１．会社員として働く上でALP（北海道大学博士課程物質科学リーディングプログラム）がどのように役立っているか

Showa Denko has a training theme system in which first-year employees learn how to proceed with their work by setting technical issues that will greatly contribute to the company's profits and demonstrating their own ideas and ideas. At the end of the training, we report to the company's chief technology officer (CTO) and receive feedback on the training results. I think one of the features is that you can actually feel the impact on your business, rather than simply imagining research and development and its contribution. In this training theme, we investigated and quantified the required characteristics of graphite electrodes. Graphite electrodes have a history of nearly 100 years, but characterization largely depends on experience. Therefore, first of all, I read literature and books to increase my expertise in materials mechanics and fracture mechanics. We proceeded while discussing test piece dimensions and analysis methods. In determining the dimensions of the specimen, it was essential to first understand the principles and develop expertise. In addition, I improved the analysis method to reflect actual phenomena, as I had done in the analysis of the photoacoustic spectrum when I was in school. As a result, the new index examined in the training theme is now being used as one of the important parameters for electrode evaluation. I believe that my experiences in QE, etc., in which I solve cross-disciplinary and mathematically specialized problems and independently proceed with research, have been useful.

I work as a supervisor of the central laboratory in the engineering department to which I belong. Laboratories have various roles, such as evaluating new raw materials and examining new evaluation methods, and have many opportunities to work on problem solving. For that reason, we have a meeting every morning, discuss with the operators, and exchange various opinions. The experience of a career management special seminar where problems are solved through group discussions is useful.

The Carbon Division has many overseas manufacturing bases, so there are many opportunities to use English, such as giving lab tours to visitors from overseas bases. Through activities such as language training at ALP, overseas internships, and summer camps, I improved my English skills until I got a TOEIC score of 800 by the time I graduated. rice field.

２．今後生かしたいALPでの経験

During the outreach exercise, I made a presentation with the pilot students about the content of the gel, which is not my field of expertise. There are operators in the central lab who measure the properties of raw materials and electrodes, but there are also people who have originally evaluated materials different from graphite electrodes, and it is difficult to understand how the property evaluations they are measuring are useful. going up For this reason, we are thinking of building a system that allows us to create materials that are easy for anyone to understand, and that we can imagine the content, as we experienced in the outreach exercises.

In the engineering department to which I belong, in addition to improving the yield of each process of graphite electrode manufacturing, we also carry out quality design such as quality improvement and cost reduction. Just like how I evaluated the degree of similarity in the energy distribution of electron trap densities using a mathematical approach when I was in school, I would like to utilize the bird's-eye view I learned at ALP and learn know-how from the manufacturing site. .

３．会社員としての立場から見たALP

As mentioned above, ALP's five strengths (overwhelming expertise, broad perspective, frontier development ability, international practical ability, and introspective intelligence) can be utilized immediately after joining the company, and various lectures at ALP It was very meaningful to be able to experience the event. Through QE and exchanges with ALP students, I was able to improve my achievement orientation and interpersonal understanding. These are indicators that are also evaluated by the company, so after joining the company, I realized the value of ALP again.

４．後輩たちへのアドバイス

After joining the company, you will be required to set challenging goals and work tenaciously without being satisfied with the status quo, and to understand the thoughts and feelings of others and convey them in an easy-to-understand manner to gain their understanding. I hope that you will make use of the experiences you have learned at ALP and speak and act on your own initiative.

Showa Denko K.K./Carbon Division/Akio Nitta ALP pilot student (completed in March 2018)