Brief Biography
He graduated from Universiti Malaya with a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering. Before graduation, he completed his internship in Top Glove Corporation Berhad in 2016 as a Research and Development Industrial Trainee. He started his career in ExxonMobil Research and Engineering as a Process Monitoring and Analysis Engineer in 2017, contributed to various engineering studies, which resulted in margin improvement from increased yields and energy efficiency. Currently, he is working as an Alkylation Process Engineer, leading engineering benchmarking studies to identify margin improvement opportunities across units via improvement on advanced control applications.
Personal experience when stepping into a career
ExxonMobil provides many pieces of training for fresh graduates to adapt to the company. Although the pressure of working is still high despite the training given, as the company is filled with people with extraordinary capabilities, the competitiveness will prompt one to work harder and become a better self.
For a country to grow, we need a strong industry;
For an investor to be attracted, we need solid graduates;
For sustainable national growth, we need well-developed industries.
The graduate engineer must know about the optimization of the industry for the industry to be at its peak.
Tip 1: You can expect a starting salary of RM3000 - RM4000 on average as a fresh graduate.
Brief Biography
My name is Beng Leong. I studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Malaya. After graduation, I briefly worked as a sales engineer, specializing in the plastics industry. Then, I moved to Nestlé and worked as an industrial engineer for around 2.5 years before moving to the engineering department in the breakfast cereals plant as a plant engineer for more than 3 years. In this role, I manage a team of engineers and technicians to execute timely preventive maintenance, and implement improvement projects under CAPEX.
Mr. Toh Beng Leong
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Are there any training or workshops available to assist the transition from the fresh graduate to work-life?
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Is there any potential job or position available for the chemical engineer in your company?
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In your opinion, would the engineers be replaced by AI in the manufacturing and processing industry?
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This is your Project description. Provide a brief summary that will help visitors understand your work.
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Possibility for the engineers to be replaced in the future
Despite the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence in the industry, the role of engineering in monitoring these systems is still irreplaceable.
Moreover, the demand for resources will escalate following the world population growth, more industries will have to be developed for catering to the increasing demands, this is where engineers will be needed, and thus the role of an engineer will remain significant in the industries.
Personal Advice for the undergraduates and the youngsters
As a university student, it is important to be well-balanced between study life and co-curricular life for one to be well equipped with social skills and knowledge.
The need for pursuing further education (Master’s degree or Ph.D.) depends on one's perspective. One might find that a bachelor’s degree is insufficient for a better career, and one might find that working experiences are more crucial in developing career skills.
Tip 2: The knowledge learned during a bachelor’s degree will serve as the crucial fundamentals during a career. It would be significant to have strong fundamentals before stepping into a career.
Brief Biography
An engineer who steps into the engineering field for 5 years across the water treatment industry and pharmaceutical industry. In the beginning of my career, I worked as a planning engineer involved in project cost estimation and process system design especially for water treatment in power plants. In the meantime, I have changed my path to the pharmaceutical industry as a process engineer. I have been involved in process and utilities engineering design for Oral Solid Dose Facility, Sterile Manufacturing Facility and Vaccine Manufacturing Facility. Engineering route is tough but it will not stop me to achieve my ultimate goal – a well- rounded female engineer.
From your previous and current work experiences, what are the job scopes, roles, and responsibilities as an Engineer?
Costing engineer
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Project cost estimation
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Ask for a quotation from the vendor
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Identify technical specifications that meet the requirement
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Check proposal
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Calculate the costing, pricing of the project
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Bid for the project.
Planning engineer
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More towards the technical side, involve process design, read technical specifications from clients, identify suitable water treatment, may require some technical documentation, such as the requirement list, P&ID (with AUTOCAD)
Process engineer
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Involved in the pharmaceutical industry, process, and utility engineering design for a pharmaceutical plant. After we get a project, submit a flow diagram, prepare a general arrangement for equipment for the layout, prepare user requirement specification, which is the documentation for the validation in the pharmaceutical industry
How much does the job scope of an actual Engineer relate to university life and education?
The past job relates more to the fluid mechanic, by calculating pump head, friction factor, and the pressure drop. (water industry)
The current job covers a variety of knowledge, revising on heat transfer, heat calculation, thermodynamics if distillation is involved, more revisions depending on the task.
Is there any training or workshop conducted to assist the transition of fresh graduates to the actual work life?
It depends on the job, my job is more towards process engineering design, requires communication and soft skills, and is more focused on Autocad.
If you want to be involved in these fields, learn Autocad from YouTube. Excel will be the main software for calculation. Always use your spare time in mastering Excel.
Is it hard for a fresh graduate to look for a job in the engineering field nowadays?
Depending on what you want to involve,
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Some prefer working in a manufacturing plant, in charge of production.
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Some will engage in the project, construction site.
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Some prefer sitting in an office, doing engineering work design.
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The chance is there, but up to your preference.
The importance of further studies after a bachelor's degree
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Depending on your choice,
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Master's, and Ph.D. if involved in an academic career
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Stop at the bachelor's degree and collect working experiences for the one preferring to engage in work field after studies
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For research-based on manufacturing plant
Pieces of advice for engineering undergraduates
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Master some soft skills during undergraduate life
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Required in presentation
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Never stop learning after graduating.
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Engineers at work face distinct problems in everyday work.
