Cross-Function Placements
Last week I started my cross-function placement. In the two years that I've been with Cadbury Schweppes I've worked in Manufacturing and Project and Process Engineering. For the last seven days I have been working in Procurement Business Services, discovering that non-engineering work can be interesting too!
Moving Placements
This is my fourth placement and I have had the luxury of being based on the same site (Bournville) for this placement and my last placement. The last two times I moved placements, I moved country and so it was much easier this time not having to worry about unpacking, supermarkets and where the canteen was! The smooth transition was not just down to staying in the same flat, but also due to my colleagues in procurement who have made me welcome and answered my frequent and, what must have seemed at the time, strange, queries.
The Role
Of course, the reason why I'm here is to do a job and I'm really lucky that procurement have created a composite role for me so that I can get a good cross-section of procurement experience, rather than just being in one category. I'm picking up some local responsibilities for fruit and nut purchasing from a colleague who is leaving. Local in this context means UK and Ireland and includes Monkhill Confectionery, based in Pontefract and York, where they make own label sweets and popcorn (or did until the fire that destroyed the popcorn factory). I'm excited about this part of the role as it involves dealing with former colleagues in Sheffield, Somerdale and Ireland and will give me the opportunity to visit the Monkhill factories. I'm learning that there's a lot more fruit and nuts bought in Cadbury's than just those going into Cadbury Dairy Milk! Another aspect of this role is to review the scope and strategy of a central repro project carried out a few years ago - this could take me through the entire strategic sourcing process. The final part of my role is to facilitate the introduction of a print management agency to the Bournville site - a real test of my skills in stakeholder management! So I'm going to be very busy over the next few months and that's without all the training courses - I'm attending Financial Analysis in Paris next week.
Before starting this placement I wondered how I would get on in a new field. However, after seven days I'm really enthusiastic about it - at the moment it's everything I expected and more!
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