It's astonishing how three weeks has turned into more than three months at Cadbury Schweppes. I'm now settled into my role as a Production Scheduler at Bournville and spend my days steering Assortments through the most intensive period of the year. With Christmas hurtling towards us, the UK business is looking forward to a strong performance from Heroes, Roses and Milk Tray at our busiest time. There is pressure from all sides for us to meet our customers' demands, so it is my job to make sure that there is enough of every different type of chocolate that goes to the packing departments and then onto the shelves.
Since I joined I've quickly had to learn how to perform my new role and now seem to be standing on my own two feet; able to understand, challenge and impact upon what goes on around me. Crucially to this role, I've learned to manage multiple crises, which always seem to erupt when least expected. One could never be bored in this role, and furthermore my manager and I have put together some aggressive objectives for me to accomplish before I move to my next placement. Any idea that things would get easier now have been satisfactorily quashed.
Away from the factory it's also been busy, with visits around the country to see our many factories, labs, offices and distribution centres. Together with other graduates, I've made a bar of 'Cadbury Dairy Milk' by hand, seen the birth of a 'Bassett's Jelly Baby', spun a liquorice 'Catherine Wheel', and failed a taste test to become an official Cadbury's taster (perhaps the most heart-breaking failure in my life to date).
Life at the world's most famous chocolate factory is never dull. I'm still getting to my desk at what seems the middle of the night, and my early finishes have ceased; but the weeks are flying by, we're making more chocolate than I've ever imagined, and every evening I'm still wondering what the next day will bring.
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