Thu Ra '12

The fifth week was the week in which I had to work independently, for the most part, as my supervisor had a conference in Chicago for most of the week. The new responsibilities that he assigned me were mostly about dealing with people. That was a tough week of new exploration. I had to go around the plant and do random weighing, track the system, and check the overweight periods.

Random weighing was aggravating for me because I did not know exactly where the production lines were, and I did not even know how to extract sample weights from those lines. I went around the plant figuring out how things work. I Googled the key word “Quaker Oats Plant” hoping to find some sort of information, but no internal data about the factory or even a photo was on the Internet. I tried to find the shift leads who know a lot about production lines and who can explain them to me. However, none of them were around most of the time. Luckily, I paged a shift lead that was on duty. She came and helped show me where all the production lines were and how to extract sample weights. Once I knew how things work exactly, it was not difficult at all anymore.

Tracking the system for the overweight periods was motivating as, in the whole week, I did not really find any significant overweight periods. It seems like the new solutions that we have been trying to implement are working.

fourth week

This week is mostly about training for the newest phase of the project: implementing the strategies. Some of my responsibilities include randomly weighing the packs to test the bias of the operators in picking the test weights. I also have to watch the tracking system and find the periods where consistent overweight problems are occurring. Once I find it, I am supposed to go to the shift leaders and operators and find the reasons behind the overweight problem. That information will then be used in developing possible solutions for reducing the over pack problems.

This is exciting because I am assigned to work in more practical parts of Supply Chain Management. On the other hand, these new responsibilities are also a new challenge for me to face as an intern because I have to communicate with a lot of different people other than my supervisor. As an intern, I have to survive by not going to the extreme in communicating with people. While I do not want to give off an impression of overconfidence, as I am just an intern and am sometimes viewed as someone with no knowledge and experience about the plant by others who work here, I also do not want to be a difficult person to communicate with. I have to try to be someone who is friendly, willing to learn and easy to work with. Overall, though, I am excited for my new responsibilities.

third week

So far each week has been a different learning experience for me here at Quaker. Our project concerning the reduction of over-packing problems is in the transition stage from analyzing data to implementing the strategies. We have found several problems with the types of ingredients being used, as well as the computerized warnings given to the operators, and the mentality of the operators in regards to the weight of the pouches and ensuring that they are not going under the legal control limits. Next week we are going to focus on how to remove these problems in an organized manner with the least amount of intervention.

I have been collecting and analyzing various data from the tracking systems. It feels really good to see the various managers using the data I collected in the meetings. At the same time though, the fact that the whole system depends heavily on the data that I have been collecting adds more pressure for me to make sure that I am not making any mistakes.

One of the greatest things about my supervisor is that he does not treat me like an intern, but more like a coworker. He takes me to all the meetings and sessions which are related to the project I am working on, introduces me to different people, lets me work on all the analyzing processes rather than just basic paper work. He also asks me for my opinion about the strategy and appreciates my opinions, even though I just arrived two weeks ago and have very limited knowledge in regards to the whole process. I feel that with the support of my supervisor what I gain and learn from this experience has only increased.

Due to this internship, I have been missing the Fifa World Cup for the first time in eight years – which is three cups. However, I don’t feel bad about these missed soccer games because I have been getting the chance to be participating in the real life “game.”

second week

It is already my second week working at Quaker. I am getting familiar with the procedures, the environment and the jargons. In the meetings, I can understand what everyone is talking about. In the plant, when I have to go around for data collecting and checking up the computers, I know where I am walking. When my supervisor discusses the Lean Sigma Strategy with me, it is not a supply chain management strategy that means nothing to me apart from the fact that it sounds really cool and complicated anymore. Now it is a strategy I can ask questions about and generally understand the process of. The second week was a great learning experience although I still have a lot of space to improve on.

On Friday, Human Resource arranged for all of the summer interns to meet with the executive group of the Cedar Rapids Quaker. Everyone, both interns and executive managers, talked about his or her own background in order to get to know each other. It was really interesting and inspiring to know about how they stepped up after college to get senior roles in a company like Quaker. It also made me understand that everyone has to start from the basics to be on the top of the world. Everyone has to invest a lot of energy, dedication and time. It was a great chance to talk with them.

Second day of work

This summer I am working on a supply chain management project for Quaker Oats in order to reduce over-packing problems and improve the efficiency of production lines. It was my second day of work, and I had to wake up at 4 am to get ready. There is a meeting at 6 am with the night shift before they leave for the night. It is really early for a college student, but when I get to work at 5:30 my supervisor – who has a black belt in Lean Six Sigma Strategy – is already there getting ready for the meeting and the rest of his day.

At the meeting they discussed the various over-packing problems. The night shift leads have identified the possible reasons why over-packing problems are occurring. They also discussed possible strategies to solve the problems. Throughout the meeting they were using a lot of jargon, and the majority of what I wrote down that I wanted to ask about later was jargon that I didn’t understand. One thing that amazed me from the meeting was that they can save $200,000 in a week if they can solve the over-packing problem.

After the meeting, my duties were to match the labeled weights of the products at the production lines with the labeled weights in the main system. I had to go to the computers at the production lines and check whether they were accurate or not. It was an introduction for me to the factory. The Quaker Oats factory in Cedar Rapids is one of the biggest cereal mills in the world. Walking around the factory to find the production lines that I wanted was a difficult job to the size of the factory. However, I managed to find all the lines that I wanted, discovered an error, and became much more familiar with the floor plan of the factory.

In our project we are using Lean Six Sigma Strategy to improve efficiency, as well as solve the over-packing problem. There are different phases in the strategy: identify the problem, collect data, develop strategies, implement strategies, and improve efficiency. We are currently in the collect data phase. For the afternoon, I had to analyze the data from the tracking system and identify the production lines and times where the over-packing problems were occurring.

At two, I had to get to a training session for the tracking tool they use to collect all the data about the production. My supervisor then took me to a meeting where he introduced me to the engineers and operations managers who I will work with on the project. Overall it was a busy day of work, but I enjoyed the experience, the things I learned, and the feeling of being in a professional environment.