University: The University of Sheffield

Year of Graduation: 2005

Degree Studied: PhD Automatic Control & Systems Engineering

Graduate or Industrial Placement: Graduate

Current Responsibilities: Technical Leader of Manchester Babycare Line 9

Responsibilities include:

• Increase the production efficiency and reduce breakdowns process issues on one of the production lines by developing and executing the maintenance calendar.
• Control the cost to maintain and run the line, making sure to not overspend v's budget.
• Coach and support team members to increase technical capabilities.

Location

Oct 2005 - Oct 2007: Area 2 and Area 3 Leader in Technical Support Team - Providing long-term and short-term technical solutions to the production issues on a daily basis. Working with P&G’s global technical support team to update the technical standards applied on the production lines.

Oct 2007 – Present: Line 9 Technical Leader

Experiences & Impressions:

I graduated in 2005 from The University of Sheffield with a PhD degree in Automatic Control & Systems Engineering. After graduation, I joined Procter & Gamble, Babycare, Manchester as a Technical Manager.  My job was to provide daily support to the operation teams for the short term and long term technical issues. Additionally, I led the roll out of a new process tracking tool across all the production lines within the plant. During this time, not only did I develop my project management skills, but I was exposed to most of the staff on site during the training process and started building up a good relationship with people.

After the role in technical support team, I moved to the operation team of line 9 and became the technical leader of the line in October 2007. In this role, I got more opportunities to really understand the running process of a line and, more importantly, to build a solid relationship with the technicians working on line, which is very beneficial for me to drive the performance of the production line. Our line is currently delivering benchmark production results within P&G. We are going to undergo a huge initiative in September 2008 and we are making every preparation to make sure the line will go through that smoothly.

University: Strathclyde

Year of Graduation: 2005

Degree Studied: BEng (Hons) Chemical Engineering

Entry route to P&G: Direct, full time entry after graduation

Current Role: Process Engineer

Location: Seaton Delaval Plant, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

Current Responsibilities:

For the last two years since starting at P&G I have worked as a Process Engineer on our highest speed colourants packing production line. This line produces Nice ‘N Easy and Herbal Essences hair colour packs for all over the world and is a critical production line for the business due to the high volume demands for these brands – an exciting and challenging role for a new graduate offering exposure to senior management and even company directors!

Working in the manufacturing operation at P&G my main responsibilities are safety, quality and reliability. The majority of my time is spent working with line technicians on “root causing” issues that have decreased efficiencies. This not only offers significant team working and problem solving opportunities, but rapidly developed my leadership skills as I was soon charged with setting the daily direction and priorities for technicians of up to 25 years more industrial experience than me!

Working in the Product Supply division of Procter & Gamble, I also have interaction externally with suppliers and internally with Logistics, Finance, R&D, Purchasing and Brand; particularly regarding new product development and initiatives. In Product Supply you really are at beginning your career in the very core of the company and if there are reliability problems on my production line it can impact the amount of stock on the shelves in stores. If this happens, the entire supply chain and business begins to know about it and you quickly learn the importance of ensuring this is avoided!

All in all, Manufacturing Process Engineering is a challenging but exciting introduction to Procter & Gamble and has consistently proven to be a strong breeding ground for senior managers within the company. The interpersonal skills, project management skills and general business skills learned in this role will stand you in good stead for the rest of your career and can quickly present opportunities for department manager roles and beyond.

A Day in the Life….

8am - Morning Meeting on production line to review previous 24hrs performance and set direction for day ahead.

9.30am - Spend time on the production line coaching operating teams through technical problem solving techniques & understanding material/machine interactions to develop optimum equipment set up.

11am - 1-1 training with line Rapid Changeover owner.

12pm - Lunch at the canteen!

1pm - Site Leadership meeting: Safety/Quality results review.

2pm - Initiative review, eg. discover the new Nice N Easy pack design for launch!

3pm - Sit down at my desk for a change! Check emails, analyse day shift performance data.

5pm - Leave work for company 5-a-side league match!