To my visit to Makino today, a company that uses machines to make machines to make products (or even more machines). It was quite an eye opener for me to the heavy industries, the atmosphere and the intensity of the plant was quite a sight, smell and sound. It was an amazing experience, seeing experts working to perfect the machines to a few microns, ~10 times the width of a human hair! Possible with a combination of both expertise and accurate measuring and machining tools.
Also, the R&D sections is different from the usual R&D which consists of many labs and experiments, on the slight glance of the R&D area, I realized that the experiments were all done on the computer with software and this is more of a thought process instead of an experimentation process, which amazed me quite albeit.
A project that could be done related to what makino does is to innovate or create a simple machine that could help people or alter the code of the already existing machines to make the processes in the machine more concise.
The visit to GSK today was simply amazing. It was the first time I saw a pharmaceutical factory and the complexity of the machinery and the all so many steps needed to create a molecule from smaller molecule blew me away.
I was exposed to the developmental stages of drugs after they leave the laboratory and needs to be scaled up, mechanized, and automated. It is certainly a tough process as there will be many complex problems encountered during this development process. This made me appreciate the little tablet of panadol that drives the headache away as so much work and effort are put to make such a product.
One field that sparked my interest is the presentation on sustainability. There are many huge goals that many companies, including GSK, are trying to implement to help save the environment and I am very relieved to see so many people trying so hard to save the world. Although the efforts are commendable, I feel that the things done is simply not enough to mitigate climate change. One example that was given of a sustainable product is apple’s ipad 2. Although armed with many features that save some electricity to some extent, the whole product is still highly not sustainable. contrary to the presentation. Although the ipad 2 has many features, but the unveiling of yet another product every few months by apple will undoubtly cause the consumers to want purchase this products and dispose of their previous, “lousy” products. However, this endless chain/ loop of consumerism that many companies and economies promote is destroying the earth. For every upgrade to an ipad 2, although a few watts of power could be saved, but for every upgrade to an ipad 2, one ipad is disposed of before its life is up, and the environmental cost of producing an ipad is far greater than the small savings switching to an ipad 2 would do. Therefore, it is still highly not sustainable, no matter how nice apple packaged the story and the specs, only 1 side of the story is told.
A project that could be done related to GSK is to find out new ways to capture and recycle/reuse/purify the waste chemicals that are used to process the pharmaceutical products in order to make the plant and our planet a more sustainable one.
All in all, I feel that the trip had broadened my horizons, especially to the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.
The visit to Qioptiq may be one of the most memorable things I had this year. It was not because of the high end technology, but Mr Ronny, the ever so passionate guy who seemed to have an unlimited flow of energy waiting to burst out.
Although some of the high end lenses amazed me, but the most useful and important thing I took away was the few values, the experiences shared by Mr Ronny that I feel would certainly help me in the future.
From the awesome visit to Qioptiq, I discovered how out how principles of physics, such as interference theory, reflection, refraction, prisms, diffraction etc. could be applied to make really wonderful things such as the projectors in cinemas to make life better.
I did not realize that many of the lenses in real life is so complicated in nature just to make the quality of the image produced higher, and I also learnt that optics, lenses etc are used in so many different places, places that we have never thought of, to play a simple yet important role to ensure that device functions flawlessly.
Although some physics concepts bore me, others such as relativity and certain fields of quantum physics interests me a lot and I read up on them on my own. One of such stuff that I stumbled on related to optics is the existence of meta materials, those with negative refractive indices. This sparked some interest in me and I would like to find out the implication of the existence of these materials and how could they e of some use to man kind. A project may be done on this.
Also, having heard a lot from Mr Ronny about his life and stories. I feel that my life revolves mainly around having fun in whatever I do and enjoy as much as possible, to stay positive and to live without regrets.
Also, I think that exams and tests are necessary to gauge the students progress on a certain subject and to gauge a person’s potential so as to help the school to develop the student to his full potential. Without tests and exams, the school could never find out how the student is doing and could not do anything to render help or opportunities to the student to further develop him more. Tests and exams are too often view in such negative light to torture students and to force them to study. Although true to a certain extent, but without tests and exams, I would still study as hard in the road to learn and discover, but to develop a society as a whole, with many students that will only study due to the prescence of exams, they are still essential for the development of the education system everywhere on earth and tests, in whatever form, is hard to do without. Moreover, in our work life, we also have to deal with many “tests” although they are presented in a different format, the aim and the nature of the tests are still more or less the same and this will also put the student under stress and pressure to push the student to his limits, to develop his full potential.
After my visit to 3M today, I get to understand the role the base in 3M plays in the whole worldwide system and how it fits in and contributes to 3M as a whole.
I am also amazed at how much technology actually goes into making products such as the flex circuit (and I finally realized that the “thing” on the printer cartridges are actually these flex circuits and is manufactured by 3M) and Im sure that other products uses as much technology too.
Also, I have witnessed the innovative culture of 3M, using their prime location for a meeting room to solve problems and also having the operators itself to spot problems and come out with ingenious solutions to solve these problems with creative yet effective solutions (eg. The slanted top of the lockers) that never fail to amaze me.
Also, I really like the many benefits 3M gives out to deserving employees which in turn, help promote the innovative culture of 3M.
All in all, I have enjoyed this part of the learning journey tremendously but hope that the lab and plant tours could be longer next time as they were much more fun and also, informative than talks.
3M produces a wide range of products. Being driven by a unique culture that celebrates creativity, 3M is a global innovation company. 3M has thousands of products with 1 goal in mind, to make progress possible.
3M produces a wide range of products that I have used in my daily life. Post it, for example, is a very efficient tool to communicate ideas and keep notes for yourself and others.
Before researching on 3M, is impression on me is that it only produces and manufactures many items. However, after researching on 3M, my impression of it now is a company that innovates round the clock, breaking down barriers and creating the impossible, or creating something that no one has though of it before, redefining usefulness and creativity
What amazed me about 3M is not so much of the products, nor the scientific principles applied, but the culture of innovation.
3M spends1.24 billion dollars on R&D in 2005, showing how much they emphasized on innovation.
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Of course, for innovation to happen, it muct have a broad base of technology and knowledge to support it. Since 3M produces so many products, the technology and scientific concepts applied, such as putting friction to good use etc. is unimaginable.
from the above link, on how 3M uses such creative and scientific way to present its products also amazed me, I have never seen another company use such manner to present their products, and from this, we could see the culture of 3M.
Lastly, I hope to learn a lot from this learning journey, I hope to learn about the cultures of the various companies and also to earn how they operate and execute the various processes that keeps the company afloat. Also , I hope to see how the knowledge could be applied and manipulated to make life better.
Qioptiq plans, designs, develop, and produce optical systems for various sectors, such as for medical, defense, manufacturing, and industrial purposes. Before research, my opinion on Qioptiq was a company manufacturing products such as telecommunication products and high-end lasers as well as leading the R&D development of optical stuff.After researching on Qioptiq, I realized that this company develops not only the high-end products such as high powered lasers many items that I have been using or am familiar with, such as the lens in microscopes, many devices in hospitals, producing equipment in the defense sector.
I feel connected to Qioptiq after research as they make many items familiar to me and the concepts behind many of the products are familiar to me and I could understand how something taught in the classroom could be applied to synthesize useful items to save lives in hospitals, to keeping contributing to the defense sector of a country. Also, the many core values that education has inculcated in me also come into play. These values are also the core values of Qioptiq. Such as teamwork, integrity etc. is applied so as to keep a MNC such as Qioptiq functional and profitable.
What really left me in awe is the high end laser, optical solar reflectors that Qioptiq is designing and producing. They look like that they are from a star wars movie!
Also, Qioptiq offers some of the world’s leading night vision and thermal weapon aiming and target acquisition sights for a wide variety of platforms. In the age of unconventional warfare and information wars, these scopes and devices could help forces detect enemy before being detected, also, gathering important intelligence that is impossible to do without.
Also, I am amazed at how optical lenses, lasers, etc. could help save lives in the medical field. And those common equipments that are used in the hospitals need sophisticated optical parts to be functional.
Of course, there are many scientific principles to develop such amazing instruments: Physics principles of reflection, refraction, lenses, and also photovoltaic cells. Also, some biological concepts also need to be applied for field such as X-ray, and medical uses.
Some interesting project ideas that I have thought of is the exploration of gravitational lensing and its astro-cosmological uses. Also, exploring metamaterials with negative refractive indices and how it affects the behavior of light and its possible applications.
Hello! My name is Xing Liang. I am 16 years old and I love science and nature.
I love nature and the environment and am very concerned about the current state of the environment due to mankind’s exploitation in his quest to change it.
My favorite movie is three idiots, which is a comedy about learning, education, and ultimately, a person’s attitude that will get him to be who he is, to be successful.
I couldn't find a video with english subtitles. Sorry.
I strongly believe in having fun in whatever I do. The drive behind almost everything I love or do is because of joy. Simply because it is fun.
I traveled quite a bit especially to china and the many different parts of china has vastly different cultures and what amazed me about china is the way they do business. The gifts that are essential in business, the importance of personal relationships in business sometimes even overpower the interests of the company in the business deals.
Also, to a camp I went to last year, I was amazed at some things that nature creates that could never be done by man and it s also precisely what man is destroying.
Also, I urge you to take a look at this thought provoking video about the environment:
Knowing that you will have fun in doing something, it leads to passion, your 100% focus on it and success, most of the time.
Being a student, it is fun for me to discover the world, to absorb knowledge and immerse myself in the joy of learning.
Being a research student, I spent hundreds of hours in the laboratory doing lab work, although dry at certain times, it was a fun and unforgettable experience. I enjoyed every minute of it. In my latest project, my team and I are trying to find an alternative to insecticides to common pests by using plant hormones, a cheaper, more effective and environmental and human friendly alternative. This project is a project collaboration with another school on the other side of the globe, Academy of Science (AOS) Virginia, USA.
In this project, we formulated the project last October when we visited them in USA, planned our projects on parallel paths, and went on to carry out the project in the course of 1 year, we maintained contact via wikispace to discuss about the project. This August, the AOS students came over to Singapore to present the project together. This experience was a very fun one and strong friendships were forged in this collaboration. Ultimately, I had tons of fun participating in this collaborative project.
I have also been part of some other projects including Amazing X science challenge where we need to formulate and construct a prototype to explain certain science principles. It was fun and interesting to be able to have hands on in building a structure. However, the most memorable project is still the collaboration project as mentioned above because I could work with people with different backgrounds and make friends, experience different cultures, and also had a chance to attend a small science conference/lecture at Janelia farm which was an eye opener.
My team and I :D
I have many interests, such as Biology, Chemistry, economics, geopolitics, food, travelling etc. and what interests me the most is the beauty of nature and also how the world functions.
Yup! That’s me, just another curious teenager hungry for knowledge.
