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Asahi Beverages

3.3
  • 1,000 - 50,000 employees

Jacinta Poon

5.20 AM 

The Abbotsford brewery runs 24 hours a day, six days a week (7 during peak times), with three 8-hour shifts across the day. I am currently working the day shift, running from 6 am to 2 pm. 

So, early morning starts this week – luckily, I live close by and there is almost no traffic on the roads. I arrive at the brewery at 5.45 am and head into the packaging hall.  

6.00 AM 

As I walk through the packaging hall, I like to check up on how the line is running from the shift before – this morning we are running Carlton Dry Cans, 24-packs. I then head to the packaging office, and do a handover with last shifts team leader, getting an update with any issues on the line and how the current run is going.  

Jacinta checking beers can

6.30 AM 

I quickly run over any emails or notifications before gathering up my team to run through what the day is looking like. I am a Team Leader on the Can line, leading a team of nine machine operators, three mechanical fitters, and one electrician. I relay to my team any safety callouts, quality issues, and what we will are packaging for the shift. Today we are sticking to Carlton Dry but will be changing to 10-packs in the afternoon, so will need to get some preparation ready for that.  

7.00 AM 

Next is a quick catch up with the maintenance controller and unit manager to review any planned maintenance during the week. This is a good time to get an overview of how the line has been running, and if there will be any disruptions that we may need to workaround. 

checking with maintenance team

I usually try and sneak in a bit of breakfast around now, because once the line is really going, you never know when or where it’ll be all hands on deck.  

9.00 AM 

Most of my meetings and planning gets done in the first couple of hours of the shift, from then each day can be completely different. Some days everything runs perfectly, and the team and I are able to catch up on work or prepare for the next runs, but other days it feels like everyone can go wrong. 

I like to spend a lot of my time on the line itself, relaying messages to my team, checking on each of the machines’ performance, and getting a real feel for how the everything is going.  

Everything is running fairly well, so I work with the team to start some preparations on one of the machines to be able to change it from the 24-pack to a 10-pack configuration. We won’t be changing over until the afternoon shift, but it is good to get ahead where you can. Outside of that, I spend some time in the office ordering in new stock and raw materials, confirming quality checks, and working a bit of admin.  

12.00 PM  

I head down to the palletiser (the machine that stacks the slabs into a pallet) to check out an issue that the operator running the machine reported. One of the conveyor belts was moving erratically, causing issues in the run as slabs began to get blocked and were running into each other. This risked not just an unoptimized run, but also potentially damaged beer slabs.  

One of our fitters has to be brought over to get an idea of the issue – it appears that the bearing and sprocket are worn down and need to be replaced. I work with our maintenance team to source these parts and they are quickly installed, keeping the disruption to the line at a minimum.  

1.00 PM 

We are getting close to the end of our Carlton Dry run, so I work my way down the line to ensure that each machine is ready to be changed over to Mercury cider. Once we reach 26 000 cans of Carlton Dry, we begin the change.  

The line becomes a flurry of activity. The filler is flushed and cleaned of any excess beer, Mercury cans are loaded in, slabs are replaced, and we are ready to go again. Before anything is packed, we do a test run so that the cider can be tested to ensure that we are only sending the best out to Australia.  

1.30 PM 

The day has flown by! I begin to collect my results from the days run and preparing a short report on the day's activities. The next shift will be in at 2 pm, and it is best to be prepared to ensure that there is minimal downtime between shifts.  

The next team leader arrives, and I run him through how the run went as well as the issues with the palletisers earlier – so he can keep an eye on it during the afternoon shift. 

I am still relatively new in my position but leading a team has been a really great learning experience. Both the on the job learnings as well as the mentoring and support I am receiving has been a great way to develop myself.

2.15 PM 

All done for the day. I really enjoy being on the day shift, as it leaves heaps of time in the afternoon for myself and allows me to hit up a yoga session and catch up with some friends.