A Different Taste of Industry

By Guest Blogger Lauren Moody

This fall I am working at Anheuser-Busch in Williamsburg, VA and it has been a great experience. Williamsburg has so much to do like Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, and an easy drive to Richmond or Virginia Beach! I felt so welcomed from my first day on the job. I was assigned to the can side of the operations department, but every area has welcomed me and allowed me to experience their process. From my first week until now, I’ve been learning something new every day. I’ve been able to get on the job training (OJT) to learn the entire process of how cans and bottles are filled, packaged, and shipped. In one week I’ll be going to brewing to get OJT to learn how the beverages are made and every step leading up to filling the cans and bottles.

One of my main projects is focused on improving SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). The best part about this is being able to learn all the different tasks that go into making the operations department run smoothly. I’ve also had the opportunity to optimize different conversions using tools like a spaghetti diagram. There have also been many opportunities for me to help implement new initiatives from zone to help strengthen our SDCA (Standardize Do Check Act) cycle. It’s really neat to see how the whole company works together to standardize to make sure that every drink tastes the same, no matter what brewery it came from.

Of course, I couldn’t stay away from paper. I was quickly included in the QA side of the operation after QA realized I had experience in the paper industry (and I loved paper!). The best part was teaching some of them how paper is made, especially how much goes into making it! I was able to use my Handbook for Pulp and Paper Technologists by G. A. Smook (yes, I am a nerd and take my handbook everywhere ) to show them a lot about the different grades of paper they use and what things we should be looking at to make sure our process runs well. They were so excited to have someone who had actually studied paper there to teach them. Then it hit me how much I have learned in Paper Science and Engineering thus far and how easily I was able to relate it to this application thanks to all the wonderful staff in the PSE department. The amount of hands on classes and real life application we get in PSE is priceless. It just goes to show that you can apply your PSE degree to any industry!

Cheers!

Lauren Moody