House of Augere (eBook)

Chapter 2 - Long Haul

Standing in the oh-so-familiar Hong Kong International Airport, brought a brief smile to David’s face. It had been a longer than usual trip, almost three weeks instead of one. He found himself with mixed emotions. Yes, he was glad to be heading home but the events of this trip had been exhausting, disturbing, and completely unexpected.

His supplier had consistently reported that the project was on track and sent reports and videos that seemed to support the progress. However, David’s gut told him that this seemed almost too good to be true and so his trip was quietly arranged. Turning up at the suppliers manufacturing facility unannounced immediately revealed significant issues.

The preparation to launch the new robotic prosthesis was significantly behind schedule. The working models that David had seen in videos were in fact computer generated and the real prototypes were lying in pieces in the production area because of technical and manufacturing issues. This was a highly sensitive project with significant commercial value. It would be the first of its kind in the market, yet proprietary blueprints and specifications were lying out in the open in the production area for anyone to see. This was a disaster!

Having pulled the supplier’s top management together, David painstakingly went through every milestone, deliverable and risk in order to assess the real status. The news was indeed ugly. David estimated that the launch was at least 8 months behind schedule. Given that the launch had been announced 6 months earlier, David knew that competitors were hot on his heels and might beat him to market. This concern was now amplified in his mind as the specifications had been visible to anyone interested. Even though photography was strictly prohibited in the factory, nearly everyone in that factory had a phone with a camera, and workers knew people in other companies who were always interested in what was going on.

Why had this supplier not been honest with the progress? What were they hiding? After a week of intense all-day meetings, the reason became crystal clear. It was the contract between David’s company and the supplier which has strict penalty clauses. David was no lawyer, he was a Vice President of Engineering who had significant sway with his CEO, but he did understand the severity of the situation. The supplier had already determined that they would not meet the launch date and therefore knew that the contractual penalties would be high. Therefore, they had effectively stopped work so as not to incur any additional costs. David was stunned by this revelation, and the realization that it was too late, the damage had been done!

Having apprised his CEO of the situation, David was joined by two Lawyers from Hong Kong who spoke fluent English and Mandarin. This was important as even though the meetings would be in English, primarily for David’s benefit, there would be many opportunities for side-bar conversations which would undoubtedly be in whispered Mandarin.

The next week was brutal as Lawyers from both sides fought over the terminology in the signed contract. It was clear that the supplier had willingly defaulted on the terms and was therefore in breach. However, they now claimed that they had invested a considerable amount of time and effort into developing certain Intellectual Property (IP) to facilitate the manufacturing processes, and as such they were entitled to compensation. This was a twist as David’s company had assumed that the manufacturing processes to be used were standard practice within the robotics industry. Now they were learning that the application of the synthetic skin was unique to this project and his company had not paid for that development work. The supplier indicated that they were willing to hand over the IP and the Patents if the Company did not pursue legal proceedings.

The amount of money at stake here was considerable and neither side would budge. On one hand, the IP might have considerable value, on the other there was no product to go to market with. As a compromise it was agreed that David had the technical knowledge to assess the validity of IP. David was afforded unlimited access to investigate and assess the technical and commercial value of the IP but he was not to copy any documents, take photographs or make videos of what he was being shown. He spent the following week wadding through documents, reviewing processes, and checking patents. The pressure on him was considerable. He needed to be cautious as he reviewed the data as he’d already been given a ‘smoke and mirrors show’.

As he neared the end of the week, he informed the supplier that he would complete his conclusion during his flight back to Boston, and then present the recommendation to the CEO on the first day back in the office. When pressed, David implied that there were several discrepancies in the data provided, and he had his doubts as to the claimed value of the IP. He added that he would review the data and notes again on the flight. They were not happy and assumed the worst. Stern faces tried to hide the anger that Senior Management were feeling as they said their goodbyes to David. David could feel the tension but he had always been open with them and that the facts would speak for themselves.

David always enjoyed the high-speed MTR train ride from the Kowloon station to the airport. The ability to drop off his luggage at the airline check-in counter within the station, and get your boarding pass, was always welcome. Now he just had a small backpack with his phone , laptop, chargers and pages of notes that he would need to read and review on the 18-hour flight. The summary of the findings was already in draft but, given the severity of the situation, David wanted to go through his notes one more time.

The high-speed train ran every 8 minutes so the wait at the Kowloon Station was short. David stepped onto the train and quickly located a seat with a window view. Having made this train ride multiple times he preferred the view from right-hand side of the train. As the train pulled out and cleared the first of several tunnels, there below him he could see the sprawling container port with multicolored containers stacked high like children’s toy building blocks. The giant cranes moved these blocks effortlessly, as if they were almost weightless. Massive container ships were docked in every direction and the loading/unloading moved with the precision of a marching band. David never grew tired of this scene as the train sped toward the airport.

After another twenty minutes, the airport came into view. This massive complex was situated on a large man-made island, much of the sand had been dredged from the bay and the rock quarried from surrounding islands or blasted away from hillsides to clear the way for the train lines. The size of this airport dwarfed the now defunct old airport. The airport was a hive of activity and David could see planes landing, taking off, and taxing in all directions. As the train pulled into the International Terminal he readied himself for the crush of people also wanting to get off.

David made his way past all of the automated check-in kiosks, and the long lines of people waiting at the endless rows of check-in desks. Where were all of these people going, he wondered as he hit the first checkpoint. “Boarding Pass and Passport” asked the airport official as he beckoned David past a family who were emotionally caught up in the moment as they said goodbye to a daughter. David showed his documents and he was directed to place his rucksack, laptop, phone, and shoes onto the X-ray conveyor and he stepped into a body scanner. Another airport official beckoned him to step forward and collect his belongings from the conveyor. Next was the Immigration area. Here too were long lines of people waiting to have their credentials inspected. People jostled for position in the line, some swapping lines as travel companions neared the front of the queue, others clearly confused as to which line they should be in. David knew the drill and headed to the shortest line for “Foreigners”. After 10 minutes he was through and could now start to relax.

He scanned the departures board and found his flight number and gate number. Everything was in order, no delays. Having confirmed the gate number, his eyes now scanned for the nearest Club Lounge to his gate and headed off to find it. He often stopped at the electronics store just to see what new gadgets were available, and to compare prices, but never to buy. Down the escalators he went, until he got to the underground station. He only had two stops and so quickly emerged into the terminal building and entered the Club Lounge.

The lounge was busy but not full. There were plenty of comfortable seats left by the window where David could watch planes taking off. He had roughly ninety minutes before boarding would commence. He grabbed a coffee, two pre-packed sandwiches, a small bowl of seedless grapes, a large gin and tonic and settled back in the comfortable chair. He gazed out of the window, and watched three large Cathay Pacific planes tear down the runway and climb effortlessly into...