As the plant engineer for the Polypet division, I specialize in projects, be those big new machines installations or small continuous improvement projects. This exposes me to various areas of the plant, and allows me to practice project management on different levels.As the Services Maintenance Manager, my responsibilities are to lo look after all the auxiliary service equipment required to create our packaging products. This includes maintenance on Screw and Piston compressors, Chillers, Cooling towers, and Pumps. Generators also fall into our department.We are a small team of skilled members, who plan preventative maintenance, action the services, and are quick to perform repairs in the event of breakdowns. Over and above maintenance tasks, we also work on improvements to service equipment

Diplomat Distributors allowed me to experience the world of FMCG from the front lines. From the get-go, I was directly exposed to all parts of the business. This included everything from customer visits with sales representatives, in both the wholesale and informal markets, the warehousing, picking and loading of deliveries, to the final delivery of orders. This allowed me to identify problems or parts of processes that could be approved upon.My responsibilities included looking at sales rep routes, and optimizing them for lowest cost, with greatest coverage; warehouse optimization, to allow the shortest travel distance for pickers, while arranging products in an optimal, fast mover vs ease of picking arrangement; delivery route optimization based on average orders and distance traveled by our trucks; fleet optimization based on delivery size and route distance; investigating and research into new equipment, new warehousing facilities, and tools to assist the business

I worked again as a Vacation working student, this time at Sasol Nitro (fertilizers). the task assigned to me, was to design a control model for a batch dosing tank. The tank was used to control pH levels in the ammonium nitrate, before it was transported. the control model was designed using actual measurements and time studies done on shift, on the batch tanks (sometimes requiring to be on site at 4AM!). The model was a reasonable success, but did not guarantee a 100% accuracy. The recommendation was that more time be spent taking the readings for the dosing of the ammonium nitrate, to eliminate any outlying data.

I worked as a vacation working student at the Sasol Polymers polypropylene plant in Secunda, Mpumalanga. This was my first experience working on a chemical plant, and i loved it! i was tasked with designing a pump system to replace an outdated and unreliable pump. the project was a success, and after i had left to go back to university, my design was implemented.