Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Field Trip: CSR

Yesterday's field trip was to Central Sugars Refinery Sdn. Bhd. which is located in Batu 3, Shah Alam. It was part of the Bioprocess class activity.

Left the U at 8.30 am. Reached the factory about 9.30 am, which was earlier than scheduled. They didn't let us in. Wandered around in the nearby Shah Alam mosque. Headed back at 10.15 am. They let us in this time.

Had a short briefing by Mr. Chong. He explained to us the whole process of refining sugar from raw sugar till the end product, which is the one marketed. A short Q&A session. Mr. Chong took us to the factory. It was hot, smelly (if you hate the smell of sugar cane) and the floor was sticky. It was quite a short tour. We were glad it was over. No one was willing to stay any longer in there.

Headed back to the briefing area. It had air-con. Phew! Q&A session. Later joined by a Cik Aniza (was that her name?). She answered a few questions before distributing small packets of sample sugar. Before headed back to the U, stopped to have lunch and pray. Reached back at the U at 3.00 pm.

It was definitely an eye-opening experience. I believe not all of us have been to a factory. Even though the process of sugar refining is not a fermentation process, I believe the whole point of this trip was to show us the unit operations involved in massive manufacturing of products.

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