Engineering Sustainability Associate Review

Working as part of the Leicester Site Engineering team within manufacturing sustainability team, there is no day of the same. On a day to day basis placement students can expect to:
- Work on individual tasked projects and simultaneously working with larger groups on projects
- Understanding manufacturing process to increase efficiency
- Make small change big impact on utilities i.e. Water, Gas & Electricity
- Implement measurement tools to track utility usage
- Improve visibility of utility usage across factory
- Innovate and implement new ideas into the manufacturing process to gain efficiency or sustainability gains
- Work with the ReCon team to help improve and sustain PepsiCo's sustainability goals
As part of the placement the individual will be working with the wider team cross functionally aiding other departments such as R&D, quality, maintenance etc.

In the first couple of months of joining you begin to get to grips of the business from understanding the departments to the manufacturing process in the factories. I was given initial projects to follow with a team, however i quickly gained the confidence and responsibility of managing my own projects of what i found interesting in the business. Within a few months i was no longer treated as a placement student but a member of the team. Responsibility has increased as confidence grows. If you are willing to take on work and are passionate about the job and work involved the responsibility will quickly be given to you.

My communication skills have improved through liaising with suppliers and contractors. I have gained skills in the organization of people skills. My excel skills have been improved through the use of excel in my day-to-day job. My general organization skills have been improved through managing my workload. My presentations skills have improved whether that be creating concise slides or presenting my slide to key stakeholders. Project management has been a key development skill as well as time management.

From day one you are given support through your team and wider team should you need it. Everyone i have come across have been extremely supportive and helpful working whether that be within my team or cross functionally. Mentor wise it depends on what you ask of and what guidance you need, if you are open about the support you need it will be given to you. PepsiCo is a very big business with lots of help at hand.

The culture has been extremely lively and happy to help whenever needed. Everyone who is anyone will take out time should you ask whether that be staff in the factory and office to the manufacturing director and SLT (senior leadership team). There's great perks from working at PepsiCo and especially the Leicester site, whether that be the free crisps, health checks, religious festival celebrations and of course the subsidized staff shop of PepsiCo products.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement. The placement has given me great insight into the engineering world. Since the very first day i was hooked and quickly became passionate of the work i'm involved in. I have absolutely loved meeting new people from all parts of the business as well as outside the business. I love that PepsiCo have multiple placement students who share similar experiences as well as being able to meet other placement students in the UK.

Yes