I was very honoured to be taken into a chemical plant. I have never set foot in one before and mostly observed their actions behind the TV screen. It was truly an eye-opening experience and I really marvel at the engineering that went behind in creating such an amazing organisation. Til now, I still rememeber clearly how GSK operates because I was more interested in huge plants like that but never had a chance to visit them.
So I was given a simple introduction to their life-changing (Literally) flagship product. I was really impressed by their innovation. Even though they had already have their aerosol inhaler used for asthma, they still went on to innovate new products such as the disk which serves a very important purpose. Also, when they introduced us to the myraid of products to us, I was really surprised that even health liquid nutrition such as ribena is made by them. This gives me a whole new inside to what GSK do. Personally, I believe that these are more of aquisitions then actually pinoeering new products. Nonetheless, it is very crucial for a company to expand their range by investing in new products that might not be in their field.
The factory tour showed me that there was a lot of planning, a lot of considerations that went behind the contruction of the buildings and the placement of equipment. Even though it is simple logic to arrange the equipment (the starting at the top and the end of the product at the bottom of the buildnig) according, I was somewhat amused by the use of a simple law. Gravity. They made sure that no extra energy was used for the transportation of the product and I marvel at this simple fact. Going in, the mixing of chemicals, filtering process, the crystalisation process as well as the purification process is literally going from the 4th floor down to the 1st floor. I also noticed that everything in the room was made of metal. This was another smart move by GSK such that microbial effect would not be significant as those items made of stainless steel would be easily sterilized. Also, they are less prone to rusting and thus they do not have to be replaced or maintained. The gears and the huge barrels and pots are really interesting as they look excetly like those on Discovery Channel! I really appreciate the people taking their time off and entertaining us. What I would like to see is the small scale experiments that happen behind the scene. What a chemist actually do. That would add value to the trip since it is able to portray chemistry in an interesting light.
Things that can be applied in school
Chemistry is the most important concept. I believe that even the simple concept of reacting two chemicals together is ultiised. Of cause this is a very important step to make sure of the safety. For example, flammable gas such as hydrogen may be produced in a reactiona and thus the theory we learn in school is able to calculate the amount of gas and decide if that amount of gas produced is actually significant enough to cause trouble.
Overall, I feel that GSK had the deepest influence on me as compared to other. It produces products that saves life and despite being a profit-making enterprise, I believe that they would help the world if need be with their research and developments.
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