Farewell to three : Chong SL, Loh CK, Lim KS

Three's a company, but now, three are leaving the company. To be more precise, tonight we came together to bid a fond farewell to 3 more of our colleagues (soon to be our ex-colleagues) : Chong Siew Leet, Lim Kian Soon and Loh Chee Kiang.

Farewell to thee (L-R) : Chong Siew Leet, Loh Chee Kiang and Lim Kian Soon

Siew Leet (known also as Jennifer to her friends) was a material planner, who, by virtue of her job scope, meant we often worked together on common issues. Of course, every time that happened, it involved production as well, so you can imagine the circumstances were at times nerve-wrecking and not an easy stroll through the park. Luckily, working together, we usually succeeded in ablating whatever challenges that popped up - or at least softening the impact to production. It's always good to have colleagues working together, aligned towards a common goal, rather than everyone going on the defensive (and sometimes offensive) pointing fingers at each other. It was nice working with her, and I hope that Siew Leet's successor would be as good as she was.

Siew Leet standing behind with Rachel and Ryan in the foreground

I first remembered KS coming on board a few years ago, together with Benny Lee (who left Vishay some two years ago) as he mentioned he came in from Omega Semiconductors, the place where I had my first job as a Process Engineer many, many years ago. KS came in filling the void left by Kelvin Tan, who left before I started blogging about farewells.... :)

KS was in Quality, and some would say, fortunately, quality for Sensors / IRDC. Fortunate because I was with Coupler / SSR, so there'd be no work interactions, which, when involving Quality, always gives rise to some tension. Well, I did have a chance to work with him on several occasions, as we went to a TS16949 Lead Auditor training together, as well as several Six Sigma coaching sessions. It's tough being Quality and still be a nice guy, but somehow KS managed to fine a balance.

KS and Tai Hwei Chuan

Finally, my good friend and lunch partner, Loh CK. Loh came into the company, bringing with him expert knowledge on End-Of-Line tooling and equipment, as well as Package design. Somehow or rather, we got together and became close friends. Loh hails from Penang, and so plans to return there to be closer and spend more time with his family. Will definitely miss my dear friend - lunch will never be the same anymore.

I believe that's Coca Cola in the glass, right...?

Our farewell dinner was at Taipan Restaurant in Taman Merdeka. This was good, as it was just 10 minutes drive away from Vishay (depending on the route taken, and how well your vehicle clears speed bumps). This place is non-halal, so just for non-Muslims only. We booked a large room / hall on the ground floor, that was large enough to fit 4 tables, with a small stage and karaoke sound system set up front.

Now, Vishay had a number of good singers around, like Rachel Ng and Lim Chun Nam for instance, who had no trouble occupying the stage. As the beer (and other beverages of higher alcohol content) was flowing, the mikes were rocking.

Guess who's had a little too much to drink?

It was an enjoyable evening, but soon, the Master of Ceremonies for the night, Yong Keng See, called for attention and brought our thoughts back to reality - the fact that we were gathered to bid our friends a fond farewell and to wish them luck on their new careers. The three of them were each presented with a small souvenir to remember us by.

Well, that's life for you - friends come, friends go, but remain friends forever!

Thanks to everyone for joining tonight's dinner - all's well that end's well too!