Bridging theory and practice in electrical engineering industrial training

Industrial training plays a vital role in allowing students of the Diploma in Electrical Engineering to learn and gain skills that are related to their field of study from the actual working environment. This article aims to provide a reflection on my experience in doing internship training with Kaifa Technology Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., an electronic manufacturing services company located in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. The internship is conducted from 16 March 2026 to 16 July 2026. Being trained under the facility department, I was exposed to numerous job roles ranging from simple daily electrical meter readings and equipment monitoring to breakdown troubleshooting and maintenance jobs. There were even occasions where I was asked to perform irrelevant job roles such as road painting and repairing door handles. This reflection article will highlight my experience in performing technical jobs such as daily main switchboard (MSB) meter readings for billing accuracy by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), and supported with compressor and chiller monitoring, electrical outlet repairs and Arduino-based alert system setup. Discussion will be provided on topics such as encountered technical difficulties, steps taken to overcome challenges, safety compliance, professional ism during training and longlife learning.
Facility Technician assigned many tasks to me under the assistance of the assistant engineer, the engineer and the senior engineer throughout my internship. The daily task that required more responsibility given to me was taking meter readings every day at 2:00 pm for the Main Switchboard (MSB) as shown in Figure I. The readings were sent to TNB for billing purposes and record-keeping for future audits. It was an impo1tant task because it ensured that the bills generated by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) were accurate.