REFLECTION ON INDUSTRIAL TRAINING AT TAMASEK GROUP SDN BHD
I'd like to thank Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for providing me with the opportunity to gain industrial experience before finishing my studies. My internship began on the 2nd of August 2021 and ended on the 22nd of October 2021, and I was chosen to be an intern at Tamasek Group Sdn Bhd. This Internship program has been such a growing experience for me. I’ve learned the value of both transactional experiences alongside relational experiences. I’ve learned how universal a lot of my beliefs are. Not everyone believes in what I do, but it’s universally known that you work harder when you have a goal that you yearn for. All lessons I’ve learned here at Tamasek Group Sdn Bhd in Pontian, Johor can and will be used in all of my future challenges, and I’m so blessed to have reached these conclusions so early in my life because there are some adults still working on it.
My Internship at the Tamasek Group Sdn Bhd in Pontian, Johor in Department Chemical Laboratory has significantly improved my knowledge of the workings of the scientific and technological worlds and left me with skills that will be useful throughout my career. The products Tamasek is Metal Plating and Plastic Plating. For Metal Plating, there is 4 line which is steel line, bc/spoke line, brass line, and barrel line. For Plastic Plating, there is only one line. The process that has in the Metal Plating is soaking clean, anodic, cathodic, acid dip, nickel strike, bright nickel, bright nickel 2, bright chrome, passivation, bright acid copper, black chrome, and nickel tin. This year, I had my first experience truly working in a laboratory on consistent analysis. Thus, I had to learn to plan ahead, work accurately, and react to the results. This process included the research necessary to begin laboratory work, which taught me about several analyses used within the scientific world when searching for articles and results of past records. This job was taught me how I must become an accurate person because a few analyses must be done correctly to get a good result.
FIGURE 1 THE PICTURE OF ACTIVITY DURING THE INTERNSHIP AT TAMASEK
For example, every morning I must go to the production to get the sample to do the analysis. All chemical has own parameter to measure it. One of the examples for steel lines, has 9 processes to do the analysis which are soaked clean, anodic, cathodic, anodic, acid dip, semi-bright, bright nickel 1, bright nickel 2, and bright chrome. For analysis of the process of acid dip, take a 5mL sample and 100mL of distilled water into the conical flask. Then, put 5-8 drops of methyl orange indicator and titrate with 1.0 N NaOH until the color changes to yellowish. The equipment that I was used are pipette 2mL, 5mL, 10 mL, suction, conical flask, volumetric flask and etc. In addition, the laboratory process involved developing the ability to effectively and accurately communicate results and react with them.
In conclusion, the internship was a useful experience. I have found out what my strengths and weaknesses are; I gained new knowledge and skills and met many new people. I achieved many of my learning goals, however, for some the conditions did not permit me to achieve them as I wanted. At last, this internship has given me new insights and motivation to pursue a career in ecological research abroad. To prepare me for my future career I can improve several things. I can work on my communication skills so that I am able to present and express myself more confidently. I could perform certain tasks in research better if I have more experience in the research methodologies applied in cetacean studies
Last but not least, the most important is during this internship was taught me how to manage time properly when we doing our work. Do not trouble the other workers to do work that is assigned to us. Perhaps most importantly, I experienced what might be called scientific failure at Tamasek, when my work in the lab did not quite progress as planned. Though I think it is very important to learn to deal with scientific failure, learning to react positively to any sort of failure is a skill useful in any career and life in general. I was thankful to all workers in Tamasek Group Sdn Bhd for taking me as an intern for 3 months and treating me so nicely. I really enjoyed it when I’m doing my work and my laboratory mate was so cheerful and supportive friends. Thank you.
In this section, I reflect on the Internship. Regarding my learning goals I shortly discuss my experiences; if I have achieved my goal, whether I experienced difficulties, and what I think I have to improve.
Learning goals
- Enhancing communication skills
More than I had expected I experienced language difficulties. I thought that I could communicate well in English and with my basics. Therefore, I was reserved in communication at the beginning, but in months it went better. My stay has contributed to my communication skills, but I would like to pay more attention to them in the future. I can come across as reserved and uncertain. To contribute more to projects and to progress faster, I want to learn to make a more confident impression and to express my ideas and opinions more certain.
- The use of skills and knowledge gained in the university
It is difficult to say what skills and knowledge gained in my study I could put into practice in my internship. I can think of the use of the experience from my thesis (about the low strength of domestic wastewater) for plating production. In the chemical process courses that I have taken I learned about chemical concepts and doing chemistry research in general; I was taught some basics on data collection, data processing, and setting up research projects. This is reasonable and I have seen that within research projects you acquire the skills and knowledge needed.
- Skills and knowledge that might be improved to work in a professional environment
Although we learn and develop the necessary skills and knowledge while working in an organization, there are several things that I could improve already. I did not have totally clear what activities I could have done to reach my learning goals. Therefore, during my stay, I had some difficulties determining tasks that I could carry out. In advance of my internship, I talked with the organization about the project in which I could participate, however clear agreements on my activities were not made. A more assertive attitude from my side could have helped.