A DEGREE IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA CAN TAKE YOU ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

Industrial engineering and its applications are endless. From working in a bank, a factory or a mining corporation, efficiency and the need to streamline processes are crucial. In 2024, I was once again made aware that industrial engineers are in demand. I was fortunate enough to be an intern at the wine farm, Babylonstoren, in Paarl, in the Western Cape. During my four weeks as an intern working in fresh produce, the areas in which the expertise of an industrial engineer is needed stood out. I was awarded the opportunity to freely investigate and assess any areas of improvement Babylonstoren’s fresh produce factory needed and pitch possible solutions.

The area I deemed most in need of process improvement was its data capturing system, which the managers utilise to make an inventory and order management decisions. The need was for the data system to represent the activities that occur on the factory floor as accurately as possible. What this entailed was first understanding each process occurring on the floor, how the sequence of events flows, and why certain tasks are completed in certain ways. I cannot express how important it is to understand each activity of the process one is hoping to improve. If an industrial engineer cannot partake in those activities to understand how they operate, their solution will not have the optimal benefit.

In my case, this included working with the staff and cleaning and packaging the products. I worked on the packaging line and in the refrigerated rooms to experience the difficulties the workers faced. This ultimately made the solution to the factory’s inaccurate data capturing clear. The staff was unaware of the importance of accurate data capturing. It benefits both the staff members and their managers, as it ensures inventory levels are always maintained, cutting down on the stress experienced when a client orders a product, but the required stock to fill the order is absent. Managerial benefits lie in not over-ordering stock, which leads to less produce spoilage since the correct data to represent the present stock levels is always available.

The process of improving the data capturing system was to put Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place that detail when certain data needs to be handed in so it can be entered into the factory's database. Staff members were trained on the new SOPs. However, the initial testing of the SOPs presented problems, as the staff would forget certain forms due to several changes being implemented in their daily routines. To counteract these mishaps, I created a workflow chart. Simply put, a workflow chart creatively represents the new workflow sequence of the factory according to stipulated time slots. To ensure adherence, the vegetable team’s workflow chart was printed very large and hung in the factory so that any worker could consult the chart at any time to correctly identify when their data needs to be submitted. This ensured that the sequence of data entry was not disrupted.

Once the charts were implemented, a drastic decrease in data submission errors occurred, due to a simple tool being utilised to ensure the required information was always accessible to the staff. To me, industrial engineering is about assessing the process as thoroughly and in as hands-on a manner as possible, understanding the tasks performed by each staff member, and designing and implementing a solution appropriate for each task. After all, you are there to help the staff members complete their daily duties more effectively and as simply as possible.

By implementing standard processes, training the staff on correct data capturing procedures, and ensuring that all the required information was accessible, I identified a 75% improvement in the accuracy with which the data system could represent the activities on the factory floor. The managers are now in a more favourable position to use the available data to make informed inventory and order management decisions as they can trust the data available to them.

Juani Snyman