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IMU Pharmaceutical Chemistry Alumnus: My Memorable Experience in Tokyo, Japan

11 Feb 2019

Right after the IMU Convocation in November 2018, Liaw Pu Kang gained employment in Cosmetics Regulatory Affairs at Hairwell Sdn Bhd. The company imports hair care products, such as saloon hair dyes and shampoos from a Japan company, Arimino Co Ltd. Pu Kang relates his experience here. “My duties and responsibilities at Hairwell Sdn Bhd are mainly to ensure that the company adheres to cosmetics regulations. This includes periodically reviewing and revising the formulations and packaging of the product to ensure they fulfil the requirement of the external regulatory bodies, such as National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) in Malaysia. Other than that, I am also involved in the registration of new products once a new product is formulated or imported. One of the greatest experience for me in this company was when I was assigned by my superior to visit the headquarters of Arimino Co Ltd, which is located in Tokyo, Japan. At the same visit, I also had the opportunity to visit the manufacturing plant, Arimino Manufacturing and Labo, at Saitama Prefecture. The visit to Tokyo was from 4 – 7 December 2018. It was a visit full of notable experiences and practices that can be learnt from in order to achieve improvements. One of the practices is professionalism and punctuality, a trait that leads to high working efficiency. I am also impressed by the employees’ positive working attitude in Japan and their high confidence towards their own products. Visiting the manufacturing line of the Arimino Manufacturing and Labo was another eye-opening experience. Their manufacturing line is equipped with advanced devices using advance technologies and the infrastructures are well-organised. Other than that, the manufacturing line is computerised to enhance efficiency as well as reduce unnecessary errors. In conclusion, it was a great and memorable experience to visit Japan. The trip to Japan had reminded me of the current Dean of School of Pharmacy at IMU, Dr Mohd Zulkefeli as he often mentioned that people in Japan are punctual and disciplined and I finally witnessed what he said during this trip. I am glad and grateful because the knowledge that I learnt in the IMU Pharmaceutical Chemistry programme, especially in the Pharmaceutical Analysis and Pharmaceutics module allowed me to catch up easily in my work as well as in this trip.

I would like to suggest to all my juniors to cherish and make good use of time while studying at the university as the knowledge learnt in university will be applied at work. Other than that, professionalism is also a key to leave good impressions towards others.

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