Iain Cameron's Diary
"Click here to access the Fruitful Album" - Click here to visit Music for the Highveld Project


The Highveld Project

Get your own
 diary at DiaryLand.com! contact me older entries

2003-03-04 - 9:04 a.m.

James has mailed from Paris to say he that he and his mate Traff have got off on a good start to their European tour.

It is extremely cold here � lumps of ice are floating on the river � old people are dieing because of the temperature.

The exhibition is smaller than before � but the bookshop is still good and I spent 200 dollars on what seemed to be the leading edge material that we can benchmark ourselves against. I talked to Dave Yuill about how they had found SAE Yokohama last year. I had been there the previous year with Jon (who is also here) and I had thought it was brilliant. The local auto guy from the Embassy � Shimitzu-san � had taken us round to all his contacts. That was the first year and Dave had been last year � they are committed to doing it again in May � hmmmm interesting opportunity. When I was there last time I actually got to meet Toyoda-san.

The UK stand here at SAE is clustered with the French and German ones but no one seems to be throwing rocks at the Europeans. I had an interesting discussion with some German specialists in supply chain reliability who are opposite us. I also spoke with a UK chip design firm who have a silicon architecture that can handle non-linear algorithms � the assumption that all automotive control situations can be modeled by linear equations is an act of faith. As more of the car is under chip control it will be wiser to have the capability for non-linear control too.

I had a talk to some really interesting guys on the Canadian stand who specialise on dies changeovers in pressing plants � taking out waste time. I thought they were pretty credible.

I met the people from the Professional Development side of the Society of Automotive Engineers at the COBO center and then went off to the Tennessee Valley reception which is held in the glorious surroundings of the Detroit Club � a 1900 building in pristine condition � great place to enjoy Southern hospitality. Norman and his wife from the North East were there and we were able to catch up on some interesting stuff. I had a long talk from some people from the University of Mississippi who are collaborating with Nissan down there � I think we found quite a broad common agenda to explore.

It was especially good to catch up with Gary Farlow who showed me round the Smokie Mountains four years ago that time I gave a presentation in Knoxville.(That was the year I was here with Graham and we met the head of Delphi - I went to Tennessee and Graham went to the Toyota School in Kentucky.) Gary's son is now in his third year at college doing a music major and looks as if he might become an operatic baritone. I explained the Music for the Highveld concept to him and gave him a copy of 10 Short Stories � I am hopeful that this link could turn into another Lullabye collaboration. (I also phoned Askold Bok�s people in NYC and got the go ahead to pitch the idea at him. They told me that all the Screaming Orphans publishing is with Chris Blackwell)

Back at the hotel I bumped into Alan Williams who is a specialist in high voltage electrical systems in car. He was with the leading specialist in that subject from MIT and we had a few Sam Adams while we talked about the Academy. My boss is interested in the Cambridge-MIT partnership � indeed last night was the Hughes Hall lecture � I hope Graham managed to get there and meet a few people.

I went over to the Ren Cen at lunchtime for a slice of pizza. The sky was pale blue and the riverside skyscrapers were glistening in the subzero temperatures.

Today is back to the UUUK.

previous - next