Post Journey Reflection

3M

1. Post-it note pad interest me as it involves a failed product becoming a successful innovation due to creative thinking. It involves the use of chemistry to determine the stickiness of the adhesive on the paper.

The abrasion surfaces also intrigues me as it uses the destructive force like friction to help mankind to achieve a smooth surface. With a change of mindset, a destructive force is used for constructive purpose.

2. I made glue by mixing cornstarch with water in different proportions.

3. Making flexible circuit even smaller to allow more circuits to be placed in a device.

Qioptiq

1. Products that industries made must be humane as consumers are the most important people.

2. Brightness of a star is determined by the distance between viewer and object.

3. How to allow the lens to be coated in a way that reduces the need for a vacuum as to save cost and to allow rapid growth of production,

4. I will tell them, life is short. It is now, or never. If you want to do it, just do it. You can never be too wrong, just too afraid to prove that you are right.

GSK

1. Research and development is applied to ensure a never ending stream of new knowledge for the next generation.

2. The re-usage of solvents will allow the company to minimize the carbon footprint in which the raw material is responsible of.

3. I never knew that chemistry is more prominent than biology in a pharmaceutical company.

Makino

1. A slight miscalculation of 10 micron (1 tenth of a human hair) could cause the machine to malfunction. An increase of temperature could cause such a huge increase in the size of the metal part.

2. The iPhone surrounding is made by precision engineering which allow the consistency of the products that are produced and maintain the high quality of the casing.

3. We can try to research on how the placing of the different axis of the machine on different parts of the machine affect the accuracy of the machine.

EDB Learning Journey 1

I am Tan Jun Yang, 15 years old and a proud judoka. I spend most of my free time sleeping and watching anime. I enjoying Japanese culture and hence I study Japanese as a third language in the MOELC. One of my favorite movies is flipped as it is very simple and direct. I hope to learn more about psychology as it is very interesting to know how different people think in different situation. It is interesting to see what people do when they are forced to a corner. To know how others react in different situation allows us to predict their movement and prepare for it.

I see myself connected to GSK in as GSK being in the medical sciences industry, researches about the medicine that we commonly consume nowadays. While on the other hand, this year I researched on the production of biocompatible hydrogels from chitin and chitosan with cross linkers like succinic anhydride. This hydrogels are one of the main ingredients which is used for the production of the capsules of the medicine.

As for Qioptiq, I have always been interested in learning more about photonics as it exists in so many different areas of our lives. For example, it is commonly used in data transfer with optical fiber which will allow the information in form of pulses of light to be transferred to the other users. Its advantages as that 1st it allows information to be transfer at the speed of light which will allow fast connection between systems. It also much better than using electrical pulses as up till now, scientists have not found a material that has 0 resistance to electrical currents, hence by using light to transfer information will prevent loss of information.

I am impressed by the way GSK respects the value of research. It is seen as GSK spends roughly 3.96 billion pounds for R&D (http://www.gsk.com/research/science-and-innovation/index.htm). R&D is the heart of any industries as it is always innovation that allows the industry to progress forward in the field that it is in. “Survival of the fittest.” Only by having what other‘s do not have will one be able to have a higher market value as compared to its competitors.

I am impressed by the commitment of Makino to ensure that in the process of manufacturing, they protect the environment (http://www.makino.com.sg/the%20makino%20way.html). Not only that, they have continuous training of the employees which will allow the workers to have a proper set of skills that are required for them to be able to take on the challenges that the manufacturing world requires.

After doing research on the two companies, I realized that companies that are in the manufacturing world have very high regard for R&D. It made me see that companies that are multi-national, has to have great emphasis on R&D.

R&D shows that a method of inquiry is based on gathering empirical measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. R&D also shows that science is objective as hard evidence is required before any hypothesis can be correct. Lastly research is often reproduced to ensure that results are accurate.

I am interested to apply what I learn during this trip to better understand how capsules are made to be able to use my results in the hydrogel project for commercial usage.