chewearn's blog

Many years ago, one company could usually develop products from the beginning (idea and know how explorations) to mass production. Those where the good times for engineers, because we typically have some control over the product development’s planning and processes.

In recent times however, product development is no longer the effort of single company. In the front-end, we have the semiconductor/design companies and solution providers. In the middle, we have the system integrators, and in the back-end we have the OEM and ODM.

This (sorry) state of affairs have changed the job scope of many lowly engineers. It is no longer sufficient to be good at your specialization domain. To be somewhat successful, an engineer must possess other soft skills like project managements, social interaction skills, and basic business marketing skills. An engineer can no longer hide in his tiny workbench day in and day out doing his things. He has to get out of his hidey-hole, and horror of horrors, interact with other people to get the job done.

Side note:
In my early years as an engineer, I started out as the guy hiding behind a workbench, building things. I looked back to those years fondly. As the years passed, more and more of my days was spent in meetings and discussions. With the mass adoption of emails and mobile phones, the ratio of communication vs getting things done increased exponentially.

Supplier requirements meeting

One type of business trip for an engineer would be to attend a supplier requirements meeting. This usually involved a few days of travel to a supplier’s office to discuss the requirements for the parts’ deliveries. As in all meetings, an agenda and prior preparations are key. It will look really bad if you returned with many unresolved issues after spending all that time and traveling expenses.

Preparations before you leave for the trip

1. Confirm the meeting agenda with the receiving party.
2. Confirm the relevant people have allocated the time to attend the meeting.
   Speaking from personal experience, the right people to meet could sometimes be unavailable. You often arranged the meeting through an intermediary contact person, but he could have been negligent in booking an appointment with his people. Confirm and reconfirm that the contact person has indeed reserved the right persons to meet you at the arranged time.
3. Prepare the discussion/requirements list.
   You need a requirements list to have some focus during the discussion.
4. Make sure the receiving party has a copy of the requirements list.
   Send the list early to give the supplier time to read and prepare. The entire meeting should be about agreeing on the requirements. Don’t spend the first part of your trip explaining the requirements.

Handling the meeting

I have observed that a meeting settings/mood were largely influenced by work and people culture. Meetings with the Americans are different from meetings with the Europeans, the Chinese or the Japanese. Each culture has it’s quirks and it would do well to understand them before heading out.

Ass-covering disclaimer:
The following generalizations should not be taken as the definitive cultural guide. There are exceptions in every culture. I have met nice people everywhere I went, who would go out of their way to make you feel at home. I have also met indifferent people, who ignored you and leave you struggling on your own in a foreign country.

1. The Americans
   Generally, American work culture are flexible and you should be able to get along easily. However, be prepared for possible long winded discussions. Your could get outright refusal if the requirements are not feasible within the time frame. This is good because it gives you a realistic list. However, if a requirement is “must have”, you could returned with unresolved issues.
2. The Europeans
   European work culture are generally relaxed, but they do a thorough job. Do not expect to start your meeting early in the morning. Instead, be prepared to start as late as 10am and end as early as 4pm. During a discussion, you should sometimes read the unspoken signals. For instance, if you do not get an answer from something you said, it could mean, “I can’t deliver that, therefore I am ignoring you now.” Try not to let the Europeans talk constantly in their own language among themselves, unless you happened to understand and speak the same language. If you are from a reserved culture, learn to be more brash and interrupt.
3. The Chinese
   A Chinese supplier will accept many of your requirements simply to gain your business. Take this with a pinch of salt, because they might not deliver on time or with the expected quality of work. Even though things are improving, many Chinese companies are still lacking in work processes. On one hand, without encumbering processes they are able to deliver fast. On the other hand, if you sit back and expect good delivery, you are asking for trouble. Have a definite time frame and expected quality agreed upfront, and put a robust monitoring plan in place.
4. The Japanese
   Japanese are strict taskmasters. Learn and observed the proper protocol. Expect the bosses or higher ranking engineers to attend the meeting. If you come from a non-Japanese company, you could well be the lowest ranking person in the room. Many of the Japanese bosses rise to their position only after many years as a rank and file engineers. As a result, they could well know more about engineering than you do. If a Japanese said “difficult (muzukashii)”, it should be interpreted as “no”. A well planned meeting agenda and discussion list will give a good impression.

Conclusion of the meeting

Be sure to distribute the agreed requirements list. Arrange a follow-up meeting to close any outstanding points. And schedule regular teleconferences to track the progress of deliverables.

A supplier requirements meeting is one of the less stressful business trip for an engineer. If you make the right preparations, you should be able to enjoy the trip. You might even have the time to do some sightseeing and experience the place you are visiting.