At first, I didn't know a single time about 3M at all but after I visited 3M, I had a clearer picture of what's 3M this company is all about. Through this journey, I learnt about how 3M operate as a whole generally and the variety of products that they manufacture which can be mainly divided into 3 main sectors: abrasive, adhesive and tape. Out of these 3 sectors, the 2 products that interest me the most are the Computer, Smart Phone, iPad™ Privacy & Natural View Screen Protectors and the Fingerprint Identification System, Biometric Capture Devices, Mobile Identification System. The privacy screen protector protect my iPhone from wandering eyes especially on the buses and trains, scratches and smudges. I personally am using this type of screen protector as I hate it when people in the buses or trains sitting next to me keep staring at my screen!!! Hence, I am interested in how does this screen protector came about as it really helped me prevent eyes from staring onto my screen!!! (:
How do they do it?
Next will be the Fingerprint Identification System, Biometric Capture Devices, Mobile Identification System as I always wondered how do these systems capture one's fingerprint and remember it so that other fingerprints will not be granted access entry.There are 3 different types of commercial security systems that 3M provides:
- Cogent's mobile handheld devices create unimodal or multimodal biometric records (fingerprint, facial, and/or iris images) and transmit them wirelessly to a central AFIS. Each device can also process fingerprint-based identity checks against an onboard target database.
- 3M Cogent’s BioTrust® biometric logon software is a fast, easy, and secure way to replace your Windows®computer logon. Your face or fingerprint replaces the traditional username and password logon. Just sit down in front of your computer or swipe your finger across the fingerprint sensor and BioTrust will do the rest. Lighting conditions, such as side lighting, backlit areas, low ambient lighting, or lighting from the LCD screen itself are not an issue with 3M Cogent’s advanced facial matching algorithm. All you need is a web camera or a fingerprint sensor.
- The SA-4ii, Cogent’s latest fingerprint OEM module, features a state-of-the-art DSP processor providing increased performance and power efficiency. Designed specifically for OEM devices that require highly secure biometric authentication and identification (time and attendance or access control) the SA-4ii OEM module is 100% backwards compatible with the previous generation of SA-4 OEM modules.
Qioptiq
"Qioptiq, hmm what in the world is that company???" That was the first thing I thought of when I first heard this company name. And I can't even pronounce correctly at first!!!* After researching and paying a visit to Qioptiq, I finally understood what this company specialises in. I was amazed by the number of branches Qioptiq has! Next, as my physics is the weakest out of 3 sciences, I did not really like physics at first, but after I visited Qioptiq, seeing how they deal with lenses, etc, I kind of have a bit more interest in physics as I am interested to find out how they make, combine lenses and how they manage to ensure the light rays are shone to the place they wanted. Qioptiq products give me the impression of sophisticated and precise. Another interesting knowledge I learnt is diamond turning. Mr Ronian also said that one of the unique thing that Qioptiq does is diamond turning. Hence, I did a little research on it. Diamond turning is a type of precision machining with tools that has diamond-tipped tool bits, mainly used to manufacture aspheric lens from materials such as crystal and acrylic. It is only with diamond turning that we can have proper camera lens in our cameras, etc.
Qioptiq has something that is similar to most schools, which is having bell rings! Each time the bell ring signifies break time for the workers, this will allow them to have a break among their rigorous schedule so that they can replenish their energy and fill up their tummy! It is also a good time for the employees to chat with each other which is also a way to enhance working relationship.
In the future, I would like to share with my descendents is that results are indeed important but they are not everything. Yes, we should study hard and place grades at the top priority as students. However, we should not neglect other aspects of our growth like character development. Besides studying and studying, we should also spend more time to inculcate the right values and develop a student holistically. And of course, a student should also pursue their own interest as only with the passion in it, then they will succeed.
GSK
From this visit to GSK, I have learnt that the definition of sustainability is the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance so as to allow our future generations to be able to use them. Current methods of sustainability includes creating new devices through innovation & invention which uses environmentally-friendly products, uses less electricity, reduction of carbon emission, etc. An example will be GSK. GSK aims to be carbon neutral, ZERO CARBON EMISSIONS, by 2050. This is a great challenge to them especially when their factories are chemical-based.
I feel that GSK can tackle this problem using the 3Rs approach.
- Reduce. GSK can reduce the amount of raw materials used as raw materials produce the most carbon emission. Instead, they can be innovative and come up with new products or use existing products to replace raw materials in one way or another.
- Reuse. GSK might be able to reuse the waste produced. E.g. the waste produced by this machine can be used for another purpose in another machine. In this way, waste is being reused and of course, carbon emissions will be reduced as instead of having e.g. 20kg of waste, we now only have 10kg.
- Recycle. Lastly, GSK can recycle the waste or carbon produced. They can recycle the waste or carbon to produce into other materials. Then, GSK will have new products which are being made from recylced materials and hence, there is no need for new raw materials, thus, reducing carbon emissions.
Makino
Makino was the last company we visited. It focuses on precision engineering. From this trip, I mainly discovered two interesting points about Makino regarding precision engineering. Firstly, Makino is very organised. They have different parts of the factories catered to the making or maintanence of different machine parts after which they will put these parts together to form the final product --- a machine. All the workers there are very knowledgeable with their own aspect of work. They are able to answer all our questions, sometime giving us extra information! I feel that the company has been effective in training their staff in this area. Secondly, Makino focuses on precision engineering as I said above. And, when I say precision engineering, it really is very precise!!! Even a tiny measurement like 5 microns which is 0.005mm will affect the productivity of a machine. Hence, they have to be very precise and accurate, with no erros or mistakes tolerated. They also have to consider all the factors that will affect the accurate measurement of the machinery.Therefore, it is a very demanding and tedious job.
Precision engineering helps manufactures machines and sell to industries which in turn uses these machines to manufactures our daily products which we use today, e.g. the metal casing of the iPhone by the side. Without precision engineering, we will not be able to manufacture machines that can help us mankind to manufacture such small accurate metal parts which cannot be done by hand.
We can do a further research on what is needed to manufacture such machines and how do these machines actually be able to be so precise and accurate.
