Freeze Dry Process Intern Review

I track the freeze-dried coffee production daily and record when equipment is not being run and the reason for these stops. I also support process engineers and help to find solutions to day-to-day problems that impact system efficiency. I attend numerous weekly and daily meetings to inform on the status of equipment and facilities to help plan and adjust production targets. I am part of pillars which help to drive improvement in certain areas, such as standardisation of document use.

I have had the opportunity to extensively develop my Excel skills, which will be a great help in the future. I have also greatly improved my presentation skills as I have had to communicate in many different styles and to many different audiences. I have learnt how to use manufacturing software like, Phoenix Package, SCADA and SAP as well as extended my knowledge of Microsoft package by learning how to use Power BI. Lastly, I learnt how to dynamically change work priorities based on problems that come up.

I feel that I have been given a lot of responsibility for major projects and key activities to drive factory improvement and improve factory performance. It gave me a lot of autonomy to complete certain tasks with support when needed, but most importantly I was able to figure out what to do on my own first. Towards the end of my placement I had the responsibility of training my replacement with a big focus on ensuring they knew how to complete day-to day tasks but also had enough knowledge to know how to start tackling problems that would come up that were new.

I felt that I had a lot of support during my placement, not only from my manager and direct team, but also from other departments and colleagues in the business. My manager and I set out targets to work to, based on what I wanted to achieve by the end of my year with the company, and on a weekly basis we would meet and review my weekly goals and ensure that they were aligned with my overreaching targets.

The company culture was very friendly, and everyone would be happy to help out if you needed any help. People would often take an interest in your personal life as well, and make sure to ask how you were doing which makes is feel more personal and fosters an environment where you can have work colleagues become your friends even when they move to other departments or make career changes. As an intern cohort we were able to have many activities to develop our interpersonal relationships.

I learnt a great deal during my placement and the skills I gained and the growth I achieved as a person made me a more confident individual. I really enjoyed being in a manufacturing environment and having hands-on experience of the industry will place me very well when applying for future opportunities such as grad roles. This experience was amazing and led me to make choices on what I definitely want from a future career, such as industry, location and work style.

Yes

Do your research and make sure that you know the aims and what the company stands for as well as their vision for their own future. These are all things that you should be able to find on their information on their website. For the interviews and the assessment centres make sure that you revise key engineering principles as there are some competency-based questions. But on the whole just be yourself, they are trying to see what you are like and judge how that will fit with their teams.