder;
3. 256 bit SRAM and;
4. multi-functional arbiter

SEBA Mentorship Program

For my work in the Science & Engineering Business Association (http://www.uwseba.org), I have been coordinating the Mentorship Program designed to provide undergraduate and graduate students in the engineering and science fields the opportunity to network with professionals in the Seattle area. This year, we had over 130 student applicants and 21 mentors participating in the program. I’d like to thank each of the mentors for their involvement in the program:

Andrew Steiner
Brett Gaspers
Brian Albarran
Carl Weissman
Christopher Porter
Dan Freeman
Jeff House
Jeff Miller
Lisa Meyr
Lisa Oelsner
Martin Wilson
Max Effgen
Palash Islam
Rainer Kuehling
Rob Newton
Ryan Bergsman
Saqib Rasool
Scott Bright
Shawn Plaster
Tom Gorey
Warren Michalsen

UW IEEE Student Professional Awareness Conference

As Corporate Liaison for the UW Student Branch of IEEE, we held the Student-Professional Awareness Conference on February 24. It was a catered dinner and networking opportunity along with a presentation by keynote speaker Paul Kostek. Unfortunately, there was some snow in the Greater Seattle area that evening. On behalf of the IEEE Student Branch at UW, I’d like to thank the students for attending and the corporate attendees who made their effort to make this event possible: Intel, Boeing, Accenture, Crane Aerospace and Amazon.com.

Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition

This year, I served as Marketing Co-Chair and Team Ambassador for the 2011 UW Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition. As Marketing Co-Chair, I worked with the Public Relations team at the Foster School of Business to work on outreach efforts for the competition from a student’s perspective. Additionally, I had the privilege to write a guest post for the blog Foster Unplugged (http://www.tinyurl.com/AdrianChuGSEC). As Team Ambassador, I represented the University of Washington as a liaison for the MIT team Sanergy (http://www.saner.gy) who ended up winning the grand prize. Congratulations to Sanergy!

For this project, we had to choose a visual aid that would best explain “renewable energy implementations on a farm.” Hence, we chose a site map because not only could we indicate what we implement, but where we do it. Visual aids are effective in delivering presentations because it can tell a lot more than text. See for yourself. Read the following excerpt and consider timing yourself to see how long it takes you to synthesize all the information.

To supplement our presentation, we will be providing a site plan of an imaginary chicken farm. The purpose of the map is to show areas where renewable energy sources can be placed and implemented. Situated in the center of the map is a rectangle. That rectangle represents an aerial view of the main facility where all the chickens live. On that rectangle, we show the integration of photo voltaic panels that will be placed on the roof of the coop. Beginning from the southwest corner of the building is a chain link fence that goes to the leftmost edge of the rectangular property. To the south of the fence is parking for delivery trucks, employees and visitors. Near the northwest of the property is a small hill, where our team suggested placing wind turbines. Directly east of the main building is a smaller rectangular-shaped facility used to convert biomass into electricity. That facility is nested among a forest of trees to make the area more pleasing to the eyes and the nose.

Now, try reading through the excerpt once more and try sketching it out. After doing so, click *here* to see the actual picture and we can prove two theories.

1. Did it take you longer to synthesize the paragraph than the photo?
2. Was your sketch different from the actual picture?

If you answered both YES, that shows the effectiveness of the visual aid. Two main advantages are: visuals can be interpreted more efficiently than text explanations and are more accurate and to the point. Although, visuals can also be interpreted, unlike text, what you see is what you get. Also, it is important to note that although the text tried to be clear, there are a lot of things that are left out: dimensions: width, length, thickness of the lines; size of the trees; size of the hill, quantity of trees and exact location of each tree, etc.

So just for fun, feel free to send in your sketch to adrian (at) adrian chu (dot) com and we can compare and contrast it with the original sketch. Thanks and have a great day!

I received wonderful feedback in improving my resume and cover letter. We had the opportunity to prepare and make an effective proposal package (in both written and Power Point formats). Also, since this class began, I have gotten in the habit of updating my blog more frequently. I feel more comfortable in writing blog posts as well as working in team-based writing projects. Through this class, I have gotten more exposure in leveraging web-based productivity tools like Dropbox and Google Docs.

The other benefit of collaboration is the opportunity to network. Through this class, I have had the chance to work with a number of new people and learn to adapt to team working environments. The structure of the class provided us the chance to work with our project team for the majority of the course on a number of different projects. Having worked with a group of four other people, I have no hesitation that I would want to work with them again on future projects outside of this class.

Although at times I do feel nervous when delivering a presentation, this class has given me the chance to practice more and see what areas I can improve on. Sometimes I may get too involved in the presentation and deliver it extra dramatically. As discussed before, presentations are important in school as well as in the work place.

So, overall, change is good.

According to the Toyota Production System, just-in-time is an industrial management principle that strives to reduce inventory and its carrying costs. Synonymous with its name, the time that inventory is received should be optimized according to the time the product is needed. From making observations at two factories in the Seattle area: Fluke and Genie, I noticed that ”Kanban” signals were crucial for the success of implementing just-in-time.

At Fluke, many of its components were placed there by the supplier. Therefore, the inventory and carrying costs are the responsibility of the supplier and the components were only purchased by Fluke when they are needed (just-in-time). This provided a win-win situation for Fluke as they get immediate access to the goods without having to tie down cash flow. Further, the quantities of multi-meters are made to either actual customer orders or estimates based on the “heijunka” system (“Fluke” Tour Guide, 2009).

At Genie, the style of just-in-time implementation varied based on the leadership team. If the plant manager comes from a materials management background, then reduction of inventory would be more conservative. Those who have experiences in process improvement would be more aggressive in reducing any excess inventory. Regardless of the management, the materials still need to be purchased and kept as inventory based on the estimates. Per a conversation we had with a production lead at Genie, his method was to experiment by slowly reducing quantities until a lower limit was reached. From observation, systems were created at the Beckwood Punch Machine such that weld cell consumption triggered replenishment of the link tubes (“Genie” Tour Guide, 2009).

Manufacturing Processes

At Fluke, just-in-time is evident in its manufacturing processes through the use of vendor managed inventory. Internally, they have also implemented a train system where goods are moved from its receiving department to different stations on an hourly basis. The internal transportation system prevents workers in different stations from working ahead of the ”Kanban” quantities.

Due to the complexity of the products made by Genie and the need to manage a growing inventory of over 2,000 parts, just-in-time is emphasized internally in the delivery of parts to the various stations on an as needed basis. In general, material handlers at Genie try to group the parts together for each lift and have them ready when the respective stations have the need through a two-bin system. It is much easier control inter-company transportation than coordinating part deliveries with outside suppliers. In the worst case scenario, even if one of the over 2,000 parts were to run out, the entire production line could be halted, so underestimating is extremely risky.

”Kanban” Signals

”Kanban” signals are vital in the just-in-time system. At Fluke, ”Kanban” signals are triggered by its MRP forecasts and work its way up the supply chain using a self-regulating pull system. According to an industrial engineer at Fluke, physical ”Kanbans” are most useful. Not only do they serve as visual controls, they include important information that pertains to the part such as: part number (new and old), destination, location cell, ”Kanban” quantity, total quantity, lead time and amount per package amongst other important information. Additionally, they are color coded for different types of purchases: internal, external, expense, inventory and supplier (reorder point). Ideal quantities tend to be smaller per batch but with a higher frequency than having all products sent at once. The number of interim products moved with each signal varied depending on the customer orders, but is usually adjusted to meet one piece flow requirements. In a good economy, MRP forecasts are close to accurate and allow for production leveling based on those predictions. However, amidst the current credit crisis, it is much harder to accurately predict inventory needs (“Fluke” Tour Guide, 2009).

At Genie, ”Kanbans” take shape in the form of cards, labels, and storage bins as well as designated areas on the painted floor for storing standard work in progress (SWIP). In general, SWIP (the minimum number of units needed to keep the product line running smoothly) is limited to two units at a time. Although they strive to maintain a one piece flow production line, with each ”Kanban” signal, there could be more than one interim product being moved. Almost every part in the line is moved by the ”Kanban.” Essentially, blue ”Kanban” cards indicate that the part is from an outside supplier while the orange labels are for internally made parts. Additionally, colored visual controls sort parts by product line. When materials are consumed, barcodes of Kanban cards are scanned, which provide material information to the respective machines (“Genie” Tour Guide, 2009).

The Approach

In comparison between Fluke and Genie, it appears that the application of just-in-time is more evident at Fluke. One reason for this is that the products made by Fluke are much smaller. By observing the processes at both factories, it appears that Genie’s equipment and tooling are more investment intensive, so it is more difficult to implement any improvements. By comparing the two plants, it is quite evident that Lean manufacturing is more integrated at Fluke than at Genie.

At Fluke, one of their main priorities is to focus on their core competencies. In this case, it is to handle the final assembly of the multi-meter, while having many components built elsewhere. For example, the PCA assembly division is to be outsourced to a factory in Alabama. The main objectives of Fluke/Danaher is to free cash flow to buyout troubled companies, then apply Lean and either keep them for a high return or resell them. From observation of their factory in Everett, there was a clear sense of organization with 45 cells grouped in a well-lit facility. In addition to just-in-time, principles such as 5-S and safety as well as QDIP (quality-delivery-inventory-productivity) measures are used to determine the success of the plant (“Fluke” Tour Guide, 2009).

Many of Genie’s processes follow its parent company’s TEREX Operating System, which is primarily a combination of just-in-time and “jidoka”. The objective of “jidoka” is to produce high quality products with one-by-one confirmation to detect any flaws. If there are quality problems, the entire is line is stopped. Additionally, some of its machines are able to detect abnormalities witnessed in the products. In particular, the Turning Center and Large Slab Scissors Links Weld stations emphasized “jidoka” in their operations. Prior to delivery, the Turning Center checks each part for defects while the weld cells are equipped with inspection lighting and other visual control aids to check for the quality of the weld. As a whole, Genie also emphasizes level production on its machines using the “heijunka” board. Aligned with their lean philosophy to reduce costs by eliminating waste, its system has three assurances: delivery and minimum cost, safety and morale, as well as product and process quality. Additionally, we were informed that the unused space in the factory is part of an attempt to consolidate other factories as part of its space reduction plan (“Genie” Tour Guide, 2009).

As with both companies, the goal of using just-in-time is to make money. In order to make money, one must increase throughput while reducing inventory and other operating expenses. Optimization using Lean manufacturing techniques like just-in-time allow for reduction of wastes such as inventory and unnecessary overhead.

Works Cited

“Fluke” Tour Guide, Fluke Electronics, Everett, Washington, personal communication, Nov. 10,
2009.

“Genie” Tour Guide, Genie Industries, Redmond, Washington, personal communication,
Nov. 19, 2009.

Recently, we’ve been working on a collaborative writing project in our HCDE 333 class. So that each of us could work on the same document at the same time, we decided to use Google Docs for the first draft. Each of us was responsible and accountable for an assigned section of the proposal, so we weren’t as concerned about others accidentally removing content that was intended to be there. However, there were some limitations on Google Docs. One of which is formatting. Since our document was designed for print, Google Docs had limited abilities in terms of visualizing the print layout for the document. It is also more difficult adding tables, graphics and charts onto Google Docs. Overall, when printed, the documents don’t have the “look” of Microsoft Word.

In order to benefit from both worlds, we used Google Docs for our first draft and later moved it to Microsoft Word for final version. Yet, the conversion from Google Docs and Microsoft Word was a bit of a challenge as some of the alignment was not perfect. Also, sharing Word documents with each other was not feasible either. Our solution was to have one team member work on the Word document and then we would fix it up as a group in a physical face-to-face meeting before the class. Another method we could try is to use Dropbox to share the files, so that we can all access it without having to email the attachment around after each revision.

A few days ago, we presented our mock consulting proposal to our Advanced Technical Writing and Oral Presentations class. There are a number of key elements for giving successful and effective presentations. It is very important to practice; have succinct and well-designed slides; and deliver the presentation with the correct vocal and physical demeanors.

Practice Makes Perfect

In general, every time I give a presentation, I’d like to script out what I plan to say and then read over the words a number of times. It is exactly what I did for this presentation. In the actual presentation, I would not necessarily be reading the words from memory, but practicing the script allows me to thoroughly understand the content of the presentation and it’s easier to elaborate on-the-spot if you know the right keywords. By practicing, you also gain confidence in your presentation skills, because you feel like you know your presentation topic well. I’ve been told that the success of any presentation is mostly dependent on your state of mentality. So, it is a good idea to be calm, relaxed and confident while giving a presentation.

The Succinct and Well-Designed Deck

For all Power Point presentations, it is a good idea to have them look visually appealing and be clear and concise. You don’t want to be reading off your slides directly. If so, it usually means you are not elaborating enough or your slides are way too wordy. A common saying says: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” You don’t need to have 1,000 words for each picture in your presentation, but the words you select to place on your slide should tell more than the word itself. They should basically be words or phrases that can be used to represent the underlying meaning of your message. For this presentation, I tried doing something new: having a keyword and one or two photos with caption fill a slide, instead of having a bulleted list of details. This way, it allows me to focus and present without having phrases to read off from the slide.
Ideally, a presentation should have the following elements: introduction (engages the audience, clearly states the purpose, establishes credibility and previews main points); body (supports your message, adapts to the specific audience, and should be organized in a logical manner); conclusion (restate your main idea and closes the presentation with a call for action). Some people have told me not to provide handouts to the audience of the deck, while others have told me to do so. There seems to be pros and cons for each situation, but I think the best thing to do is provide the handout after the presentation is over. People in the audience will try to read ahead on your handout while you present, which will distract your connection with them during the presentation.

Vocal and Physical Traits Both Matter

People generally look for two things about you in the presentation: how you speak and how you look. Things to consider in terms of vocal delivery are: volume, rate and pause, conversational tone, enunciation and enthusiasm. Many of these traits are dependent on your type of audience as well as the environment you are in. Being in a small conference room versus a huge auditorium without a microphone can make a huge difference. Rate and pause is also important; depending on the type of presentation, this may be different. I’ve always had a habit of speaking too quickly, so I try my best to speak as slowly as I can. The tone of voice and enunciation is also for each type of presentation. This presentation is supposed to simulate a consulting pitch, so a B2B professional persuasive (different from late night infomercial) tone is good. Enthusiasm is always important. There are things we like to do, and many times there are things in life we don’t like to do, but have to do. No matter what type of presentation you give, even if you aren’t interested, you should look interested and be happy about it.

In addition, people look at the way you position yourself during a presentation. It’s important to have good posture and not be fidgeting too much. Also, it is crucial to pay attention to your facial expressions. I’ve always had the habit to be slightly more fluid and moving in my presentations. But with practice, it has become easier to pay attention to my physical delivery.

The Big Picture

Practice, practice, practice; make a good set of slides and watch the way you speak and stand. Overall, the opportunity to work on different styles and types of presentations is a great idea. Practicing and learning new things is always great. There are a variety of situations we must adapt to in the future. Especially as an engineer, not only is it important to have a strong technical background, having good soft skills is vital in the workplace. Wish you the best of luck!

In our Human Centered Design & Engineering class, we are working on a mock consulting project with a sustainability focus. Similar to a case competition, these projects are supposed to help us learn about typical business projects and provide us with the opportunity to build leading teamwork skills. There are a number of elements that make a project successful. First, we started off established guidelines for teamwork and created an agreement to reinforce the rules. Next, we had our initial project kickoff meeting that determined our research focus and generated a list of action items for each team member. Then, we presented our initial oral proposal (sales pitch) to promote our skills, credentials and our project vision. To help us in the process, we used two Google applications: Groups and Docs so that we can work together collaboratively. Several important tools one must consider using when working on team-based projects are: written agreements that set the procedures, policies and objectives for the project; information systems that suit the needs; and efficient methods of communicating.

First, we drafted a team work agreement that sets out rules that we must follow.

Team Working Agreement (TWA)
I. Meetings
When meetings are necessary, they shall take place on either Monday or Wednesday, one hour before class. The meeting place for these meetings will be prearranged in an appropriate location (i.e. in the classroom (Low 101), or a library). An advanced notice email will be sent out at least day prior to the planned meeting in the event of a cancellation, or project emergency.

In the event that a team member becomes sick, or needs to miss a meeting due to conflict, it is expected that they will let the group know through email ahead of time. On the account of several absences, the team member in question will be confronted and talked to.

II. Communication
Communication will be done via email and Google Group. Everyone must check these sources of communication at least once a week (more during more busy parts of the project). In case of urgent situations (members need help and/or are behind in work), groups members will call each other to resolve any issues.

III. Contributions
Each member is required to contribute to the team project. Every group member will be responsible for communicating with the group, updating their work status with the group, attending group meetings, and completing their portion of the project.

Team members are allowed to ask for help from other members when there is trouble in research, or when the team member is unable to finish the assigned work by the agreed deadline.

IV. Behavior
All team members will be respectful of each others ideas, and follow the agreed TWA. If team disagreements occur, the argument will be talked over by creating a compromise that everyone can agree to. If no compromise can be met, a majority vote will rule. This means a vote of 3 out of 5 will decide the outcome of the argument.

V. Additional Material
In the future, TWA amendments may be changed if the majority vote (3 out of 5) agrees. The time and place to do so is at group meetings.

If the TWA is not being followed, the following 3 actions will take place:
1. An email warning will be sent out.
2. If problem persists, a verbal confrontation will take place at group meetings or in class.
3. If problem still persists and cannot be resolved, there will be a reporting the instructor.

Although it is not as stringent as the typical legal document, it establishes a criteria for us to follow. Also, the process of drafting the document was an opportunity to work with the newly created team and to get to know each other. So, it is generally a good idea to have one of these types of agreements, so that when issues occur, there is a policy to enforce those situations.

Having the right software tools and information systems is also very important. For our team of 5 people, we like using Google’s series of applications. They are quick and easy and they serve our needs. Google Groups enable us to message each other and share necessary project files in an easy-to-use place. Google Docs allows us to be working on the same presentation at the same time, without having to worry about merging slides from different files with different formats.

Another one of the most crucial factors that determine success is effective communication. Working in a team environment with more than two people, there is often “politics” involved. If a team member is having an issue with a particular action item or deliverable, we ask that that the member speak up and share with the group, so we can work together and get the project done. The number one goal is actually getting the project done in a timely and quality manner. We each can communicate each other via phone, SMS, email, instant messaging, Google groups, Facebook and of course in person when we see each other. Lastly, I’d like to stress the importance of interpersonal communication. In many cases, it is important to communicate the person. As I stated in one of my earlier blog posts, “Eating lunch with people who are going in the direction you want to move in“, liking someone’s status update on Facebook isn’t really “communication”.

Overall, we decided to establish standard objectives and procedures. We utilized two different methods of collaborative communication in our project team: Google applications (Groups and Docs) and face-to-face meetings. And we emphaisezed the need to communicate effectively.