SQS NEWS: On October 27, 2018, a total of 43 Industrial Statistics program students and an officer, Dr. Malina Zulkifli from the School of Quantitative Sciences (SQS) has joined the industry visit to DXN Pharmaceutical Sdn Bhd. The objective of this industry visit is to expose students to the real industry situation before they undergo the practicum.

The first visit is visiting DXN farms. During the visit, Mr. Som Ded, a DXN representative, brought the students to the DXN Spirulina Preservation Project, which includes 16 algae ponds. Students have the opportunity to see and taste spirulina on their own. According to students, it feels brackish. However, according to Mr. Som Ded, it has many advantages as one of the alternative medicines for the treatment of facial and body skin.

Subsequently, he brought the students to a wood-based fertilizer manufacturing base. The specialty of this fertilizer is that, it is produced by a machine that capable of killing germs and insects in the fertilizer itself as the base ingredient for planting herbs in DXN fields. Later, students were taken to the mushroom breeding grounds, which one of the major sources in producing DXN products. There are about 150 houses for breeding mushrooms. At the breeding mushrooms house, students have the opportunity to see how mushrooms are propagated by certain processes.

At the second stage of the visit, students are brought into the manufacturing area to see for themselves the production of DXN coffee and DXN herbal packing packs. At the factory, students are informed about the processes of producing these products. Among the key feature in the processes is the DXN's carefulness in hygiene care to maintain their product quality. Once again, students are given the opportunity to taste four types of medicines produced from mushrooms and spirulina.

Finally, at the final stage of the visit, students are taken to DXN's main company located in Alor Setar. This location acts as a DXN product warehouse to facilitate DXN agents to take those products. Here, students are explained about marketing strategies used by DXN companies.

This tour is very meaningful to students as this kind of program opens their eyes on mathematical and statistical applications in real life. Through such activities students can relate the theories learned during lectures with actual applications. In addition, this tour can be seen as an environmental education activities for students as they can explore and discover the beneficial of plants to human being in many ways. 

Authors:  Nor Hidayah Abd Halil (238282) & Nor Shafiqah Mohd Zor (238122)
Pictures: Nur Ayuni Dzulkifli (238133) & Syahira Sulaiman (238444)