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Message from Yearbook Chair

It is my pleasure to be the Yearbook Chair for the 16th issue of the

ASME Singapore Section Yearbook. In this issue, we have provided
a summary of the activities organised by ASME Singapore Section
in the past three years. In addition, we have also invited external
contributions to several articles which may be of interest to our
Section’s members.

Unlike previous issues in which many articles came from members Hua Li (Ph.D)
of the academic community, all articles in this current issue are
contributed by members from the industrial community. While the
articles have no common theme, they present several interesting
topics closely linked to the field of mechanical engineering.

The first article entitled “Pressure Gauges: Good Practices” is written

by Manish Waghare and Kishor Halbe from ABSG Consulting Inc.,
Singapore. This article discusses how to use ASME Codes as a
guideline for calibrating and using dial-type analog pressure gauges
during pressure tests.
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The second article, entitled “Sharing My Story: The Challenges and

Aspirations of a Young Engineer in the 60s”, is contributed by Mr Low
Wong Fook, who was a Colombo Plan Scholar and graduated from the
University of Auckland, New Zealand in Mechanical Engineering. He was
also the former Principal of Singapore Polytechnic, the former Divisional
Director (Labour Welfare), and the former Director of Industrial Safety.
He is a reputed senior expert with much experience in the education of
mechanical engineering. In his article, he candidly shares his valuable
experience with young mechanical engineers, especially in what are
early career challenges and motivations for further studies, and how to
face the career changes by taking on interdisciplinary roles.

The last article entitled “Aspiration and challenges of a young engineer

today” provides insights into the experiences of young mechanical
engineers. Dr Shiyu Liu currently works as a young Scientist in the
Surface Technology Group at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing
Technology (A*STAR). He shares his working experience from different
viewpoints through his article.

We hope that the articles presented in this issue will provide our read-
ers with new and interesting perspectives on the respective topics. In
particular, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to all the
articles’ authors as well as others who have contributed to this issue
in one way or another. Lastly, we would like to especially thank mem-
bers of the 25th Executive Committee of ASME Singapore Section for
their continued support and valuable inputs.
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Pressure Gauges: Good Practices

Manish Waghare, Kishor Halbe

ABSG Consulting Inc., Singapore
438 Alexandra Road #09-01, Alexandra Point, Singapore 119958

Introduction
Pressure gauges are the most commonly used instruments during manufacturing and usage of
pressure retaining items to measure pressure in closed containers, systems or vessels. It is of
paramount importance to ensure that the gauges are selected and used correctly to ensure that
the intended results are achieved. ASME Codes specify the minimum requirements such as range,
need for calibration, type (indicating/recording). However, the specific details of use, calibration
acceptance criteria, and method are left to the user to decide. User is expected to define these in
their system of calibration of test and measuring equipment. This article thus aims to describe
some good practices regarding calibration and usage of dial-type analog pressure gauges during
pressure test.

Selecting Pressure gauges

Key aspects one must consider while selecting
a pressure gauge are the type of gauge, robust
construction to ensure safety, desired accuracy
of measurements, range, and size etc. ASME
standard B40.100 specifies the
recommendations on pressure gauges
construction, safety, cleanliness and other
related requirements. In general, any gauge
meeting these or equivalent requirements
should be used. Large dial sizes equal to or greater than 6” provide better visibility and may be
used. Gauges with a mirror ring behind pointer are useful to eliminate parallax error while reading.
Either analog or digital indicating gauges may be used for tests. An additional recording type
gauge is recommended especially for equipment involving large volumes of test fluid.

For ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Codes Section IV, Sec. VIII Div.1, 2, 3, Sec. X and Sec. XII
applications, the range of gauge for tests is limited to 1.5 to 4 times the test pressure, whereas
Section I requires the range from 1.5 to 2 times the test pressure. For example, for a test for
Section VII Div.1 pressure vessel with a test pressure of 40 bar, any gauge with a range of between
0-60 bar and 0-160 bar may be used. However, it is always preferred to select the range, such that
the test pressure is almost midway between the zero and full scale reading of the gauge.
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ASME Codes do not specify accuracy required for the pressure gauges to be used for hydrostatic
tests, but it is good practice to use pressure gages with an accuracy more than the 3% FS, in order
to minimize correction applied to the actual reading.

Calibration & Acceptance Criteria

It is required by ASME Codes that all gauges used in testing must be calibrated. Calibration is
comparison of a test of pressure gauge to a calibration standard. ASME standard B40.1 specifies

“Standards shall have nominal errors not greater than 1⁄4 of those permitted for the gauge
being tested. For example, when testing a 200 psi Grade 1A (1%) gauge, the standard must
have errors not more than 1⁄4 of 1%, or 0.5 psi. The range of the standard must be not less
than that of the gauge under test but may be higher, as long as the errors do not exceed 0.5
psi. A 200 psi Grade 3A gauge, with errors of 0.25% of 200 (0.5 psi), or a 500 psi Grade 4A
gauge, with errors of 0.1% of 500 (0.5 psi) or a 1,000 psi digital gauge with errors of 0.05% of
1,000 (0.5 psi) may be used.”

All the calibration standards used should be traceable to the national or international standards.
The calibration procedure must be developed with due consideration to environmental conditions
during calibration, determination of accuracy by comparison against standard, frictional errors,
repeatability, and hysteresis. Readings at each test point shall be recorded during both directions,
increasing pressure and decreasing cycle. Number of test points shall be sufficient to determine all
errors. Recommendations can be taken from ASME B40.1 or EN 837-1.

ASME Codes do not define acceptance criteria for the calibration, and the vessel manufacturer is
expected to define it in his calibration program. The aspects to be considered while defining it may
include the levels of accuracy required, test pressures, testing conditions, customer requirements,
number of tests conducted, and amount of corrections to be applied on actual readings. In general,
it is recommended to have an acceptance criteria resulting in an accuracy of more than the 3% FS.

When the calibration is performed by an outside agency, it is important to verify that it is

performed to meet all applicable requirements of gauge user’s calibration system. This would
entail verifying correct calibration procedures and standards used, accreditation of the calibration
lab and reviewing calibration report.

Using the Gauge

Calibrated gauges must be stored properly in order to avoid damage. Each gauge must have a
unique identification traceable to its calibration history. Usually an indicating gauge shall be
connected directly to the vessel or with a pressure line that does not include intermediate valves. If
the indicating gage is not readily visible to the operator controlling the pressure applied, an
additional indicating gage shall be provided where it will be visible to the operator throughout the
duration of the test. For large vessels, it is recommended that a recording gage be used in addition
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to indicating gages. Installing gauges near a reciprocating pump connection during test should be
avoided as it may damage or affect accuracy of the gauge. During the test, the test item should be
pressurized to a corrected reading of the test pressure, if necessary, based on the observed error
during calibration at or near the test pressure. The calibration curve or table provides the
information to correct the indicated reading to the true test pressure. An example below illustrates
how this can be achieved.

The calibration results for a 60 bar

gauge is shown in the table. At a true
pressure of 30 bar, the gage reads
29.5 bar when the pressure increases,
but reads 29.7 bar when the pressure
decreases. Hence the gage has a
negative error of 0.4 Bar and the
indicated reading must be corrected
to arrive at the true pressure of test.
Usually, during a hydrostatic test,
pressure gage readings are corrected to true pressure via the calibration curve or table.
Accordingly, in this example, the calibration table shows that the gauge reads 40 bar pressure at a
true pressure of 40Bar. In this case a correction to the gage reading is not required to find the true
pressure.

Conclusion
ASME Code establishes the rules that govern constructions of boilers and pressure vessels. The
Code contains mandatory requirements, specific prohibitions, and nonmandatory guidance for
construction activities. In order to ensure the Code compliance, each manufacturer must
implement a qualified system and follow good practices. Correct use of pressure gauges is of
paramount importance to ensure the Code compliance. Using gauges with an accuracy of 3% FS or
more, applying corrections during pressure tests, and establishing precise procedures for
calibration amongst others are some of the good practices that the Code users may implement.

References
[1]. Brown, Francis. 2013. "Calibration. Bulletin Technical Journal of The National Board of
Bolier and Pressure Vessel Inspectors. Vol. 68, No.3, Fall: 4-5.
[2]. European Committee for Standardization. March 1998. EN 837-1: Pressure gauges.
Bourdon tube pressure gauges. Dimensions, metrology, requirements and testing. Brussels:
CEN.
[3]. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 2013. ASME B40. 100 Pressure Gauges and
Gauges Attachments. New York: ASME, 20 November 2013.
[4]. ASME B40.1 Gauges: Pressure Indicating Dial Type - Elastic Element. NY, 20 November
2013.
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Sharing My Story: The Challenges and Aspirations of a
Young Engineer in the 60s

Low Wong Fook

Former Principal of Singapore Polytechnic
Former Divisional Director (Labour Welfare)
Former Director of Industrial Safety

My career beginnings: a dilemma post-graduation

In 1969, I completed my Engineering studies, obtaining an Engineering Degree. I

was bonded to work for the Government and was offered three job positions: the
maintenance engineer at the Housing Development Board, the maintenance
engineer at the Public Works Department and Inspector of Factories. I did not like
any of the three. My aspiration was to be a design engineer as design was what kept
me going in my engineering studies. But I was asked to make a Hobson's choice. I
was naturally disillusioned.

I ruled out the two maintenance engineer jobs as I did not fancy fighting wear and
tear all my working life. By elimination, I ended up becoming an Inspector of
Factories with the then Ministry of Labour, much against the best advice of my grand
uncle, who happened to own an engineering workshop in Kallang. He told me that
inspectors of factories were just about the most hated guys in town.

As an Inspector of Factories, my job was to prevent industrial accidents through law

enforcement and occupational safety and health education and promotion.
Application of engineering principles in the job was somewhat limited, confined to
certain aspects such as machine guarding, survey and inspection of certain statutory
equipment like pressure vessels and lifting equipment. Accident investigation was
interesting as it requires the inspector to play the role of a Sherlock Holmes.
Enforcement work, especially prosecution, could be challenging and intimidating
when we were pitted against lawyers who were legally trained while we were not.

Early career challenges and motivation for further studies

As compared to engineering graduates, the accountancy and economic graduates

seemed to have the luxury of doing work that was very related to their training. On
top of that, they had the opportunity to work in banks that offered better pay. To add
salt to wounds, engineering courses have always been very tough courses.
In all, I felt like I was suffering from a double whammy: (a) my knowledge of
mechanical engineering was not used in a big way; (b) I lacked other engineering
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and non-engineering knowledge that was required for the job, e.g. human factor
engineering, behavioral science, marketing principles and knowledge in the social
science domain for promoting safety and health. There was a mismatch between
what I knew and what was demanded by the job. Therefore, that was a
disappointment to a young engineer whose mind was set on doing pure engineering
work. I felt that way because I was young and had little knowledge of the real world.
In the real world, even today, we cannot expect what we studied to be a perfect fit
for the requirements of our job.

The good that came out of this disappointment was that the perceived knowledge
gap drove me onto my next learning journey. The allure of a higher degree set me
looking for a Master Degree. As my comfort zone was still in engineering, the part-
time MSc degree in Systems Engineering offered by the then Singapore University
was appealing. The course taught system thinking that cuts across different
engineering domains. For instance, students were taught how to translate a concept
in one engineering domain to a different engineering domain. For example,
resistance in fluid dynamic in civil engineering can be translated to resistance in a
electrical engineering. Likewise, the solution to a problem in one domain can be
used to solve similar problems in other domains. The ability to practise fluidity in
thinking is a great benefit that I gained from the course. This kind of thinking has
enabled me later to use concepts for marketing commercial products to promote
industrial safety and health. Still later in my working life, it helped me to apply the yin-
yang concept of Tai Qi to modern management.

Career changes: taking on inter-discplinary roles

By the time I completed my Systems Engineering course in 1974, I had already

served out my five-year bond. It was an opportune time to consider making a career
change. But by then, I had already gotten used to the Civil Service way of working.
Another consideration was that I was appointed by default to be the Chief Inspector
of Factories when the old Chief retired without a more suitable successor. (Many of
my seniors resigned ahead of the Chief's retirement as they did not want to be
appointed as the most hated guy in town!)

Heading the Department required a totally different skills set that I was ill-prepared
for. By that time, I also realized that while the application of engineering principles
was important in accident prevention, changing human behaviors was as important if
not even more so. To be successful in promoting safety to the industry, the promoter
needs to win in the argument that it makes good business sense to be safe.

I thought a course in business administration would be most useful to help me learn

how to make that argument. In addition, it should equip me to manage my own
department better. I ended up taking not one but two courses in Business
Administration consecutively: first the diploma course and then the Master course
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offered by NUS, where I would have done the Master course straightaway had it
been offered earlier. That took me another 6 years, studying part-time. I became a
habitual part-time student, drawing remarks from some quarters that I was a
professional student. Bosses must have noticed that too. Some must have thought
that my full-time job must be so light that I could afford to moonlight as a professional
student.

That could be why I was asked in 1985 to double up as the Divisional Director of
Labour Welfare in charge of policies in Industrial Safety and Health, workmen's
compensation plus CPF, in addition to being Director of Industrial Safety and Chief
Inspector of Factories. That effectively put a stop to my part-time studies.

The CPF portfolio took up a lot of my time. However, it was a very interesting
portfolio as it was during that time that many new CPF schemes were drawn up,
including Medishield, CPF Investment Scheme in shares and gold, the Dependants'
Protection Insurance Scheme, the Home Protection Insurance Scheme, the
Minimum Sum Scheme and the CPF Education Scheme.

As I was working on those schemes, I moved further away from engineering to

investment, healthcare, annuity, insurance and education. By 1995, I had been in the double
roles or more than 10 years!

So one day in 1995, when I received a call from the Education Permanent Secretary
to ask me if I would like to consider a change in career, I knew I had served enough
in the Ministry of Labour and my time there was up.

I left the Ministry after serving for 26 years. I took on the job of Principal of
Singapore Polytechnic on 1 Jan 1996. I had to start learning from scratch about
education and how to be a Principal. It was another very interesting learning journey.
I served exactly 12 years as Principal of Singapore Polytechnic and retired on the
new year eve of 2007.

Immediately after retirement, my old habit of being a part-time student returned. I

enrolled to study in a course that has nothing to do with engineering: a diploma
course in Chinese Medicine Pharmacy. It was a 4.5-year part-time course which I
completed in 2012. I also indulged in my dormant passion for Chinese calligraphy by
honing the art under a renowned master of calligraphy.

Concluding remarks

Let me draw some general insights from my learning and working experiences which
may be time-proof and which young engineers today can relate to, as detailed below.
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(a) Try to choose a profession and career that you love to begin with as it
takes a lot of time and effort to change course later. It is like making a turn in
an Ultra Large Crude Carrier (or ULCC in short).

(b) Some are lucky to be in a job they love. Others must learn to love the job
they are in.

(c) There will always be a gap between the job that you think you have been
trained for and the job you eventually do. Your basic degree will most likely
not equip you adequately for the job you need to do.

(d) You owe it to yourself to plan and pursue self-enrichment. Do not expect
others to do it for you. Be prepared to learn continuously and independently.

(e) Your career choice will drive your learning, which in turn will drive future
career choices and the cycle repeats itself. This can be looked upon as the
continuous Earn/Learn loop.

(f) Continuous education especially part-time study is very effectual as you get to
mull over what you do as you learn and vice versa. You get to practise what
you learn almost immediately.

(g) Part-time study can be rejuvenating if you believe that a change of "work" and
focus is as good as a holiday!

(h) Seeking knowledge is primary, paper-chasing is secondary. Nonetheless,

paper still has some value as it is usually associated with assessments, e.g.
examinations. The process increases the depth of learning, enforces
discipline and boost confidence for those who passed.

(i) In continuous learning you can adopt two modes: deep, narrow and
specialized or broad multi-disciplinary and wide. A balanced-approach is best.

(j) A reflective approach across disparate disciplines is conducive to creativity and

innovation. The more disparate the disciplines, the higher the degree of
innovativeness.
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Aspiration and challenges of a young engineer today

Shiyu Liu (Scientist)

Surface Technology Group,
Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology
A*STAR

Background and questions

When I first received Yee Hong’s invitation to write a few lines on this topic, the first
thought that popped into my mind was “Am I really qualified to comment on such an issue?”
Well, yes, I am young, but can I rightfully call myself an engineer and are the challenges I
faced good representations of those faced by other young engineers? These questions made
me a little uneasy, as you know well enough that engineers don’t like unanswered questions.
Therefore, I decided to break the topic in to small fragments and sort them out one by one.

My thoughts through my experience

The first key word is “engineer”. I have spent the last 5 years in the R&D sector. Does that
make me more a scientist than an engineer? Surprisingly, the answer is NO, after some close
examination of my career after receiving my degree in mechanical engineering.

When I first started my job in as a Research Officer with A*STAR, my job was to design
experimental apparatus to facilitate the process development. As such, the job nature is
more of a design engineer. I moved on later on to pursue my PhD in materials science and
metallurgy in the University of Cambridge. My research then was on the nano-mechanical
testing of superhard thin films and I think I can rightfully call myself a testing engineer,
identifying the best performing material combinations. Now I am back to A*STAR as a
Research Scientist in the Surface Technology Group, but I think my job more of a process
engineer, developing a deeper understanding of the coating processes and creating new
ones. As a result, just like the saying goes, “Once an engineer, always an engineer!”

Since I have satisfied myself that I can still be considered as an engineer, I would like to
move on to discuss about the other two key words of the topic, aspiration and challenges.

I believe most of the readers would have been confronted by this standard interview
question in their quest for a dream career: “What’s your career aspiration in the next 3, 5,
and 10 years?” I can still remember my answer to that in my first job interview: “To become
an expert in my field, to assume a managerial and develop a capable task force, and to
create revolutionary technology that changes people’s life for the better”. Then, the
interviewer smiled a little, but showed no clear appreciation of my response. Only after a
few year of working experience I have realized how silly my response was, though there was
technically nothing wrong with it. This may be considered as some sort of career planning,
but a very superficial one. No doubt, technology is an undividable aspect of the engineering
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profession, but engineers are so much more than the master of technology, because we are
also human beings, we have the code of ethics, we are sympathetic, and we are a member
of the society. The aspiration of an engineer is indeed much more profound and yet much
simpler. For me, it is to become a person respected for his knowledge and personality.

With great aspiration, come great challenges, especially for a young engineer. The first
challenge would be the great transition from a student to a working professional. One will
face a much more diversified working environment, experience the awkwardness of
generation gap and culture shock at work, and become loaded by the invisible pressure of
responsibilities. In this transition period, it is important that the young engineer adapt
himself rapidly into the new environment, by picking up relevant skills, learning the norms
and cultures, and appreciating strength and contributions of the colleagues.

Another challenge faced by the young engineer nowadays is the distractions of an ever
connected world. We are living in a digital era, and our life entangled by social network apps,
trying everything possible to grab our attention, such that they can create more profits
through advertisement. In less than six minutes, a new status or feed will be generated, and
shortly after, you might become tagged or messaged by your peers through those apps. This
could be great distractions for the career development, especially at the early stage when
absolute focus is required to develop one’s expertise.

Last but not the least, the young engineers nowadays are blessed with an abundance of
choices and career options, and this could be a challenge as well. As an engineering
graduate, you might also be poached by companies from the finance, banking, and
consulting sectors. It is not uncommon to see someone job-hop from an engineer to a
headhunter, and subsequently to a real estate agent before hopping back to the
engineering profession in search for the best compensation. The temptation from better
paying professions in a diversified job market may make our young engineers forget what
they really aspire for in the long term, and the frequent change of job may make one miss
the opportunity to develop core skill and expertise for their career development. Therefore,
whenever feeling dazzled by the seemingly better career options hanging outside the yard,
young engineers should have the wisdom and courage to carefully analyze their own
strength and their long-term goals before making the important decision.

Conclusions

As a summary, two words could be used to describe the challenges of a young engineer
today, transition and distraction. The distractions could be especially damaging for those in
the period of transition, and a calmed mind is needed to brave through this stage of life.
Thus I would like to share, at the end of this writing, a serenity prayer I find quite useful
when I am troubled in my work and life:

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the
things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”
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Executive Committee of ASME Singapore Section
Executive Committee for 2015-2016

Chair: Phanikumar Anne

Chair-Elect: Henry Wong
Immediate Chair: Choo Jian Huei, PhD
Honorary Secretary: Eric Ho
Honorary Treasurer: Desmond Chong, PhD
Exco Member/PSIG Chair: Leong Yee Hong
Exco Member/Social Chair: Daveed Tan
Exco Member/Social Chair: Tran Anh Tuan, PhD
Exco Member/Editor: Benjamin Koh
Exco Member/Publication Chair: Li Hua, PhD
Exco Member Wong Chee How, PhD
NTU Faculty Advisor: Li Hua, PhD
NUS Faculty Advisor: Choo Jian Huei, PhD

Executive Committee for 2016-2017

Chair: Henry Wong

Chair-Elect: Desmond Chong, PhD
Immediate Chair: Phanikumar Anne
Honorary Secretary: Tran Anh Tuan, PhD
Honorary Treasurer: Eric Ho
Exco Member/PSIG Chair: Leong Yee Hong
Exco Member/Technical Chair: Eugene Wee
Exco Member/Editor/Social Chair: Benjamin Koh
Exco Member/Publication Chair: Li Hua, PhD
Exco Member/Webmaster: Behnoud Tahmaseby
Exco Member: Khong Kwok Wai
Exco Member: Wong Chee How, PhD
NTU Faculty Advisor: Li Hua, PhD
NUS Faculty Advisor: Park Sungyong, PhD

From Left: Desmond, Phanikumar, Henry, Eric,

Yee Hong, Tuan, Daveed, Benjamin and Jian Huei
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Special Events
1. The 2015 ASME Leadership Training Conference organised by ASME International was held on
22nd and 23rd August in Prague, Czech Republic. Phanikumar who was then the Chair-Elect
represented the Section in the Conference. It was attended by 19 participants from 12
different Sections. The HQ provided briefing on some of the latest significant changes, some
of the on-line tools and resources and also on how the HQ could provide better services to
local market.

Our Rep, Phanikumar seated on the right and making his presentation to the delegates

2. On 20th July, Executive Director of ASME International, Thomas Loughlin accompanied by John
Falcioni, Editorial Director & Publisher and Allian
Pratt, Project Director, Executive Office visited
Singapore from 20th - 21st June. On the afternoon of
the first day the delegates together with some of our
Exco members visited MTQ Engineering a local
engineering company which uses ASME Code
extensively in their operations. A dinner was
organized to host them at SP Graduate Guild after
the visit. After dinner, Thomas shared about the
review that HQ is doing in engaging Sections better,
some of the new technologies that ASME is looking
at and also about the E-Fests (Engineering Festivals) Our gift to Thomas
for students which is getting popular as it is a fun
(Contributed by an Exco member)
way to promote engineering. He added that perhaps
the Singapore Section can also take this up.

Thomas in jacket sharing with the Exco. Thomas with John (on his right) and Allian (on his left)
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Technical Events
1. A Wire Safety & Reliability Seminar was held on 22nd July 2016 at Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel.
The one-day seminar conducted by Wire Rope expert, Mr. David Vickress from Wire Rope
Training and Consultancy attracted about 40 participants from the industry. The seminar pro-
vided participants with an appreciation of wire rope terminology, construction and inspection
methods. The event was also supported by the Workplace Safety & Health Council and the
Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

Mr. Vickress sharing his vast experience.

2. An Introductory Talk on “ASME U Stamp Accreditation” was held in the evening on 19th
October 2016 at SP Staff Centre. About 30 participants attended the complimentary talk given
by Mr. Manish Waghare of ABSG Consulting Inc and Mr Terence Hu of SPRING Singapore.

3. In collaboration with Siemens and Innovix, a half day technical talk on “The Future of 3D
Printing and Manufacturing” was held on 10th May at TKP Conference Centre @ Raffles Place.
Speakers from Siemens and the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC)
shared their knowledge and insights in this interesting topic to about 20 participants.

4. A three-day workshop on “API-510 Pressure Vessel Inspection Code” was held from 28th to
30th June at Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel. It was jointly organized with ABSG Consulting and 38
participants attended the workshop. The Workshop was supported by Ministry of Manpower
(MOM) with some sponsorship from Workforce Singapore (WSG).

Desmond thanking With ABSG staff after the thank-you dinner

Rajendran of ABSG
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Social Events
1. Professor Benjamin Soenarko, Correspondent and Pro-Tem Committee Chair of ASME
Indonesia visited Singapore and had lunch with some of the Exco members on 8 th Dec 2015
at the Singapore Polytechnic Staff Centre.

Prof Soenarko, in the centre, with Ben Koh,

Desmond Chong, Henry Wong and Eric Ho.

2. On 27th February a lunch gathering at the Singapore Recreation Club was organised for
ASME/ PSIG Members to celebrate the New Year. About 25 members attended the lunch
and had a meaningful time catching up and also making new friends. The gathering ended
with a mini-lucky draw and some lucky members walked away with some vouchers.

Enjoying lunch and friendship at SRC

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3. The Exco celebrated with the national Institution of Engineers, Singapore and attended their
Golden Jubilee Dinner on 1st July at Ritz-Carlton Millenia Hotel.

Our Exco all dressed up for the Celebration Dinner!

4. A social event on the Singapore Gourmet Bus Lunch Tour was organised on 23 rd July for
members to experience the combination of scenic city tour will have tim sum lunch on a
moving bus. The Tour started from Suntec City made its way to Gardens By The Bay for a
short stop before turning its way back to Suntec City, with dessert being served. It was a fun
outing for 12 members and one baby who turned up for the tour.

An enjoyable experience eating on a moving bus! Waiting for our lunch!

5. A Lunch & Bowling session was held on 25th February at Singapore Polytechnic Graduate Guild.
About 25 senior and student members came for lunch followed by an informal bowling
completion. This fun event was held to promote interaction between the members.
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Lunch before the big bowl. Some of the bowling team!

6. On 29th July, 13 members including some with their family members spent their Saturday
morning in Qian Hu Fish Farm, which is the largest exporter of ornamental fish in the world. A
conducted tour round the farm gave the visitors interesting insights into some of the exotic
and expensive fishes. Some of these could be worth thousands of dollars!

Participants outside the largest Being briefed by staff from Qian Hu on the do’s and
don’ts of rearing fish!
Ornamental Fish Exporter
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ASME NUS Student Section

1. A Bonding session was held on 13th November 2016 in the botanic garden before the reading
week of semester 2 with the aim to build closer personal relationship among the members of
ASME NUS Student Section. There were the popular team building games ending with a picnic
with pizza and other snacks. Sharing a meal provided good opportunities to share a bit more of
ourselves as well!

2. The Section annual fund raising Bazaar was held from 7th to 9th September 2016 at NUS Cen-
tral Forum. There was a total of 13 stalls, selling clothes, accessories, ornaments, books, bags,
posters, electronic devices, CDs and packed food. It was a good event for the committee to
work together and also at the same time to raise some money for our activities.

3. The Section working with NUS Institute for Engineering Leadership (IEL) jointly organized Inno-
Venture with the aim to let aspiring entrepreneurs to collaborate and learn together. In the
2015/2016 Innoventure, PUB, DHL, MediaTek, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and NUS Office of Facility
Management were partners providing technical problems for over 250 students, in 75 teams,
who had registered for the challenge. In addition to a larger number of participants and
groups, a high number of teams were able to turn their ideas into creative solutions and prod-
uct prototypes. The final Demo Day was held on 10th March 2016, with ten teams putting up
an exhibition and demonstration on their finished prototypes to a panel of judges, including
company guests and NUS professors.

ASME NUS Student team that participated in the challenge

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4. On 2nd November, some members joined the NUS Explore Engineering Series of activities and or-
ganized a visit to Infineon Technologies at Kallang Way. Besides getting an overview of the com-
pany at the regional HQ, the students also visited Infineon’s shop floor and experienced first-
hand the working environment.

5. The Section organized an Industrial Visit to Airbus Helicopters Southeast Asia. During the trip, the
flight simulators which plays a major part of the training for helicopter’s pilots were shown to the
visitors. The fantastic thing is that albeit one of the simulators was not used on that day, some
students got the opportunities to try out the other simulator. In the hanger, the visitors were
introduced to different types of helicopters and also had the opportunity to see the engine.

Being briefed on the flight simulator A welfie of the eager students

6. This year the Section collaborated with Siemens Industry Software Department over four months
from early August to end October and organized a series of events. The first was an industrial vis-
it held on 26th September to Siemens and about 20 students experienced firsthand the working
environment in Siemens and were introduced to the powerful 3D cartographic software Solid
Edge. This was followed by a technical workshop on Solid Edge held on 24 th October in NUS and
over 40 students attended. To encourage the students to seriously learn and master the soft-
ware, an official certification test on the Solid Edge was conducted. However given the short time
and the difficulty in mastering this powerful software only 20% pass the test! Finally, to promote
the use of Solid Edge, students were encouraged to sign up for the Green Power Challenge which
is a worldwide Solid Edge Design Contest sponsored by Siemens. The theme of this contest is to
design the cover for the green power racing car.
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Students eager to find out more about Siemens

Listening attentively to presentation Learning Solid Edge from the expert

7. Section also hosted the “Smart Cool Ideas for HDB Living” Competition for the JC level. A total
of 24 teams signed up for the competition. The first stage is a whole-day event held in NUS on
28th March 2016. All the teams presented their design and 10 teams were selected to move in-
to the final stage, which was held in HDB hub on 28 th July 2016. These teams joined the exhibi-
tion held on 19th November in HDB hub with Minister for National Development, Mr. Lawrence
Wong as the Guest-of-Honour.

The organizing committee with Organisers and participants

Advisers from HDB after a day of fun!
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8. Besides social and technical events, Section is active over the years in Community service. Regu-
lar visits to the Moral Welfare Home in Henderson and outings for the residents were made in
2015/16. Besides, the regular visits 3 large events were organized. An outing to East Coast Park,
where some of the elderly rode bicycles and walked in the park to get some fresh air. Two Arts
Photo Camps, where the participants were brought to the Botanic Garden to take pictures and
share games. With such community service, the students gained insightful experience and find
out more about the elderly and build their social awareness with them.

Different groups of students at the MWH in Henderson

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ASME NTU Student Section

1. The annual Bonding Session is an event for the members in the Section to get to know one
another better and most of these would include some games and a meal together. The
bonding camp for 2015 was held on 5th September in NTU Yun Nan Gardens and the event
for the following year was on 11th September which was topped off with a sumptuous BBQ
dinner.

Bonding over games and yummy BBQ!

2. Another highly anticipated activity are the series of industrial visits. Over the past two
years five industrial visits were organized. Two visits, to Keppel Offshore and Marine
Limited on 2nd October and Rolls-Royce Seletar Aerospace Park Campus on 9th were made
in October 2015. The visit to Roll-Royce was indeed memorable as it provided students with
the latest technology and most up-to-date aircraft engines and wing design for the
commercial aircraft industry. Students were also shown the Assembly & Test Unit and the
Wide Chord Fan Blade Facility. In 2016-17 three visits to Keppel Shipyard on 4th Nov 2016,
ST Marine Ltd 17th March and PaxOcean Shipyard on 24th May. These visits, continue to
attract about 25 students per visit and are popular with students as they provide them a
good introduction to the work and opportunities offered by these companies.
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Students at Keppel Offshore & Marine Students at Roll-Royce

Students at ST Marine And at PAXOcean

3. Organising workshops is also beneficial to our students. In 30th January 2016, an Arduino
workshop was organized by the Section. It introduced the participants to the basic layout of the
circuit board and with examples of applications. Participants had hands-on experiences on these
board and given tasks to complete to facilitate their learning. The response for the workshop
was overwhelming and the feedback was positive. In 21st January 2017 a full-day Workshop on
Arduino and Solidworks was held. In the morning the Arduino workshop was for beginners and
it was very well attended. The second half of this workshop focused on the use of Solidworks
software for mechanical designing. The participants learnt the basic commands to design
automated machines and mechanical fixtures through the examples provided. Participants also
had the opportunity to explore the software through examples, challenges and exercises.
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Coding for Arduino applications and having fun!

4. Mech Challenge is a special event organized annually with the aim to promote engineering
to the non-engineering students in NTU through the activities, demonstrations and
competitions. It also provides a unique platform for non-engineering students to mingle
and interact with engineering students forging a better understanding between students
from different schools. The 2016 edition was titled “What can we learn from Papers?” And
in 2017 it was the Stick Challenge. Participants in group of 3-4 were required to a build a
catapult, a stick tower and a stick bridge by using only the sticks and the rubber bands
provided and judged accordingly. At the end of the competition, the team with the highest
points was declared the winner of this event. The Champion were students from Civil and
Environmental Engineering (CEE) and coming in second and third were students from the
School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS).

Mech Challenge 2016 - Building strong structures with papers

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Mech Challenge 2017

Various teams with their stick structures

5. In 2015, the HDB Cool Ideas Competition for the University level was organized with 36 teams
from NTU, NUS and SUTD signing up for the competition. After being shortlisted for the
second round, the 10 teams were required to build a prototype of their ideas presented
during the first round. Teams were also required to produce a 5 minute video to both record
their fabrication process and explain their prototype. Prototypes presented includes mobile
apps to enhance resident interaction to weather responsive windows. The final stages
involved voting through social media to determine which prototype garnered the most public
interest.

Some of the teams with their prototypes