My career running factories – Part 2

In part 1 of this article George shared  his experience in a sugar processing and cement factory.

This is part 2.

My experience as a Shift Packaging Manager

This new role was in a brewery. At recruitment we were told that a new packaging line was under installation and that we had been recruited as the new crew of expert mechanical engineers (shift packaging managers) to assist step up production. We would be required to operate in shifts. Fortunately, I had done my second year university internship at this same brewery so I knew my way around quite a bit. I vividly recall that during my internship, the packaging line was automatic and fairly sophisticated requiring less manual input from operators. I was excited knowing that the new line will even be better.

Now the story starts…

You see, the earlier shift set up comprised a Packaging Shift Manager, 9 operators and 2 technicians. The operators were largely high school leavers. The two technicians on the other hand were certificate/diploma holders with seemingly a wealth of technical experience.

In the new model (under which we were recruited), there would be no technicians but the operators would be replaced with technical operators who had a minimum qualification of a diploma in the electrical and mechanical disciplines with one extra personnel as float. Each Packaging Shift Manager and his team worked 12 hours for three day shifts, three night shifts and were off for the next three days. The skill was distributed such that each shift had at least 3 electrical and 6 mechanical technical operators. I thought that it would be a smooth sailing. I was wrong.

In the new model (under which we were recruited), there would be no technicians but the operators would be replaced with technical operators who had a minimum qualification of a diploma in the electrical and mechanical disciplines with one extra personnel as float. Each Packaging Shift Manager and his team worked 12 hours for three day shifts, three night shifts and were off for the next three days. The skill was distributed such that each shift had at least 3 electrical and 6 mechanical technical operators. I thought that it would be a smooth sailing. I was wrong

It turns out that the “new” line under installation was actually an extremely old line that had been working since the 1960’s. It run on ancient semi-automatic technology and was rated at 10,000 cases of beer per day. It had very high failure rates and required a lot of manual inputs. In fact, some of our shifts were spent repairing the line instead of producing beer.

There are times when it appeared like we were making repairs for the next shift because by the time our shift began we were back to repairing once again. It was so frustrating. At some point, I regretted leaving the cement factory; because the so called qualified operators I had been given were very novice. I had to teach them how to do a host of things from scratch. In the meantime, the existing line was operating somewhat stable although below par as it was also due for replacement; producing 20,000 cases of beer per day though the rating was about 38,400 cases per day.

Unfortunately, I had only been given a week’s induction by one of my colleagues running the 38,400 cases/day line. He briefly showed me the things to look out for but he did not take me through the philosophy of how the line operated. I was literally on my own. I think he also figured that since we had been recruited as “experienced staff” we could figure out the rest on the job plus there was a great deal of pressure from or head office to get the line fired up as soon as possible hence there was never going to be sufficient time for training and induction.

George, what happens in a beer factory?

Briefly, the beer manufacturing process comprises two main sections which are the brewing and packaging. In the brewing section, malt is mixed with water and mashed at relatively high temperatures (60 to 65 degrees Celsius) in order to extract the fermentable sugars. The sugary mash is then filtered to obtain a clear liquid called wort that is boiled together with hops to give the beer a bitter test. The wort is then cooled and to this, yeast and oxygen are added as the liquid is pumped into big vessel whose temperature is maintained between 12 and 15 degrees centigrade to allow for proper fermentation. When the fermentation is complete we then have unclear beer which after filtration is fit for packaging.

The packaging line on the other hand typically has two main sections. The wet end; comprising bottle washing, filling, pasteurizing and labeling and the dry end comprising the depallatizer, uncaser, palletizer and caser. The setup is such all the machines work in sequence with one machine applying its process on the bottles before they move to the next. Fortunately, with packaging lines the machines are named according to what they do hence making the process flow almost self-explanatory although each individual machine is extremely complex and needs really competent people to operate and maintain.

I recall very clearly sometime after an office party on a Friday the night before, that it was my turn to run the next day shift. I got into the factory, did my set up routine and started the bottle washer. On this particular day, the plant was so dirty because the cleaners’ contracts had been terminated. In addition, most of my crew came in so late given that most had left the company party late the previous day and so most of the startup work was all left to myself and the few people present. This was not a good way to start as we were overloaded with work.

For some reason the bottle washer took more than 6 hours to heat up to its normal temperature instead of 2 hours and when it did the temperature shot up to above normal. This was one of the unusual things that used to happen on this old line. When the bottles got out of the washer they all had a white coating of caustic (bottle washer detergent) called caustic bloom on them. Still being inexperienced on the philosophy of the packaging machines, I  decided to add more caustic to the washer tanks thinking that since it’s a detergent the bottles would come out cleaner. This instead made the bottles worse. The actual solution was to somehow drop the temperature. On that day, I got a quite a tongue lash from the Operations Director who had dropped by to see how the line was performing over the weekend.

After the second month on the job, I realised that my induction was not thorough and that I would have to rekindle an old habit of mine – I started reading about the philosophy of beer production lines

After the second month on the job, I realised that my induction was not thorough and that I would have to rekindle an old habit of mine – I started reading about the philosophy of beer production lines

While at this, the production line broke down even more frequently for the next 3 months. I was at breaking point. I had had enough and requested for an opportunity to overhaul the entire line to try and perform “surgery”. Surprisingly, my team and I eventually became very proficient at fixing issues related to production lines. I personally thank God for this opportunity because I was able to train myself on the production line philosophy – I could troubleshoot almost any issue that came up. But this meant I was on call full time even when I was off duty. You can imagine how much of a toll this took on my social life once again.

Four months after the “surgery”, production on the line stabilised to about 7,000 – 8,000 cases per day and plateaued for another six months. But the line resumed its past behaviour and it became too expensive to operate. An executive decision was taken to replace this line with a new one.

Prior to the installation of the new line, my technicians and I were taken to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in Germany for training. It is during this training that the difference between someone with experience born out of past intelligent guess work versus experience based on the understanding of the philosophy of the beer processing machinery finally hit home. I was now able to comprehend why something on the production line has failed.

Prior to the installation of the new line, my technicians and I were taken to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in Germany for training. It is during this training that the difference between someone with experience born out of past intelligent guess work versus experience based on the understanding of the philosophy of the beer processing machinery finally hit home. I was now able to comprehend why something on the production line has failed

Figure 2: Myself top left and a fellow packaging shift manager top right plus technicians below undergoing training at the OEM (Krones) in Germany

The new line was eventually installed. It was a clean and neatly built with sufficient room for routine operation and maintenance work. From my computer, I could tell where a problem had occurred if there was any at all.

A new opportunity out of my native country

I received what I considered to be a better offer outside my native country and I decided to take it in order to build my profile further.

Figure 3: The view at the roof top of my new factory. Below are beer fermentation and storage tanks

I was a brewing engineer for one month and was promoted to Packaging Manager a month after my arrival. This new station had its own cocktail of problems.

1. The operators had very low skill levels.
2. There was a major language barrier amongst myself and the operators. Explaining certain key concepts (philosophy) about the production line was extremely difficult.
3. The workers in this new station had a very militant attitude to work – possibly as a spillover from the hostile political environment in the country.
4. There was a lot of short term thinking around the work place and a very poor maintenance culture – fix it when it fails.

Unfortunately, the production line (factory) had been set up by individuals who were very skilled but had not been very successful at transferring knowledge – possibly because they considered some of the operators too incompetent; when things did not work, we were labeled poor and incompetent managers.

All this resulted in a lot of production pressure. I found myself dropping down more than two ranks below mine to execute work which could have otherwise gone undone by the operators, artisans/technicians and team leaders. The training needs were just too overwhelming.

The factory had 6 lines;

1. A water line – which was decommissioned because the production of water ceased to be lucrative as a result of external competition.
2. A Chinese PET soda line
3. An old Glass beer line/Soda line
4. A new beer glass line which was being installed to replace the old beer line
5. A PET spirit line
6. A new soda PET line from Germany – which was installed to replace an extremely unreliable Chinese PET soda line.

Why was the Chinese soda line being replaced by the German PET line?

The Chinese soda line gave us a lot of trouble. Its bottle filler was under filling and its bottle lifters were leaking too frequently because they had inferior seals. We made several modifications on this line to improve performance. Unfortunately, our OEM for this line provided poor support. At some point we requested for a team of technicians from the OEM to come and rectify a long standing problems with its blow-molder (takes in PET preforms and produces bottles) and filler machines. The technicians came and worked for a month but were defeated and instead recommended that we purchase another line of the same make. In my opinion, this was a crazy suggestion.

For some reasons which I have never come to terms with, a decision was taken above my level to purchase a new blow-molder on the advice of the OEM. It only worked for three months and it was declared unusable.

This soda line stretched our asset care team so thin to the extent that less and less attention was being paid to the new beer line which was the main cash cow. We hardly went any single night without call outs to go back to the plant and fix something. We were now being blamed for having a reduced daily output from the new beer line yet these constant call outs meant poor sleep hence a toll on our health.

This soda line stretched our asset care team so thin to the extent that less and less attention was being paid to the new beer line which was the main cash cow. We hardly went any single night without call outs to go back to the plant and fix something. We were now being blamed for having a reduced daily output from the new beer line yet these constant call outs meant poor sleep hence a toll on our health

How are things at the factory right now?

After we decommissioned the poor lines – specifically the old beer line, the water line and Chinese PET soda line, we now had time to focus on the three remaining lines. I must say this is when our real prowess was seen. We instituted good maintenance and problem solving routines which saw the machine efficiency of the factory move from a paltry 60% to an average of 92%. In my opinion, this was really a great achievement because anything from 90% and above is world class performance in the beer industry.

We were now able to take some time off for once because the plant was finally stable and steady.

Unfortunately, the economic climate became unfavourable and the company took a decision to cease production. During my last days in the factory, I have largely been mothballing the plant.

What is mothballing and why are you doing it?

Mothballing is activity in which an idle plant is put into a deactivated state and in some cases stored away in a preserved state such that in case it is required to come on line, production can restart at minimum cost.

A factory plant is built to operate full time. This in away also helps preserve it. While in operation, the operating temperatures are high and by default moisture is kept out. When a plant goes idle, it cools; moisture eventually seeps in and condenses. When this moisture gets into contact with oxygen, the resulting effect is rust and corrosion.

If you do not take measures to protect the plant when production has ceased, it is likely that if there is a requirement to restart production after about six months, it may require a total overhaul which may cost as much as half the value of plant which is an undesirable situation for anyone in the manufacturing business. The longer the idle time, the worse it gets and in some cases if mothballing was not done, the cost of repair may be as much as the cost of new plant.

Now that production has ceased what next for your career?

I will be moving on to my next station, armed with a wealth of experience and I will be very glad to share with you any new experiences as they unfold.

What are the some of the greatest lessons that you have learnt along the way?

1. Certain aspects related to the refurbishment of major factory equipment can be done by in-house resources but it is risky if you are always doing this in-house because you can mess up an entire production line. I recommend that it is better to call in the seasoned expertise from the OEM to come in and fix major maintenance works. They have to work with the local teams and this helps improve the skill and knowledge of the plant maintenance and production personnel.

2. While I was a planning engineer at the cement factory, I realised that it is very important to be present during the execution of refurbishment works which you have planned. You are bound to notice certain flaws in your planning which will help you improve your planning skills in future.

3. We need to beware that some of the machinery being sold out there is made by below par OEMs especially from China. I remember one scenario where we required a new part and could not find the replacement part number in the manual which was in our possession. We called the OEM who sent us a replacement part which could not fit yet this is a machine they had manufactured.

4. As a manager in whatever position you hold, you must pass on knowledge. It is the surest way to become better at what you do. If you are a manager and you do not train the people around you, you will literally do most of the work which should otherwise be done by your subordinates.

5. At startup of a plant or anything new that needs routine operation and maintenance, no matter how much training you give, there will always be mistakes made by operators. It is normal and it is part of the learning curve.

6. For the installation of new lines different teams are usually involved. There are the trainers – who are very friendly. The installation team – who can at times be very mean and racist and finally the commissioning team. I observed some installation work and my God, there are some good stainless steel fabricators in Europe. You see, stainless steel is required in the processing industry because it does not rust and will protect the final products (beer in this case) from the rusty feel/taste which would otherwise result from using an alternative steel material which is prone to rust. The thing is these welders are a scarce commodity especially in East Africa and are probably very highly paid.

Conclusion

Listening to George led me to flash back  on my own career. As a small boy, I was fascinated by built environment and because of that I decided to study civil engineering. During my formative years after university I did not know what branch of engineering I would eventually do but today I love what I am doing.

A career is therefore not a straight path. Sometimes we determine our career paths but most times fate dictates what we will do in our professional life.

© The Builders’ Garage 2016. Permission to use this article or quotations from it is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to thebuildersgarage.com as the source.