Changing the network design to reduce telecommunication cost to support the business growth goal of a multinational consumer goods company in Greater China

The high telecommunications costs has been considered as a major barrier in enabling P&G to significantly grow in China. This project aimed to decrease these costs using the action research framework. There were two action research cycles completed in this initiative. The first cycle focused on reducing the costs of bandwidth by changing the overall network design, while the second cycle revolved around reducing the costs of call conferencing in the country. I orchestrated the collaboration between different organizations to properly construct the issue, plan and implement actions and finally evaluate the actions chosen. The collaboration was done through formal and informal meetings, board reviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and remote interviews. Frameworks such as 5-Whys analysis were used to uncover the root causes of the issues in each cycle of the action research. The high bandwidth costs in China was driven by the lack of presence of P&Gs current transport vendor in the country while the high call conferencing costs was due to the high reliance on public telephone network. Changes on the infrastructure design, using the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework, were carried out to address these root causes. After the implementation of the two cycles, a combined savings of about $4 Million was delivered for the fiscal year and improving user experience without negative impacting the company\u27s operation in the country

Tactile sensing feedback for medical palpation in Minimally Invasive Surgeries (MIS)

Minimally Invasive Surgeries (MIS) are major operations through small incisions often using miniaturized high-tech systems, to minimize the trauma of surgical procedure. However such procedures deprive surgeons one of their most important ability-ability to touch and palpate. It also limits the dexterity, depth of perception and hand - eye coordination. The study focuses on the development of an effective mechanism of relaying the information across the surgical area to the surgeon through a tactile sensing feedback system. The design sensor system should be ergonomically sound, has high reproducibility of results so that it could be fitting for medical use. The project utilizes nine (9) circular tactile sensors formed in a 3x3 matrix to be interfaced data acquisition system through a Zilog Z8 Encore! 6421. The pressure distribution sensed by the feedback system will generate a 3D image to be shown in the constructed Graphical User Interface (GUI)