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IBM 2016
BY LAURENSIA ANJANI
REVIEWED BY CAMILLE MAU
Wednesday, 5th October 2016 was unlike any ordinary Wednesday for the seventeen of us. After having our patience tested during the Distillation experiment in the morning, we excitedly rushed back to change out for our trip to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)! As instructed, all of us gathered at Crescent lobby at 12.50pm, right before the bus entered the lobby. Off we go!
The bus was relatively empty and some of us comfortably took up two seats for ourselves. The sedating coldness of the air conditioner easily brought some of us to dreamland, while Neilson livened up the mood by blasting Dessert, Lush Life and Cold Water from the backseat of the bus. Half an hour later, we arrived in front of the IBM Manufacturing Solutions building, where we took a group picture before entering the main building.
As we walked into the lobby, a welcome message dedicated to us was displayed on one of the TV screens. We could not resist the idea of taking a picture with it!
After registration, Ms Crystal Lam, the person-in-charge of our company visit, warmly welcomed us and took us to the third floor. The common space was spacious and cosy, with brightly coloured couches and numerous photos and posters decorating the walls. She led us into a big meeting room with a long glass table in the middle surrounded by many leather swivel chairs. They were enough to cause a stir of excitement among us, who have rarely seen a company’s meeting room, if at all.
Ms Lam started the program by first presenting an overview of IBM. IBM is headquartered in New York with operations in over 170 countries. In Singapore, there are three IBM operations located at Tampines Industrial Ave, Changi Business Park Central and Marina Bay Financial Centre respectively. She then played a video showing how IBM has progressed from developing tabulating machines, to programming, and finally to developing cognitive computing. The latter resulted in the creation of IBM Watson, which is a technology platform that uses natural language processing and machine learning to analyse big data. This platform is indeed valuable for many businesses and industries, such as in retail, gaming, finance, and telemarketing.
A representative from the Human Resource (HR) department then continued the presentation. He talked about IBM’s 1-3-9, which refers to its One Purpose, Three Values and Nine Practices framework. He elaborated on IBM’s mission to attract, retain, and engage global and diverse talents through the different strategies IBM employs. One of them is called ENgagement, which comprises of ENcourage, ENable, ENjoy, ENrich and ENergize. Moreover, he touched on the topic of internship opportunities in IBM. There are two types of internship opportunities, the first being a professional internship for local and overseas university undergraduates, whereby the student will be assigned to a department and guided by a supervisor, while the other is a project-based internship, whereby the student is assigned to do a specific project, such as analysing data on social media like Twitter or Facebook. To our surprise, he is an NTU alumni from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering! He shared with us his valuable internship experience at IBM and how he has learnt and grown from working in the HR department. I am sure some of us were inspired by his stories and are considering doing an internship at IBM in the future.
Now, the fun part: the Mainframe Plant and the Power Plant tours!
We were greeted by Mr Ryan, who led us through the Mainframe Plant. The moment we stepped into the plant, we were amazed at how big the whole area was. The area was dominated with white, from the ceiling to the walls and floor. It was also relatively empty, save for the rows of machines and steel racks, as well as the people who were diligently working in front of their desktops. Mr Ryan guided us to the Frame Assembly Area before going to the storeroom where all the inventories ordered by customers were kept for ship loading. Moreover, he explained IBM’s move towards a more environmentally-friendly approach by replacing the cooling refrigerant system that uses CFCs with the water-cooling system for the Mainframe fulfilment test. For the latter system, antioxidants and additives were pumped into the water to minimise corrosion. After undergoing the build frame test, the Mainframe would also be required to undergo a high potential (HIPOT) test, as well as a visual inspection test before being sent to the drain station. At the drain station, nitrogen gas would be pumped into the Mainframe to remove moisture and avoid any freezing of water, as the Mainframe would be airfreighted. It was indeed a fascinating tour around the Mainframe Plant and we gained a lot of new information regarding the assembly of the Mainframe and its testing procedure.
Our second tour around the Power Plant was led by Mr Seah. He started the tour by explaining that the Dropzone Area was where the raw materials were assembled before they were distributed to the different areas. Then, he introduced us to an IBM team whose job was to release customers’ orders, before guiding us to the Build Area. In this area, there were many stations with a computer terminal each, used to assemble and build the Power Systems which are utilised for data processing and storage. Where the Mainframe was tested using a water-cooling system, the Power Systems were tested using an air-cooling system. They were also required to undergo the same HIPOT test as part of the safety test requirements. Towards the end of the tour, one of us asked a question regarding the reason why IBM did not automate its production. Mr Seah’s answer was that automation was not preferred because each customer had different requests for the configuration of the systems. As such, every machine needed to be customised and programmed differently, which makes automation impossible. That wrapped up the second tour, and we then went back to the meeting room for the closure of the tour.
Time indeed flew by while we were immersed in the tours, absorbing new information from the friendly guides, and admiring the sights of one of the biggest manufacturing plants in Singapore. Finally, it was time for us to say goodbye to Ms Lam and her IBM team. This visit was an eye opener for all of us. Hopefully, the visit inspired everyone to consider a career in the manufacturing industry, and allowed us to also reflect on the kind of working environment that we seek for our future careers. It was indeed a fruitful and meaningful way to end our Wednesday, and we want to thank the Outreach Team for giving us the opportunity to visit IBM!