In 2005 I was appointed by Ramsay McDonald Group to complete a technical survey on the manufacturing capability and compliance with IEC and Australian standards of a transformer manufacturing plant in Vietnam. I was to assess the viability of Ramsay McDonald forming a joint venture to supply transformers into the Australian Market and to meet the requirements of a Powercor, Citipower and ETSA Tender. In short, it was an exercise in due diligence on the technical competency of the organisation.

Before travelling to Vietnam to complete the Audit I prepared a checklist of 116 items falling under the following 10 major headings: Safety, Social & Environmental Polices, Manufacturing, Quality Control, Materials, Design, Cost Management, Customer Service, Order Processing and Risk Management practices. In addition I prepared a checklist of viewpoints for a photographic survey to capture the essence of the manufacturing plant layout, processes and construction techniques. It took me some five weeks (or more) to complete these checklists and included a comprehensive check across 37 Australian Standards against the corresponding Vietnamese (TCVN) and International (IEC) standards related to transformer design, construction, finishing and testing. The survey required two trips to complete.

During my first visit, in early August 2005, I was able to complete a first pass through the checklist, identifying where additional supporting evidence was required (and where formal written translations for critical documents were needed) and aligning the Vietnamese Engineers with the expectations and requirements of the Powercor Tender. This was an important milestone, as the project was a significant first as a major export business for THIBIDI. Such a business opportunity has only really been possible in the last 15 years as it was only in 1990 that the American veto on multilateral loans to the country was lifted allowing Vietnam to become a member of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank. 

In the interim period, before the second trip, I was commissioned to prepare a Business Plan outlining the financial, construction, supply, shipping and warehousing plan for the proposed business. This included a mechanism to compensate for the fluctuation in commodity prices (copper, silicon steel, aluminium, mineral oil etc..) as well as to negotiate price and other contractual matters.

In the second trip I was able to complete a second pass through the checklists in far greater detail, gain acceptance of my Business Plan and a commitment by THIBIDI to hold $1M AUD of stock in Australia. The last two days of the trip involved serious negotiations on price and other contractual matters related to the supply of the transformers.

The work I completed on my return was to finalise and review the AutoCAD drawings of the revised transformer designs for compliance and to author and pull together the Tender documentation with and on behalf of Ramsay McDonald and THIBIDI. This included finalising the Business Plan containing the relevant details of the operation.