I'm now 2 months into my first placement and for the past two weeks I've been based up at our Sheffield site, where many of our sugar brand products are made. I've spent time with people in every product area of the factory, working with operators, team leaders and managers. I've found that the Trebor Extra Strong mints area is a great place to wake you up if you're in at 5am!
It's given me a really good knowledge base of how our products are made, from recipe to finished product. It's also been great to experience a different site and business area, which has broadened my perspective of what we're about.
In terms of the graduate programme, I am the first graduate to complete this placement, and part of my role has been to feedback the outcomes from it. The few small hiccups have meant that when someone starts this placement next year, it should be even smoother for them. This is a process that applies to a lot of the graduate training and placements and it enables things to improve and adapt all the time - so it could be you that benefits and feeds back next!
I've also recently spent a day at the Global Science Centre and RSSL in Reading. It was really interesting to see what happens down there, as it's often development work that is planning for a few years in the future.
The rest of my time recently has been taken up with my first project and other training. It's great to have involvement and responsibility so soon. It makes you feel like you're really contributing to making our brands even better.
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