Manufacturing and Value Creation Seminar II in Thailand

Activity report

The eight second-year students visited the Chulalongkorn University, a partner university of Shinshu University, for the "Manufacturing and Value Creation Seminar II" from August 1 to 8, 2015. We had workshops on student research presentations, and then an overview of academic and research activities at each university. During Student Research Presentation, they could have active discussions. After that, we had Cultural Workshops for 2 days, where we visited Grand Palace, Nitasrattanakosin Exhibition, Summer Palace, and Bang Sai Royal Folk Arts and Crafts Centre. 

For second-year students, it was the second workshop in another country. Staying at the international house during work shop and spending free time with students allowed them to make strong friendships. The experience last year at Leeds University also made them grow up in the point of view of having conversations, they could finally have nice conversations with many students. Thanks to warm hospitality of Professors and students, they could develop good relationships each other. They could learn a lot from their hospitality based on the Buddhism.

In TOKAI Dying Thai, we learned manufacturing process, the technique, and fine facilities. We do appreciate that they answered and explained each question from our students very politely. Through the discussion, they were impressed by their global activities. In addition, their attitude toward original manufacturing that we observed in the company we visited, had a deep impact on us.

Since it has been hot in Japan, we were surprised that it was cooler and more comfortable in Thailand. We were pleased that we had come to Thailand at last, even though there was heavy traffic jam in Bangkok.
 I realized we were very lucky to share the time with our hosts because they were really kind to us when we were talking in the bus during the workshop and it seemed as if we were from the same county. Thanks to them, we could experience a great time in Thailand. I heard that students had supper together and visited their lab contacting each other in their free time. Their faces told us they had a good time with students at Churalongkorn University. We do hope that this relationships will continue in the future.






Student's Report----------------------------------------------
Ms. Chuan Yin

1.Purpose of participation
More and more Japanese companies have moved their manufacturing factories into Southeast Asian countries in recent decades. Thailand plays one of the most significant role among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). We joined this study camp in Thailand in order to get a deeper understanding of how the Japanese factories run in Southeast countries and the cultural background of Thailand. Also global communication skills and fluency in English are also what we would like to obtain from this one-week study camp.

2.Issues identified as a result of participation
①Workshop
On August 3rd, we arrived at Chulalongkorn University. At first, we had two opening remarks given by Prof. Somsak and Prof. Tamada. Then, a student from Chulalongkorn University introduced the academic and research activities at department of materials science in CU. He gave the presentation in 10 minutes and gave us a deep impression of Thai students. After that, it was our turn to introduce Shinshu University to the all. I felt quite nervous because I was wondering whether we should finish this in 10 minutes. Thanks to all the members, we have given a successful introduction of Shinshu University.
After the long time stay in the classroom, we were taken a walk in the campus. First, we visited the oldest traditional architecture of this campus. It's a beautiful temple for the students to pray every day. Unfortunately, maybe I was so incompatible with this beautiful architecture that I hit my head on the lintel and felt dizzy at once. I got better after 2 days.
Then we were provided with plenty of delicious Thai food as lunch. Since I love spicy food, I fell in love with Thai food at the first sight. Also, delicious drinks in this hot summer helped me eat a lot as my lunch.
In the afternoon, we presented our own research in 7 minutes for each. All of our leading program members are from different department and different courses, our research varies in different fields. But all the Thai students are from the polymer or material science, in another word, they are chemistry students. I was impressed by their presentations and their work. All of them could present their work in a clear way and in well-prepared English.
Finally, in the evening, we had the cultural performance section. Our Chinese group performed a famous song of Teresa Teng. But it was a pity that all of us are not good singers. At last, a Thai professor who knew this song very well came to us and sang it together to help us find the correct melody. It was a nice day and I was also impressed by the pretty Thai dance which was performed by 2 girls.

②Cultural tour
On August 4th and 5th, we had 2days cultural tour with Thai students.
We went to the Grand Palace and the history museum in Bangkok and visited the famous summer palace and floating market in Ayuthaya. I was surprised that most Thai people can speak Chinese, especially the professors are better than me in Chinese. They can speak at least 2 types of Chinese while I can only speak mandarin. I learned that almost all the Thai people believe in Buddha. And all the palace and temples are built for the king and Buddha.
It is a special view in Thailand that there are the photos of the king, the queen or the princess everywhere, even in the factories. They say long live the king to celebrate their holidays.
During the 2 days, I was sweating from the dawn to the midnight. It was really hot in Thailand but the students told it was not the hottest day of the year. I respected all the workers in the craft center for their hard work in such hot weather.

③Factory tour
On Aug 6th, we went to Tokai Dyeing Co., (Thailand) LTD. I was majored in light chemistry engineering course(which means dyeing) when I was a bachelor student. So I am always excited to visit any dyeing factories. In this factory, we saw the pretreatment process, printing process and finishing process. All of the machines are from Japan, and all the employees are well trained.
Though I have ever been to many different factories in Japan, I love to visit dyeing factories most.

3.Results of participation
①Workshop
The workshop section gave us a great opportunity to practice our English and presentation skills. What I learned from Thai students were that they were pretty familiar with their experiments. Unlike me, they can easily remember the solution or the chemicals they used in their research. I should pay more attention to these details.
Besides that, there were 2 topics I was pretty interested in. One is the effect of pH on color transition of polydiacetylene/zinc oxide nanocomposites, and the other one is production and application of multi-enzymes for scouring of pineapple leaf fiber and for preparation of microcrystalline cellulose. Thailand is a tropical country with abundant pineapple resource. My research is about cellulose nanofibers, and I'm working on another project on kenaf. That means cellulose fibers are the main topic of my 2015. I think that making the full use of pineapple leaves are the best way of recycling pineapples. Be professional in academic research means thinking in a different way. I really appreciate that they connected their research with the special climate and resource.

②Cultural tour
In this 2 days cultural tour, I made friends with many Thai students and keep in touch with them till now. All of them are quite warm-hearted and considerate. They also took me to a lot of famous sightseeing spots every night and I tried Tuktuk for the first time of my life. I think Thailand is a magic and fantastic country for the freedom of people to choose their love and their gender. I also made friends with 3 new half students from Chulalongkorn University. They are so brave to follow their heart and ignore the judgement.
Besides that, I found Thailand a charming country with awesome food and historic architectures.

③Factory tour
What I learned from Tokai is the professional attitude for products and customers. Since this is a dyeing factory, the temperature in the workshop must be over 40 degree. But everyone was still working hard, checking the machines and the fabrics.
I think the most interesting thing I saw in this factory was the machine which can make different cylinder screens for textile printing. This was really a significant technology which can make more benefit for the company.

4. How will you apply what you learned to your research?
This is the first time I have been to Thailand. I think I have the confidence that if I enter a Japanese company after my graduation, and then they send me to Thailand for my internship or study, I would be happy to accept that because of the food and friends. Also, I will spare no effort to get more global communication skills and improve my English.

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