Progress report

Some of you are wondering how things are going with the inventor's project, so I thought it would be good to fill you in a little on progress to date.

Work on the invention continues to go well, and results have been pleasing. However, I worry about the Malaysian partner's impatience to see results and the inventor's lack of capacity to fully explain to him the requirements of the project and projected timeline. Progress was bound to be slow, given that the total manpower hours input on the project cannot exceed the number of hours the inventor has in a week. This will change soon, as I have committed to spending two days a week at the lab helping with office tasks, and the inventor has been given the go-ahead to hire a part-time research assistant. We may also soon be hiring a qualified Malaysian as Director of Research, which will really improve the pace of progress. Of course, between January and April, the two weeks we had our son working here with the inventor, the three weeks he employed an engineering student for vacation practice (called "internship" here) and the 6 or 7 weeks our daughter was working there were a lot more productive times.

The other major factor that is slowing us down is the painfully long time it takes to get any parts here. We had hoped that in an industrial area we would have access to a range of competent, experienced manufacturers, however this has not been the case. It is very difficult in Malaysia to find specialised businesses, and being new here, we don't have access to a range of contacts and prior knowledge, which unfortunately is the mian way Malaysian businesses seem to attract customers. Internet and phone searches are useless, as is asking someone (as you would in Australia), "If you can't do it, do you know someone who can?" One major breakthrough came when our dear friend Desmond took the time to introduce us to a client of his, and we found a major business in Ipoh that we hadn't realised even existed. It took us many months to find the biggest and best hardware store in Ipoh, the only store in the entire district that would come within 50% of the stock range of Bunnings. Stores don't necessarily stock the same things that they would in Australia, either, and stores don't necessarily come in the same specialties that they do in Australia, so the store you are searching for might not necessarily exist.

Another problem is getting the correct thing made when we have found the manufacturer that seems to be right for the job. The first issue might be a case of "Malaysia, boleh!" Malaysians love to please ("boleh" means "can"), but I do wish a company would either admit to not being able to do what has been asked, or if they are concerned about the amount of work and the cost, tell us outright that it's going to be expensive. Because the fact is, sitting around for a month waiting for a part that isn't coming is also expensive. It's frustrating and really slows down progress when we are told a part is being made and it isn't. The inventor spends inordinate amounts of time ringing to check, driving to Ipoh to check, re-explaining, sitting at their plant and demonstrating. To some extent, asking for one-off pieces that have never been made before is going to be tricky, but it doesn't need to be so slow. Communicating with people in what is their second or third language is difficult in person and even harder on the phone, and people avoiding his phone calls or hanging up when they hear an English-speaker only makes the communication difficulties more frustrating.

After all this whinging, though, we have some equipment working and the inventor is working on the next stage of the prototype now. The application for Malaysian government funding has been completed, and now we wait to see if, or how much, financial assistance will come from this development fund. Initial contact has been promising, and they seem keen to be involved. Even a small amount of extra cash injection will speed things up, but we are hopeful to get enough funding to get many things happening simultaneously. He is also getting some vauable regular assistance from one of the senior managers of the partner company, and things seem to be rolling along faster, so the future is looking busy and promising.

The inventor often works on a Saturday, though not every Saturday. We are enjoying seeing the country and try to get away somewhere at least once a month, though this month is busy with three weekends away, so next month will need to be more subdued. Sundays are ours for leisure, and if we're not away somewhere, we drive to Ipoh for church, then usually go out for lunch with friends from church. Lunch often doesn't finish until 2pm, but then we might go and see a movie, or go shopping, or both. Ipoh is big and there are a lot of specialty stores, and even the supermarkets stock a wider range than our little Tesco in Kampar. Occasionally we do some sightseeing around Ipoh. When our daughter was staying here and working with the inventor, one Sunday we did some driving around and had a closer look at the marble mine, and another we went with swimming gear to a delightful creek we had discovered. Even in this popular swimming spot, we were able to enjoy a swimming hole to ourselves.

Promising, exciting, successful and frustrating. I think that sums it up.