“A career in research or operations?” If this is one question that is bothering you, then why not use the industrial attachment to find out the answer? That was exactly what I did with Shell. The industrial attachment package offered by Shell is one of the best available for students. Mine consisted of a 14-week stay at the Shell refinery on Pulau Bukom and a further 10-week attachment to Shell Research and Technology Centre, Amsterdam. Not only did I discover the differences between Research and Operations, but I could also experience and compare the different work cultures of Singapore and Amsterdam. What more can you ask?

In Singapore, I was attached to the maintenance department. There, I was introduced to a mechanism that facilitates oil transfer from the refinery to tankers. Kinks were developing in the hoses, and previous projects reviewing the system were based on physical models, and enjoyed limited success.

I decided to use a different approach and ended up sweating over a mathematical model with 80 equations and 80 unknowns. After spending many days worrying, coupled with some sleepless nights, I came up with recommendations which I presented in a discussion session. It was a session with non-stop bombardment from all angles by a group of engineers and managers with a total of more than 100 years of working experience between them. They were challenging my mathematical approach of the study and were questioning the viability of my recommendations. It was a stressful hour but to be frank, I enjoyed the session tremendously. After convincing them of the viability of my study, my idea was adopted. To my great satisfaction, no kinks had occurred after 5 months of the implementation of my idea. The previous average was the occurrence of 7 kinks a year and this surely showed an improvement in the hose system. It was a very successful study indeed.

Project aside, I was also introduced to many aspects of the refinery: economics of oil transfer, different kinds of maintenance work, functions of the various structures and equipment, etc. There was just so much that I could learn, and the engineers and technicians were very patient in answering my endless questions. They also brought me on several tours of the refinery which enabled me to enhance my knowledge in the field of mechanical engineering as I could see the many theories I learnt in school being applied. There were also many occasions when things that had been learnt had a new dimension because they were formerly only incomprehensible theories in a book.

My project in Amsterdam was to review a mathematical model for dehydration, which is the process of removing water from crude oil. At present, there is no reliable theory that describes the oil/water separation process completely and it was hoped that this new mathematical model would be able to bridge the gap. This knowledge would be extremely valuable as it could be used for the process of optimization.

The review of the model was not an easy task. Fundamental knowledge had to be read up and pages and pages of source codes looked into. It was extremely taxing, especially with the limited time. Nonetheless, I totally enjoyed the challenge and managed to complete the major part of the project before leaving. I was assured by my supervisors that they had set very ambitious targets and I had achieved more than what they had hoped for. Whew! What a relief!

The people in Amsterdam were extremely warm and friendly. For a start, almost everybody spoke English so I had no problems with communication. Many of the staff in the research centre shared their work experiences with me. They also gave me lots of advice on my choice of career and the many aspects of life. I learnt to see things from a different perspective. One of my supervisors took it upon himself to ensure my well being in Amsterdam, and went out of his way to make me feel comfortable. He also invited me to his house for dinner and gave me an AJAX jersey as a souvenir.

There were many other students working in Shell. Several of them introduced me to the Dutch way of life and we had many great hours discussing soccer and the World Cup. I was supporting Holland for the World Cup and they came in fourth. Not a bad choice after all. We also had a fun time shopping on Queen’s Day, which was when anybody could sell anything on the streets. Brand new bags were going for S$1 and souvenirs were selling at 10% of their normal price.  The atmosphere was unbelievable!

Work aside, an attachment overseas also includes travelling and discovering the places of interest, which I did with distinction. In the 10 short weeks I was in Amsterdam, I took the opportunity to visit Berlin, Munich and Cologne. I also went to several towns in Belgium and Luxembourg. As for the Netherlands, I was practically moving around the whole country when I was there.

One of the most remarkable places I visited was the Delta Expo. In the greatest flood disaster of the country’s history in 1953, the sea level rose up to 5 metres, covering 200,000 hectares of farmland, towns and villages, killing 1,835 people, 200,000 livestock and leaving 72,000 more without homes,  and damaging 47,000 buildings. At the exhibition, I learnt about the construction of dams and storm surge barriers along the coast of southern Netherlands. It was an unbelievable piece of engineering work. You have to see it to believe it.

Finally, to all you engineering students out there wondering if you should take up the challenge offered by Shell, I suggest that you jump right in. For me, the attachment has opened my eyes to different aspects of working life.  Research or Operations? I now have a better idea of what I want in my career, but am keeping it a secret.......