Day 39 - News from the North
Mick Sawyers, shift manager at the Hull factory
Hi James here, quick update with how things are going up here in Hull. We’re still very busy—lots of crops still coming on very quickly.
The day before yesterday we got 36 t-units (you may remember my discussion of thermal units earlier on) we budget for a certain level of thermal units in a season. Normally we expect to get 21 units in summer, so to get 36 is obviously—when you take and average of the max and the min—quite the warmest day for a lot of years! And in fact the first of the five groups is set to finish up harvesting middle of next week so that seems to have come very quickly, but the other four will still be busy for some time after that.
Other things going on, the ISO 14001 quality audit that Colin has been discussing is continuing in Hull. The experts had a field visit yesterday and the audit continues this morning, there are a few more things for them to look at this morning before they finish up this afternoon. It seems to be going well so far—we’re all keeping fingers crossed that everything is ok. It’s a massive achievement, so we’re all quite anxious about that!
Comments
Working at Birds Eye is the [expletive removed] thing ever. They treat us like slaves.
Posted by: colm | July 30, 2006 12:08 PM
Colm, thanks for your comment. It occurs to me I haven't spoken much about my own employment at Birds Eye.
I started with Birds Eye in 1973, believe it or not. Over the years I've had good times and bad, but overall, my experience of working here has been a rewarding one.
I'm sorry you're feeling undervalued in your job. I hope you've taken the time to discuss this with your manager. I know that the seasonal nature of our operations means the work can be demanding but it does have its compensations.
All the best,
Colin
Posted by: Colin | August 1, 2006 6:28 PM