Visit to GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline

In Term 4, I attended a pharmaceutical-related sabbatical relating to the analysis and synthesis of aspirin, where I learnt more of the pharmaceutical industry. Even though money put into R&D has been increasing exponentially over the years, the number of products developed every year has remained rather constant, which shows that it has become more and more difficult to develop such products that benefit and help to cure humans.

During the tour of the plant, we saw huge machinery that could store 30 thousand litres of reactants, huge stirring mechanisms and huge vessels. It was my first time visiting a chemical plant and we learnt of various ways in which the plant is kept safe from the hazardous chemicals being used. We learnt in school that acids corrodes metals, which is the reason why the metal pipes were lined with glass on the inner surface. However, bases also corrode the glass, hence those specialised pipes could only be used to carry chemicals acidic in nature. To dry the manufactured products which came in the form of powder, the Archimedes screw was used to allow the powder to be dried evenly. To manually dry the product, heat was applied while pressure “sucked up” the water.

As for the visit to their Research laboratories and Quality labs, we saw various equipment being used such as gas chromatography machines and scanning electron microscope machines, of which we have learned in schools but never actually saw. These labs investigate old or new products and processes and design ways so as to optimise the quality and quantity of the products being produced, while the quality labs ensured the quality of the products, to guarantee the confidence of their customers.

GSK has also designed and is constructing a “Factory of the Future” located in Woodlands, where the solvents used and energy will be recycled. For example, the steam generated will be converted to thermal energy and reused over and over again. The company hopes to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2015. To see such a large MNC actively conserving the environment, each of us should also play a part in ensuring sustainable development in the future.

Visit to Life Technologies

Life Technologies

In this trip, we were shown how DNA is amplified and analysed in the V & V lab. We were shown various machines such as the core PCR machines and real-time PCR machines, and how these help to amplify DNA by using Polymerase Chain Reaction. In primary school, I had done similar experiments in the school laboratory, but this is the first time where I saw actual experiments done in the real world. I saw how what I learnt in this topic is being executed in machines that are designed by Life Technologies.

In the plant tour, we were shown how employees play a specific part in each process of manufacturing a machine. This reduces the time needed to manufacture a machine and ensures that every part of the machine is of top notch quality. These machines have to be assembled by hand to ensure they are exact and precise, as one can easily cost millions of dollars, and any flaw or oversight in the machines can significantly impact the results of an analysis and can cost someone’s life.

There was also a sharing session with the employees there where they shared their education background, passions and career paths. I enjoyed those sharing sessions as I had firsthand accounts of the engineers and chemists there, and they could provide insights into working in that industry. Miss Wang and her colleagues shared with us the advantages and challenges of collaborating with an international community of scientists, while another employee elaborated on how the company focuses on developing talents in various fields and allowing employees to take up widely unrelated positions.

Overall, I enjoyed the whole trip, especially the hands-on session where we could handle the equipment in the laboratory.

Qioptiq Workshop

Qioptiq

During the workshop, I never thought of using cell phones as medical instruments, which Mr Siew exposed us to. By using Physics concepts of focus length, refraction of light and lenses, we were to design an equipment to be attached to a handheld phone so that we could take a picture of a tooth clearer under various conditions. Initially, many of the groups were excited to “invent” their own product and played around with the various materials provided, including lenses of different sizes and focal lengths. However, after a few rounds of trial and error, we reached a roadblock where we could not think of any other ways to utilize the lens to our advantage. In the end, our group decided to just use a simple lens and optical fibre.

While we initially tried to attach two or more lenses together, we found out that the more of them we attached, the less clear and distorted the images were, and which served no practical purpose. The optical fibre served to provide light to the object if it were taken in dark conditions. 

Sometimes, the simpler an item is, the better, as it is portable, convenient and easy to attach. Moreover, the activity taught us that product creation and innovation is never easy. It requires repeated attempts to come up with ideas, testing and marketing, which can take many years of effort. 

Trip to 3M

3M

Before the trip, I knew that 3M manufactures the Post-It products, tapes and glues, but I did not know that the company also provides a variety of items for various industries. From prior research and the corporate video, I learned that 3M not only produces paper-related products but also manufactured goods in three main categories of adhesives, abrasives and tapes. Even though this might seem like it would require a lot of work to create and manufacture tens of thousands of products, the plant manager shared with us that knowledge, insights, expertise and resources could be applicable across disciplines. For example, the tapes used in video tapes and adhesive tapes could be similar in the way they are manufactured. Similarly, in today’s scientific community, collaboration has become extremely important for research to be carried out effectively and successfully. One example would be how researchers from around the world contributed to the cure of SARS in 2003-2004.

The corporate video also tells us of the wide range of products the company manufactures, from car polish to sandpaper to water filters. It is important to invest and create products in various fields to sustain and boost the company’s growth as specializing in only one field is dangerous. In the individual fields, the company has many competitors, yet as a whole it is an indomitable company.

After watching the video, we had a tour of the plant in Woodlands. We saw a clean room that had yellow light, machinery and employees in bunny suits. I learnt from the plant manager that the yellow light was to prevent ultraviolent rays from damaging the raw materials, and that the bunny suits were to ensure that no human waste contaminated the products. In terms of cleaning and keeping the room clean, design and maintenance were important factors. For example, the machinery did not have paint on it for it to flake, and there were panels at the top of the ceiling to ensure that there was laminar flow of air. From physics, I learnt that continuous flow of air in the room will let dust settle to the bottom. Hence, lateral flow plays an important part in keeping the clean room clean. In addition, the lockers had sloped roofs, which was to ensure that items could not be placed at the top of the lockers, which I found was an innovative way to solve the problem of junk items accumulating there.

At the end of the day, I learnt how a factory looks like and I was rather impressed by the fact that it operated 24/7, like how a cell is a microcosm of a manufacturing plant.