Singapore Chemical Industry Council (SCIC) organised a tour in Jurong Island for students from Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) on 29 Jan 2022, supported by Arlanxeo and Jurong Town Corporation (JTC). The tour was conducted with the objective to broaden student knowledge on the various operational processes in the chemical industry and the history of the developments in Jurong Island, the chemical hub of Singapore. A total of 9 IHLs participated in the tour, with each institution sending 2 student leaders to gather information to be shared with their peers.
The students commenced their tour with a briefing from the staff of ARLANXEO, which was initiated by Mr Saravanan Sinnasamy, who elaborated on the safety procedures in the chemical plant, including Covid safety measures. Mr Andy Distelmans, the site manager, then took over the briefing, introducing ARLANXEO’s profile to the students. Ms Helen Chan, the HR manager then followed up with her presentation on the vast array of jobs available in ARLANXEO and the possible career progressions. Ms Sheryl Lum, the process safety specialist wrapped up the presentation by breaking up the students into various groups and assigning group leaders who were staff of ARLANXEO to facilitate the students’ visit to ARLANXEO’S Butyl Rubber plant.
The plant visit by students consisted of 4 primary locations in ARLANXEO’s Butyl Rubber plant, guided by the assigned group leaders. Students visited the “Finishing Permit Room and Packaging area”, where they learned about the process of packaging rubber into crates. The students were also introduced to the “Maintenance Workshop & Electrical and Instrumentation (E&I)”, where they garnered knowledge on maintanence of plant instruments and transition of the instruments to digital technology. The participants of the tour also visited the Quality Control (QC) Laboratory where they learned about the purpose of the lab in ensuring smooth operations in the plant and lastly the plant control room, where technicians monitor the operational processes in the plant through computers and the day-to-day job routine of a technician could be observed.
SCIC acknowledges the guidance of the following staff from ARLANXEO during the plant visit:
Mr Yusri Majid, the Finishing Quality Team Lead
Mr Seenivasagan Govindaraj, the Maintenance Execution Manager
Mr Shamsudin, the Maintenance Execution Supervisor
Mr Munir Samsudin, theQC lab supervisor
Mr Jufri Majid, the Shift Supervisor
After the visit to the 4 primary locations in Arlanxeo’s chemical plant, the students then moved on to continue their tour in Chem Gallery of Jurong Island, which was guided by Ms Tong Vivienne and Ms Zhang Yuexing from Jurong Town Council (JTC). The Chem Gallery consisted of various video showings and other digital information which detailed the history and developments in Jurong Island to the participants of the tour.
The tour in Jurong Island allowed the students from various IHLs to gather fresh information about the operations in the chemical industry, the diverse range of careers and the progression that the industry offers to graduates. SCIC is grateful for the collaboration with ARLANXEO and JTC and looks forward to work with Chemical companies and government agencies for similar engagements with students in the future.
