Howdy! Here we are for another update on how my internship is going, which will be my second to last official post about it. This is the last one that I actually have to do, but I'll probably do one more for the last 2 weeks as a final wrap-up of all the events of the summer. I will say, I'll be in a much better mood when I'm back in Texas and done with Georgia. Don't get me wrong, Georgia is nice, but it's not home and will never feel like it is. Regardless, let's go over the last couple of weeks to see what I've been up to, shall we?
Week 10:
This week had me working in the grinds area of production. As a grinds tech, there's a good bit that has to be done, but it's not difficult. In this facility, there are 2 grinds lines that produce for Aldi, using the meat that is blended and ground in-house, and 3 lines that use ground beef that is shipped in from other plants to make Kroger's products. Since the QA on the Kroger lines was already training another person, I helped out with the other lines. Since the 2 Aldi lines use meat that is ground at the plant, radio communication is critical so they know what product is being sent to which line. For example, the operator in the control room may send 90/10 ground sirloin to line 6, so they will tell the QA in that area which batch they are sending to allow the line operators to verify that the correct packaging and labels are ready. When a new batch is made, the control room operator informs the QAs of the content of the batch, what blender it's in, how much it weighs, and what combo bins were used to make that blend. Only the blends room QA needs to know what combos were used, but both QAs need the rest of that information. When the meat finally reaches the hopper in the grinds area to begin processing, the QA has to record the time that it starts and the time that it ends. This helps keep track of the blends so if something does happen to it, the problem can be traced back.
At least every 4 hours, the hoppers on each line need to be broken down and inspected by the QA in that area to verify that the blades and metal aren't chipped or broken. This ensures that the product isn't contaminated and is safely produced. Typically, the equipment is broken down more frequently, and must be broken down anytime 90/10 sirloin is being produced. When the equipment has been broken down, the QA checks the equipment and takes pictures of all the pieces to verify that they have been inspected, then records that information on their tablet so that it can be ready to go for the next batch of meat. The only exception to checking the plates is when line 6 is running patties, because there isn't a metal plate used at that time. Another critical task of the grinds QAs is the belt inspections to verify that none of the belts are frayed or chipped. Again, this prevents contamination since the belts are plastic and most people would say that plastic doesn't pair well with their hamburger. One method to complete this is to check the belts as you're walking around, which saves time since you aren't going out of the way. When it comes to belts, it's super important to know the weak spots so you know exactly where to look first when inspecting each belt. As long as there isn't any evidence of tearing or foreign material, that belt can be passed.
One of the main things that the grinds QA does is checking the metal detectors hourly. These metal detectors are special because they're the CCP metal detectors. CCP stands for Critical Control Point, so since these are in the grinds area, they are considered a CCP. Also, I wrote CCP quite a bit, it's almost like a tongue twister. Try saying that 5 times fast. Anyways, the metal detectors are pretty much the most exciting thing in this area, mainly because everything else is boring. Just like the other metal detectors, the tester runs 3 metal sticks through to make sure it's working, then records the time that they performed their check. Since the detectors on the grinds lines are CCPs, they get to be recorded on a different form. It looks the exact same as the other form, just has a different title. When a metal detector does stop the line, it's usually for one of two reasons: 1. there's metal or 2. the line got backed up. If the first option occurs, an investigation begins to determine the source of the metal. Whoever is running that line will alert the QA so they can rerun the meat that had a metal hit. This allows them to narrow down exactly which package had a problem so they can retrieve the metal or foreign material. If metal is detected, the light next to the detector will flash orange. If that light is red, then the line is backed up and the sensor got blocked, so it has to be cleared up and reset. Regardless of why, anytime a metal detector stops, the time has to be recorded.
While I was in grinds, there was only one day where both of the lines were running, so it was pretty boring most of the time. I feel that the QA in this position could handle a little bit more responsibility, perhaps splitting some with the other Grinds QA who has more to do. That's just one option, I'm sure there are other things that could be done.
Week 11:
This week has been a hot mess pretty much the entire time. On Monday, I stayed in grinds because no one knew where I was supposed to go next. Since the manager was gone on family business and didn't tell the supervisor where I was supposed to go, so we just guessed. It was more entertaining on this day because both lines were running for the full shift, so we weren't just standing around half the time. Monday was rough because I was still recovering from going backroading until 2 in the morning on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I've decided that sometimes I would rather just sleep, and by sometimes, I mean all the time. I would love to just sleep in an extra day and not have anything expected of me, but I don't get to make the rules. On Tuesday and Thursday, I went back to help out the debag QA which was pretty much the same as it was before. Since there's so much to do in just that position, I like to go back and help whenever I can. Our debag QA is always so relieved when I come walking up because they know that having me makes their job less stressful and more efficiently done. Well technically, I started with Gas and Burst on Tuesday, but the QA ended up coming in so then I went over to Debag. I'm pretty much just reviewing each position for the last couple of weeks since I'll be bouncing around to help wherever it's needed.
Wednesday, I started learning Dry Goods, which was surprisingly easier than I thought. It's definitely a position where you stay busy, but nowhere near the amount done in blends or debag. Before even starting, you have to get the tare sheet, which lists the tares of each product that will be measured. What's nice about this position is that you don't have to record information from each pallet of boxes that get used, just one from each lot or shipment that comes into the plant. At the start of each day, the dry goods tech calibrates the scale to ensure that each item weighed will show the correct weight, especially since the weights of each item are so small. The items in question are boxes, labels, and trays, so duh, they won't be super heavy. Literally, the boxes are only a couple of pounds and the labels are so light we can only weigh them in stacks of 20. Each item has to be weighed to that the correct tare is recorded on the label of the package when it's in the store. For boxes, we weighed out 20 individual boxes, then weighed all 20 together, and finally weighed 4 more sets of 20 boxes to total 100 boxes. After the weights have been recorded, we measured the length, width, and depth of one of the boxes to make sure they are the correct dimensions. The last step for the boxes is to make sure that all of the markings on the boxes are clear and not faded. When we moved on to labels, it's not like we could weigh them individually, so we made 5 stacks of 20, again, to equal 100. Then, much like the boxes, we measured the dimensions of each label, but just the length and width of them. Kind of hard to measure the depth of a literal sticker. Finally, onto the foam and lidstock (plastic) trays. Information for these is recorded in the same manner, so I only have to explain it once. The only difference, other than the material, is that lidstock trays are used for MAP and the foam trays are used for overwrap. Much like the boxes, 20 are weighed individually, then in 5 groups of 20 to reach a grand total of, you guessed it, 100. For the dimensions, we measured the length, width, and depth of the tray itself, then the width and depth of the lip of each side on a single tray. That's pretty much all that we do, so it's pretty easy and you stay busy, but not overwhelmed. One more little thing that has to get done is signing a form in the receiving department, but that takes a whole 2 minutes to do.
On Friday, I started with dry goods, but a homie wasn't feeling too hot, so I ended up leaving after our first break. I literally thought I was going to pass out, so I went back to my hotel room and slept the rest of the day, with some Gatorade of course. I'll be sticking with dry goods for the next few days to really make sure I know the position well, then I can end in slicing.
Anyways, that's pretty much it, and apologies for not having a fun picture for this post, but I don't exactly get to take pictures at work, so y'all don't get to see anything cool. Like I said earlier, this is my last official post for my internship and I will be back in 2 weeks! Knowing I'm almost done and will get to see all my people again soon is what's keeping me going at this point. There are so many things I didn't think I'd miss, so I think I'll keep a list of everything I want to do and everywhere I want to go when I get back, or I'll sleep for a week, who knows? Okay bye! :)
Update: Sike I do have a picture to post because I've elected myself head of the Meme committee, so I just make work-related memes for the office. I also decorate the dry erase boards when I'm bored, so I'll try to get a picture of those before I leave!
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