Sex: | Male |
Birthyear: | 1947 |
Age at Interview: | 63 |
Education: | Master |
Occupation: | Engineer |
Theme: | Industry |
Title | Growing up in an ordinary family. Study in The University of Hong Kong majoring electrical engineering |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 9m15s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-001 |
Title | Unforgettable experience during the first year of work: Making up this deficiency of professional knowledge, Destined to be involved in electronics industry |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 7m45s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Assignment of Copyright in the Contents of Oral History Interviews by Interviewee: Wong Hon Yee, Ref. No. HKMP-AC-049 |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-002 |
After working in Ampex for a year, Wong Hon Yee went to USA to do further studies on the term that his position would be retained but no salary would be paid. He studied in the Master’s programme in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department of University of California Berkeley, which gave him more opportunities to attain computer knowledge. His long-time school friend was there to do doctoral studies and was determined to enter the academia in future. Influenced by this friend, Wong went to the same university. Going to USA to study was Wong’s turning point in life. It was his first time to leave Hong Kong and travel on a plane. When he first arrived in USA, everything to him was interesting, and he considered this overseas study a learning experience. In USA, for the first time, Wong took the courses on Fortran and Assembly Language. At that time, computers in USA were of elementary level only. The super computer used in UC Berkeley had a memory of only 64K and 132K. At that time Wong had to punch cards for writing programs. He did his homework by entering the contents into the IBM punch card which would then be connected to the computer laboratory. It took as long as half day to wait for the whole process to finish. Sometimes only a small mistake was judged by the computer as a fatal error, and he had to enter data and line up again so as to wait for the computer to reboot, wasting a lot of time. As a result, he realized that one should try his best to be scrupulous and perfect in doing his work.
Having worked in Ampex for a year, Wong had a saving for studies in USA for half year only, so he still needed his family’s help financially. In order to lessen his parents’ burden, in summer, Wong worked at the computer division’s system testing department in Ampex’s Los Angeles branch. He studied in UC Berkeley for four quarters totalling one year and three months. He would like to venture in the industrial sector and thought that a Master’s degree was good enough for that. Moreover, as his family was in Hong Kong, he did not continue to pursue doctoral studies. After graduation, he travelled in Europe for a month before going back to Hong Kong. Realizing the great difference in university system between Hong Kong and USA, he preferred the US mode in which students have freedom to choose their subjects. Moreover, students there have more access to different subject areas, and the US universities are not as exam-oriented as the ones in Hong Kong. In the 1970s, electronics industry in USA was far more advanced than that in Hong Kong. The number of subjects offered by EECS of UC Berkeley was more than that offered in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the US universities had a closer relationship with the industry. For instance, experts from IBM would give lectures in universities. At that time, technologies on manufacturing and management were imported from USA to electronics industry. However, in the 1980s, the technologies learned were transferred from Hong Kong to the mainland.
Title | Studying in USA was his turning point in life |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 18m10s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-003 |
Wong Hon Yee started to work at the Hong Kong branch of Ampex in 1969. In September 1970, he went to USA to further his studies. In early 1972, he returned to Ampex to take on the position of Instrumentation Section Manager of Engineering Department. He was responsible for designing test equipment for manufacturing and testing, including software and hardware, with focus especially on the latter. Ampex had branches all over the world for manufacturing or sales. Only those in USA and Hong Kong had engineering departments. The headquarters were in charge of audio-video products while the Hong Kong branch was first specialized in computer products and later included audio-video products such as electronic switching system and Betacam. At that time electronics industry in Hong Kong mainly manufactured consumer products. Ampex was specialized in industrial products and so had a relatively high demand on technology. It manufactured memory system for foreign companies, for example, compatible memory for Data General Corporation in USA. The engineering department in the Hong Kong branch had four sections for each of these products: magnetic core memory, stack memory, drafting and instrumentation. Among these, magnetic core memory was the major product of Ampex.
In 1974, Wong Hon Yee took charge of the whole engineering department because of his boss’ departure. The engineering department had to report to the US headquarters. At first the headquarters did not have enough confidence in this department and assigned only simple design projects to it. Later on, technology transfer between USA and Hong Kong was good; the Hong Kong branch could then meet the needs of the headquarters, and so was assigned the work of designing computer memory system. During those years Wong got hold of the latest design technology and acquired knowledge on engineering management by reading US journals on electronics industry. A few years after Wong had gone back to Ampex, the engineering department in Hong Kong was able to negotiate product design with their clients. The US engineering department was responsible for their local clients, whereas the Hong Kong counterpart dealt with the rest of the clients most of whom were from Europe and Japan, for example, Philips, General Electric, Siemens and Fuji. The Hong Kong branch had such high level of technology that they were considered Shaolin Monastery of the industry, training a lot of professionals in the field. Most of the engineers of the engineering department were male in their early twenties and mostly Hong Kong graduates (mainly from The University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong); only a few had studied in North America. Wong was a member of the first generation of electronic engineers to be trained in Hong Kong. When he entered the University of Hong Kong in 1966, it was the only university in Hong Kong that had engineering department. In that year, sixty students were admitted; a little more than twenty of them graduated with specialization in electronics. One of his fellow schoolmates was Tam Chung Ting, who entered the university in 1965 and worked in Motorola after graduation. Nowadays the engineering departments in Hong Kong’s universities are as good as those in the rest of the world – there is not much difference among graduates trained in Hong Kong or overseas.
Title | Taking charge of Engineering Department of Ampex in the 1970s |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 16m47s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-004 |
Wong Hon Yee was mainly responsible for designing memory system during his early years in Ampex and later assisted in developing the hard-disk business. Rodime Company in Scotland was able to manufacture Winchester Drive with a capacity as high as 27MB – being second to none in the industry at that time. The Ampex headquarters bought the technology license from Rodime and sent Wong to Scotland to learn the technology of manufacturing and testing. After that Wong set up a production line for hard disc in Ampex, which was the first of its kind in the Far East. Hard-disk production was a new scope in Ampex, and the products had to be assembled in a dust-free room. Wong was satisfied with the result of foreign technology transfer. He thought that he was fortunate to learn high technologies such as magnetic core memory and hard disk. When the Hong Kong branch had gained more confidence from the headquarters, it was assigned to also manufacture products of the AV division. At that time the cassette tapes and video tapes of Ampex were worldwide famous. The headquarters had bought the license of Sony Betacam, and Wong had been sent to Japan to learn the video technology. Wong admitted that he had been involved in technology transfer many years ago and was grateful to the headquarters for their trust and the training offered to him. Wong left Ampex in 1992. He had worked as head of the engineering department for many years during which time he had trained a number of staff. Wong believed that the talents in Hong Kong, who were capable of doing research in high technology, would not be less competitive than that of other countries. He thought that the only thing that was lacking in Hong Kong was a breeding ground. In recent years, the electronics companies in the mainland have imported foreign technology, which has also helped nurturing new talents.
Title | A forerunner of technology transfer in electronics industry |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 11m57s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-005 |
Title | US electronics firms was able to transfer their technology when they set up a dvisiion in Hong Kong(1) |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 16m35s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-006 |
The business of the Japanese electronics factories in Hong Kong was mainly manufacturing, rarely would they get involved in technology development. In the early 1970s, large US companies included Ampex, Motorola and Fairchild; a smaller one was Lockheed; National Semi-Conductor came a little later; while IBM was mainly involved in sales and purchasing in Hong Kong. These US companies manufactured different products and their scope of technology were also different. However, in general, the standard was high, an example of which was Dragon ball chips designed by Motorola. Motorola manufactured electronic components in its early stage and later developed telecommunication products. Wong approved the achievements made by the staff of various departments in Ampex, commending the workers who could render the design ideas of the engineering department in the products. Their products were not mass-produced consumer products, and their requirement on the workers’ skills was high. For instance, the workers for armament production had to be sent to the US headquarters for training. They had training on the skills of welding according to the standard of NASA.
To Wong Hon Yee, Chinese people were able to do research and development in high technology because Chinese technological staff were enthusiastic to learn new knowledge. In addition, they knew how to grasp every opportunity to learn and always imposed high demand on themselves. For instance, the founders of V-Tech and Varitronix were elites of the electronics industry. Ampex had once established a factory in Mexico mainly because of the cost and productivity there. However, it was later closed down for personnel reason, and a branch was established in Hong Kong instead. Wong was proud of it but advised his counterparts to keep on striving for advancement. As for his career, he recalled his early years in Ampex handling businesses such as memory system, hard disk and audio-video products, which was followed by his employment in Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) dealing mainly with telecommunication. He found his job in City University a fruitful one because he could get involved in different scopes of technology.
Title | US electronics firms was able to transfer their technology when they set up a dvisiion in Hong Kong(2). Ability of Chinese people to do high-tech research and development |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 16m18s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-007 |
Title | Career development of local engineers working in US firms |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 12m23s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-008 |
In the early 1990s, Ampex was purchased by a consortium. Its authority imposed reforms to the company. Instead of keeping the pragmatic tradition of developing products, operation of the company would then be based on the idea of investment and profit. Feeling that it would be hard for Ampex to continue their operation, he decided to leave for other ventures. In 1992, after leaving Ampex, Wong began to work in the electronics service department at HKPC, designing products such as Chinese pagers for Hong Kong companies. Now the responsibility of design and development at HKPC has been taken over by Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute. Wong has been a consultant for Innovation and Technology Commission, University Grants Committee, Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications, electronics departments of City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, as well as Vocational Training Council.
In the 1980s, reforms were imposed in Hong Kong’s tertiary education. As a result, Research Grant Council (RGC) was set up to provide research grants for university lecturers and to increase the number of degree programmes in universities. Therefore, many lecturers who came back from overseas were employed, raising the level of researches in Hong Kong universities. Some of the new teachers had been involved in industrial fields, resulting in stronger ties between the industry and the academia. For instance, Hong Kong Polytechnic University hired Joshua Wong, who came back from USA, as Head of Electronics Department. In 1994, invited by Prof. Cheng Yiu Chung, President of City University of Hong Kong, Wong started to work at the university’s Industrial and Business Development Office. He is satisfied with his present job because he can serve as a bridge between the academia and the industrial sector. Wong has been working in City University for many years being responsible mainly for setting up technology start-up companies for academics and providing them with consultancy service. At present, his focus is on technology licensing. Since Wong Hon Yee had been working in Ampex for a long time, he realized the difference in management culture between an enterprise and a university. His friend had once asked him to be a partner in running a business. Being a technology person, not a businessman, and knowing that the technology level of his friend’s company was not high, he thought that there would not be much for him to contribute to that company and so he did not do it.
Title | Leaving Ampex for ventures in academia. Joining Industrial and Business Development Office ofCity University of Hong Kong |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 18m20s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-009 |
Title | Development of Hong Kong’s electronics industry (1): OEM, ODM and OBM operations |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 9m40s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-010 |
Title | Development of Hong Kong’s electronics industry (2): OEM, ODM and OBM operations |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 6m5s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-011 |
Wong Hon Yee thought that it would be appropriate for Hong Kong’s electronics industry to be positioned at the mid-technology level as it would lack competitiveness if being positioned at the low-technology level. On the other hand, it was not good enough to be positioned at the high-technology level. After all, there was not enough infra-structure in Hong Kong. Using Japanese vehicles and electronic pets as examples, he explained the meaning of mid-technology level, emphasizing that development of electronic products could not depend solely on technology. Instead, creative ideas should complement the existing technology in the process of manufacturing. Moreover, these advantages in development and manufacturing should be considered its competitiveness. Wong stressed that being innovative was the advantage of Hong Kong people, and the future development strategy of Hong Kong’s electronics industry should be innovation plus technology. Successful cases were Ninja Turtles and cotton candy machine. Now Hong Kong’s technology is at a mature stage, but we lack market opportunities. Therefore, the efforts of Trade Development Council and company owners as well as promotion of creative ideas such as competitions held in schools are essential. Wong thought that electronic products could fall into two categories: one was given birth by technology, for example, mobile phone; another was created by innovation, for example, electronic pets. The mid-range products had more potential in the mainland’s market, for example, the mobile phone produced by Hua Sheng. To Hong Kong companies, this was a good example to show that there was no need to insist on pursuing high technology.
Title | Future of Hong Kong’s electronics industry: Mid-technology strategy |
Date | 17/11/2010 |
Subject | Industry |
Duration | 20m6s |
Language | Cantonese |
Material Type | Audio |
Collection | Oral History Archives |
Repository | Hong Kong Memory Project |
Note to Copyright | Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project |
Accession No. | LKF-WHY-SEG-012 |