Toshiba International Corp. Work Values

Daily Duties at Toshiba International Corp.:

: Guide the development of circuit board testers, maintenance publications, and training courses for a $133 million contract for passenger railroad propulsion, RF, Power conversion, communications, passenger information, diagnostics, networks, and CCTV security electronics. The contract for the electronics was awarded to Toshiba by Kawasaki who was awarded the primary contract to provide the cars to the transit authority. I prepared for formal review meetings yearly and status conference calls as the primary contractor requested. The maintenance publications and training courses were developed by a Canadian contractor while the circuit board testers were developed by a US contractor. Weekly status conference calls were held with both. My mission was to ensure that both had up to date and understandable information they needed to do their job. Both were sent many of the same documents but the test system contractor received in addition circuit board details (schematic, netlist, BDSL file, board layout). Most of the documents were from Japan but were written in English. Frequently my intervention was required, and I would work with the Japanese engineers to modify their documents. Before mantenance manuals or training plans went to Kawasaki I would proofread and in some cases edit the materials. The maintenance manuals and training included removal and replacement of assemblies and circuit boards’ but did not describe circuit board repair. The depth to which a circuit board was tested depended on whether the transit authority was able to repair it. Circuit boards of all electronic assemblies had their components and assembly methods examined and documented relative to the repair capabilities of the transit authority and categorized as repairable or not repairable. Boards that were tested and found to be defective but were not repairable, were simply replaced. After gaining transit authority approval of the repair ability list, detailed technical documents (schematics, board layout, software, specifications, operational description, diagnostics, ...) about each circuit board needed to be gathered and provided to the test system contractor. Confidentiality agreements had to be prepared and signed in many cases. Lists of all documents sent to both contractors were made and continuously reviewed to ensure that as newer revisions became available they were sent. Also as Schedule Control Manger, I interfaced with the program managers to publish the monthly status reports. Each month an Excel spreadsheet listing each and all activities for a program within the $133M project had new columns added: 1) with my comments and advice for the program manager, 2) with blank cells for the program manager to fill-in with their current status. Email rather than telephone was frequently used since most of the managers polled were in Japan. Proposed changes to the baseline schedule and work breakdown structure, including the addition of activity codes to the schedule were analyzed and documented in advance for approval. Schedule changes were documented and “what if” options were run to determine best work around alternatives. Progress was reported after inputting status changes from the management and analyzing the results. A text summary and analysis was followed by a Primavera Gantt chart showing the baseline and desired performance metrics. Other tasks include: 1) Find a new system integrator for the wireless networks at train stations and repair depots. (The current one was quitting due to insurmountable technical difficulties.) A Request for Information (RFI) was prepared and distributed in order to find a supplier or system integrator willing , able, and preferably experienced in performing the necessary engineering to deploy multiple mobile (train to wayside) wireless 802.11 networks. While many said they were interested, after reviewing the RFI responses and lengthy interviews with 15 candidates, only a couple had resources and experience for performing site surveys, addressing railcar installations and difficult coverage areas (such as inside railcar repair buildings), and ensuring FCC compliance and network security. 2) Prepare detailed technical descriptions of a 30 kW DC-DC and a DC-AC power converters with the only available documentation being the schematic and bill of materials for each. The functional description for each of the 1300 components in each converter was determined. In addition operational descriptions of component groups were developed from studying the circuits. Some were simple, like snubbers and filters, and others more complex, like control circuits for fault conditions of voltage, current, and temperature at the inputs and outputs. 3) Represent Toshiba’s transportation group at their APTA tradeshow booth, while being familiar with other Toshiba International products such as LED Lighting and Power Electronics.

What they like about Toshiba International Corp.:

Working in an organization that is technologically advanced, creative, and innovative is critical in your assessment of hiring companies. Less important to you are stability of the organization, the length of time an organization has been in business, and the business' plans for the future. You prefer a fast-moving company that will take risks to achieve its goals and objectives. The length of time the company has been in business is irrelevant. Maintaining status quo is unnecessary. You thrive on change, uncertainty and the upside of potential business risks, especially those associated with innovation. Stability for the long haul is not nearly as important as is working in an atmosphere that is charged with a sense of urgency and constant change.

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These are some of the questions we asked our climbers about their experiences with Toshiba International Corp.: