This has been a week of a lot of frustrating work. We continue to be behind in the work that has to get done. Our general contractor is now about 2 weeks behind in their commitments. They do not have many of the materials on hand or ordered for us to get started on tool installations. Because of this fact, they have asked us to step in and help them. The bottom line here is that we need to make them successful so that we are successful and Intel is successful. This has caused us to have to pull out all the stops and work some pretty grueling hours to help plan and execute the plan to get things going. Well, we started pulling out all the stops and use our Intel brain power to see what we need to do. I think we ended up working 3 out of the 5 days this week late. The team put in at least 13 to 14 hours each of those days. We were working together to figure out how to get materials in the plant, how to re commit the schedule milestone dates, search for long lead items all over the world with any supplier or vendor we could find. We are still behind schedule and it could be as much as 4 to 5 weeks. We have some good plans together right now to get some of he installations started. We will be able to move in pedestals, set datums in both the fab and subfab, move in a few tools and set them. We can get the electrical conduits, cables and power distributions run. At least we can say that we have started the installs. Waiting for the other facility material for piping and mechanical work will just have to start later as we get the stuff delivered. We have slipped the start of prefac but have not changed the delivery dates of tools or safety level sign offs. We will progress forward with perseverance and fortitude. We are Intel. We will meet schedule in the long run. It is not how you start the race but how you finish.
When the weekend finally arrived I was ready for some relaxation. My driver started it out with a new solar dancing bobble head type of dash toy. This is very popular here in China. All of the drivers have them in their cars. I think that we Americans like them for some reason. Here is the one that Nicholas got for me. He has it facing me on my side of the car.
On Friday night, Danny, Brian, Barb and I went out for dinner at Flares. This is a nice little restaurant. We all relaxed a little and then walked down the street to return to the scene of last weeks infamous pajama party. This night the place was empty and we were the only 4 folks in there. What a difference. We had a couple of drinks and suddenly there was about 5 more Intel people that showed up. One of them was my manager, Rami. I had another drink and then left for home. Got home about 10:30 and called Kathy and then fell asleep.
Today was a good day. We decided to go and visit a Chinese village. Jackie, who is Brian's driver, has an uncle who lives out in a village in the country about an hour from here. He is a farmer and has been all of his life. We thought this would be a great opportunity to see how over a billion people of China actually live.
We got out to his house. He has a nice one room place that is surrounded by his small parcel of land which he farms and has an orchard on. Now, understand, when I say farm it is really farming that sustains his needs. He does not grow the fruits and vegetables for anything other then what he needs to live off of. He has a very nice garden, apple trees, pear trees, peach trees and an assortment of radishes, lettuce, cabbage, peppers and pumpkins. He also has 2 dogs, one cat, ducks, chickens, a rooster and 3 very large pigs. His house was completely built by himself.
We walked up to his place and he met us with a bowl full of pears and apples which he had just picked. We ate one and it was one of the best pears I have ever tasted. We then walked around the village and met some of the residence. They were really interested in seeing us. There about 100 people that live in this small village. They all came out of their houses to look at us. They don't normally see people like us in their village. They were very curious. They also really wanted to have their pictures taken too. They would laugh and talk while we walked around and met them.
I am telling you, in many ways, they live a wonderful life. No worries, no problems and they just enjoy their families and neighbors. We actually could learn a lot from them and how they are completely satisfied with what they have.
All in all, it was refreshing to meet them and spend some time with them. They are wonderful people and as friendly as can be. I have been honored to have met them. I hope to get out their again to visit with them before I leave next year.
Tomorrow, I am just going to relax around the apartment and maybe walk around the city a little bit. Hopefully it will be another nice day. Right now you do not know what type of day it is going to be. It changes so drastically from day to day and even hour to hour. It is getting cold and windy here now.
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