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DOW Chemical Industrial Visit
September 10, 2017
Chen Yixin
"This industrial visit provides very useful information about career guidance and overall, I believe it is an inspiring experience for fellow chemistry undergraduates."
- Feedback from a participant, on the usefulness of the industrial visit to DOW Chemical.
In August this year, NUS ACSSC organized an industrial visit to DOW Chemical, second-largest chemical manufacturer that specialises in providing effective chemical solutions to business partners from various industries such as agriculture, automotive and infrastructure.
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The visit first commenced with a sharing session of DOW’s various business units in a round-table setting. Several technical service and development officers from different business units introduced us their roles, functions and the significance of different business units in Singapore; packaging, elastomer, oil and gas downstream chemical solutions and microbial treatment. They also shared about what they do and the products they had come up with for their customers, starting with biocides in paints (to prolong life), durable shoe soles (made with their polymers), food packaging, and how they try to prevent growth of microorganisms through the chemicals they developed, to name a few. They also had a few samples of the products for us to see and touch.
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A manager of oil and gas downstream chemical solutions, illustrated the importance of physics and engineering in trouble shooting a chemical manufacturing site. He also shared how technical services in microbial testing can be impactful in improving product quality to withstand the environmental biodegradation.
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Next, a representative from Human Resource Department presented about their hiring processes, gave advice on developing oneself and what’s good for one’s development on career progression. The talk was followed by a short question-and-answer session such as questions on DOW's progress in sustainability and environmentally friendly materials.
Lastly, they led the participants to DOW’s labs, namely material testing lab, packaging material testing lab and microbial testing lab. The lab technicians gave an overview of the workings of the labs, and the roles of the lab staffs, which allowed the participants to briefly understand what a working life at DOW entails. They showed the participants around to see the strength testing of their plastics and a variety of household items where they developed the plastic for. The material testing lab was mainly used to test material strengths, analyze the materials and perform rigorous durability testing on them. They also shared that they look at customers’ problems and use pre-existing compounds to make formulations and materials suitable to the customers’ needs.
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Overall, we hoped that organizing such an industrial visit would provide current Chemistry undergraduates with more information on career guidance and an insight of how it is like to work in the chemical industry. Hopefully through this visit, it will help them to recognize possible career options after graduation and choose their career path with greater ease. Once again, we would like to thank all participants for taking time to join this industrial visit and we hope to see more of you in the coming years!