Internship at Wyeth
hi! been pretty preoccupied the past couple of months, and this post is way way overdue but please forgive me anyway!^^
this was the narrative report I did about my training at Wyeth.
Wyeth Philippines, Incorporated Bo. Pittland, Canlubang Laguna
*Wyeth Nutrition, formerly Pfizer Nutrition, is part of Nestlé S.A. Wyeth Nutrition develops premium-quality nutritional products scientifically-designed to meet the needs of infants and young children, as well as pregnant and lactating mothers, and having my training in one of the best companies in food industry was absolutely making me one of luckiest students indeed. I am a food engineering student and doing things which are related to my chosen field are kind of fulfilling.
This OJT had given me the chance to apply the concepts and principles I acquired from school as well as the opportunity to learn new things and to have a better and deeper understanding about the possible work I’ll be having in the future as every trainee was exposed in an actual work perspective. I spent this training for 600 hours and yes, it took me more than three months to have this thing done. (2nd week of June 2013 til 1st week of October 2013^^) As a student trainee I have to be disciplined and act as a real professional like those laboratory analysts. Wyeth chemical laboratory is very advanced and equipped with the latest instruments used in performing analyses and tests with its raw materials up to its finished products before proceeding to a series of production. Some equipment must be properly maintained at certain condition and in line with this, part of my daily routine is to record the relative humidity and temperature of every room in the lab (balance room, sample receiving room, HPLC room, GC room, NMR room, etc.) I also have to check some expired reagents and endorse them right away to the lab assistant for proper disposal. Calibration of the pH meters and the balances that are being used prior to any analysis are also being checked. I was also taught how to prepare mobile phase, reagents and standards. Mobile phase and reagent preparation must all be logged and they have to be properly labelled according to its specifications and safety precautions.
Aside from those activities said earlier, I also devoted my time there learning those analyses concerning finished products and raw materials, including those macronutrients (fat, protein, carbohydrate) and micronutrients (minerals, vitamins). All these must conform on the limit given for each category to acquire best quality of the milk product. These analyses include determination of nucleotides, lutein, vitamin B1, AA and DHA which are done with the aid of High Performance/Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) technology. Determination of chloride, iodide, total fat, protein, ascorbic acid, moisture ash content in raw materials and finished product are also being analyzed. Other technologies that I was able to be acquainted during my stay in lab are gas chromatography (GC), Chloride Analyzer, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Induced Coupled Plasma and UV-Vis Spectrophotometer. For oil blends, free fatty acid content and peroxide value are determined.
Wyeth chemical laboratory uses empower software allowing every analyst to control chromatography instruments like HPLC and GC and is also used to process data, and since the lab includes complex operations/processes Laboratory Instrument Management System (LIMS) is also implied. I was able to acquire learnings about this with the help of one of the most skilled analysts in the lab (Sir Chow^^)
All the knowledge I obtained during my training at Wyeth was not just up to par but beyond compare than any other learnings I got from books and reams of photocopy.
To have spent my OJT with my friends and with those very kind laboratory analysts, supervisors and manager made it a lot easier for me and I consider this to be a very significant part of my life that is worth remembering during my college days.
*http://www.wyeth.com.ph/
P.S.
I opted not to include all the crazy moments we had (my co ojtees and lab analysts) for privacy purposes. LOL
‘til next time!^^