Manufacturing and Engineering Blogs
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Almost time to return home
Posted by Hannah on 17 Oct 05
After a chat with my boss-to-be a couple of days ago, it's looking likely that I'll be starting my final placement in a month or so. For me, not only does this mean finishing off and passing over all my work, but also packing up my lovely little flat that has been my home in Warsaw for the last seven months, and returning to the UK.
It really has been a great experience. In all honesty, Poland wasn't on my "must see" list, and I did wonder how I would cope with the cabbage, the cold, and the crazily difficult language (I knew I'd have no trouble with the vodka!). I soon learnt that Warsaw is a really vibrant city with loads of places to go out and so much history, albeit deeply troubled, to learn about.
In fairness, being so far from home has not always been easy. Fortunately, I have found that for every lonely night there have been more where I have been out meeting new people from many different countries. Whilst it can be hugely frustrating not being able to speak fluent Polish, the sense of achievement was amazing when I could ask for my fruit and veg from the friendly shop assistant without resorting to pointing and dramatic hand gestures! Equally, whilst I really Miss my friends back home, it is great when they come out and visit, and they are always a phone call away. Of course there have been the normal work frustrations, but I have always been well supported by my Polish colleagues, and have learnt so much in the relatively short time I have been here.
In all, I'm going to Miss.... the people I work with, my daily walk through the old town and tram ride across the Vistula river, Polish prices, and the friends I have made out here. I am, however, looking forward to coming home... a new placement, a good Birmingham curry, and knowing which way to look when I cross the road!
Community work
Posted by Rachel on 27 Sep 05
This week began with a Manufacturing team day at a hotel in Stratford. This proved a great opportunity to gain insight into manufacturing and project engineering across Great Britain, Ireland and beyond. Although meeting so many new people in one day seemed quite daunting, I found everyone was very approachable as well as keen to share ideas and experiences. I made some useful contacts for projects I am working on which I will be following up in the coming weeks.
Next day I travelled up to Sheffield to meet with members of the gum manufacturing department and discuss a new project I am working on. This is my first 'project leader' role so it's a real learning curve for me, but getting out there on the factory floor today and talking to the people who work with the equipment everyday has definitely helped my understanding.
Visit to a supplier
Posted by Rachel on 07 Sep 05
The new 20,000t moulding plant to be built at Bournville was in the headlines in May and the approval of the project was the result of a lot of hard work from some of my colleagues, but for most of the Manufacturing Technical team it was just the beginning. The detailed design of the plant now needed to be done and the equipment chosen and ordered, not to mention all the other small things such as flooring, lighting and fire protection.
My part in the project is to find the best equipment to palletise the finished chocolate, that is a machine (or robot) to stack the boxes of chocolate neatly, on pallets, ready for distribution to our customers. And so it was that I found myself flying into Schiphol on Wednesday lunchtime with three of my colleagues. We were met by the English representative of a Dutch palletiser manufacturer and driven to their factory for a project meeting.
There is a trend for suppliers to standardise all their equipment - the control systems, motors, drives etc. - so that they can negotiate lower prices with their suppliers. However, Cadbury's also have preferred equipment, which we hold spares for, have experience in operating and maintaining and meet our best manufacturing practice guidelines. This has the potential to lead to conflict between the customer and the supplier and so at the project meeting we discussed how to address this issue and also the best machine for our application.
In the evening we went out for an Indonesian meal (something of a specialty in The Netherlands) and ordered a Rijstafel (a set meal consisting of lots and lots of dishes), which we struggled to finish. It's always enjoyable to spend time with people from work in a social setting and the shared experiences help to create a rapport that makes us feel more of a team when we get back to the office.
The next day we continued the project meeting and had a tour of the factory and offices. This gave me the opportunity to see half built palletisers and look around all the different processes that go into making a palletising machine - metal work, painting, assembly, control etc. - all of which are very different to the processes used to make a chocolate bar.
After lunch we saw two of the palletisers in action in a Dutch clothing warehouse. It was an interesting application and it was useful to have all the functionality of the equipment that had previously been just talked about demonstrated. I also enjoyed discussing the business model of the Dutch clothing company that we were visiting - it was clearly successful. Then it was back to Schiphol to fly to Birmingham and write up the notes from this visit and follow-up the actions we'd agreed.
Winding down into the weekend
Posted by Jools on 01 Sep 05
I'm today just enjoying winding down into the weekend after what has been a busy week and, in truth, a packed couple of months. In the UK we've just put in place a new integrated IT system which drives the whole business from procurement right through to sales, HR and finance.
I'm doing a new job very much at the sharp end of the implementation. As a factory scheduler I decide what we're going to make and when and deal with suppliers to bring in materials on time, which mean that most of the key transactions in the factory come through me.
I spent hours beforehand in a classroom learning a whole new system from scratch, and now get to see the training come together. The work I do on a screen comes to life in the form of lorries arriving and production lines starting.
Yes it's pressured - mistakes could mean lines stopping and the company losing sales fast - but the results of my work are real and there for me to see. Later I'm involved in training sessions for managers who are yet to understand some of the benefits of the IT we now have. Because of my background I'm well placed to explain the implications of using the system correctly, and incorrectly, to my colleagues, some of whom have barely used Hotmail before.
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