This week I learned how to do something not that exciting but very useful for the company. I had the honor of learning how to do some billing stuff on excel for Ensz Transport. It was a little behind when handed over to me but, bit by bit I am catching up and brining the billing back up to speed and set to where we are now in the summer. It is a very long and tedious task with numerous different aspects of a bill that has to be put down in the spreadsheet, which with all these different aspects of it in the spreadsheet it makes it very simple to read for anyone looking at it. Again not very exciting but it helps the company keep track of what they are spending on what parts and tools from companies that they buy from.
Monthly Archives: June 2024
Week 6
Throughout this past week I gained a lot of knowledge behind how things change and how large corporations adjust to those changes quickly. Specifically our online platform Intellidealer was hacked and down for two days. This was a massive deal to us as we use intellidealer for just about everything we do within our work. Intellidealer holds all of our contracts, billing information, machine information, parts information and much more. To approach having this down, I created multiple spreadsheets with all of our available machines on them, this is where we tracked what machines were going out on rent since the platform was hacked. I also created a spreadsheet for our new “contracts” as we couldn’t create new contracts within the intellidealer system we had to do this on a spreadsheet just to keep everything straight on which customers were taking which machines. I also went out on the road with MJ-rental coordinator as we traveled to some current customers and stopped at a few places where we currently don’t do business with to try and get their business and help them out in ways where we can. Overall, this was a very cool experience and opened my eyes up a lot to how exactly getting/keeping good relationships with these customers works.
Week 7
Monday:
The week started with a full day spent on the road. With crops rapidly growing and fields in need of more frequent scouting, I spent the entirety of Monday driving around the state. We visited numerous fields to assess crop health, check for pests, and monitor growth progress. This field scouting is crucial as it helps us provide timely advice to farmers on necessary interventions to maximize their yield.
Tuesday:
Tuesday brought an exciting opportunity to learn about Terranus, a cutting-edge drone software used for agricultural monitoring. The software leverages satellite imagery and overhead drone data to detect weeds and assess crop health from above. The meeting was incredibly informative, offering insights into how technology is revolutionizing agriculture. After the session, it was back to the fields for more crop scouting.
Wednesday:
Wednesday was one of the busiest days of the week. The morning started with several chemical deliveries. I squeezed in some crop scouting, ensuring that the fields we visited were progressing well and identifying any immediate needs. The constant back and forth between delivery runs and field assessments kept me busy all day.
Thursday:
On Thursday, I was assigned a specific task: to pick up a pallet of chemicals from the Nutrien Hub for a customer. This involved a significant drive, approximately 3 hours each way. Despite the lengthy drive, it was satisfying to complete a task that directly supports our customers’ needs.
Friday:
Friday’s activities were dictated by the weather. With rain forecasted for most of the day, outdoor activities were limited. We managed to do some crop scouting early in the morning before the rain began. Once the weather turned I spent the rest of the day in the warehouse filling chemical orders and organizing the storage area. Additionally, I helped clean around the buildings, ensuring that our facilities were in good condition.
Week 6 – Nicholas Bowers
This week I was out of the office on a vacation with my family. While I was able to escape from work and recharge, I also had a lot of time to help plan my summer and the projects I have going forward. A lot of next week will be spent catching up on my 97 emails and restarting projects that have been put on hold. I hope to also meet with some people from industrial engineering so I can get the new storeroom plan in place and operational so we can see if it will work or needs some changes.
Week 6 – Casey Sexton
This week, I had the incredible opportunity to tour Kellogg’s plant in Ovid, MI. It was fascinating to witness the entire cereal production process up close, from the initial raw materials to the final packaged products ready for distribution. Seeing the machinery used in the manufacturing process was particularly impressive. The scale of the operation, with vast arrays of machinery and conveyor belts, demonstrated the level of sophistication involved in producing the cereals we enjoy every day. The tour guides were knowledgeable and provided detailed explanations about each step of the process, making the experience both educational and engaging.
One aspect that stood out during the visit was the stringent biosecurity measures in place at the plant. Ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness and hygiene is paramount in food production, and Kellogg’s commitment to this was evident. Before entering the production areas, we had to go through multiple sanitation stations and multiple layers of protective gear to prevent any contamination. Observing these practices firsthand gave me a deeper appreciation for the rigorous efforts behind ensuring that every box of cereal is safe and of the highest quality.
Week 6 – Thomas Gianiodis
This week I started to feel more confident in my work on the New Jersey region, and began talking with growers in Jersey every morning in order to gather information from them for the day. This usually included their daily estimates, weather, transportation issues, etc. This was very rewarding and informative, because it helped put more pieces into place regarding the operations of Naturipe on a daily basis.
Also this week, I made some mistakes. I want to be honest about this, because it is a very important part to learning. I missed a deadline on getting something out to growers, eventually getting it out a day late. This taught me to be more attentive, but more importantly, to communicate my needs clearly if there is something I cannot get to on a certain day. This entire corporate space is very new to me, so I am learning everyday which is exciting, but can sometimes feel discouraging. The most important thing is that I keep showing up, working as hard as I can, and being open to learn new things and change the way I think.
Week 5- Mackenzie Strong
This week I started off doing more maintenance with changing oil in majority of the gearboxes in the plant and greasing. It was a lot of work climbing ladders and stairs to get to all of these but it was good to be kept busy. I worked on that with one of coworkers, Harrison, he is one of the seed technicians in packaging. Everyone works together when it comes to maintenance season. On Tuesday, I went up to Northern Tier with Jeff and Stephanie who are both in field production. We did third party training for them to inspect our fields after the 4th of July. I was able to get a decent start on my project with analyzing data. I need to find differences in moisture, mechanical damage, and germination of the soybean field from when it was probed in the storage bin to when it arrived at the site. There are issues somewhere whether it is in the storage bin or whoever loads the seed into the truck to have it delivered to the plant. Moldy beans can leave slim in the cleaners and in the color sorters which then have to be scraped out. When there is good quality seed it makes the process go a lot smoother and faster. On Friday, one of the intern from Redwood Falls, MN came to the site to get a tour. Him and I both went to the Bayer research center to get a tour of that and a better understanding of work that is put into producing the seed. Every site is different whether it’s the management or the layout of each site. I am looking forward to going to Redwood Falls on Monday to see what their site is like.
Week 6 – Wesley Dunn
This week it has been extremely hot. We have been working very hard to keep the plant stock alive and healthy. During this time we have been watering all day and running overhead sprinklers and drip lines. Although this week has been bad, next week it seems to be getting a little cooler so I will be back doing miscellaneous projects around the business. Along with plant health, worker health has also been a big priority this week. With this heat, people are prone to heat-related illnesses like dehydration, and heat stroke. I know personally, with the repeated hot days, it has been starting to catch up with me. I am looking forward to my couple of days off.
Week 3 – Victoria Pargoff
Coming into week 3 of my internship at CVS I was very excited because I had a ride along day on Wednesday planned with my District Leader Amanda. The District Leaders job is to go into stores in her district that she oversees (24 of them) and to make sure the stores are well performing and see if they have any questions or concerns for her as well. The interns get to go on ride alongs so they can see her evaluating process and so we can see how other stores operate compared to the ones we work out of. We went to two stores on Wednesday both of them in Brighton Michigan and after we finished with everything she took me out to Panera for lunch after which was nice of her. Some key takeaways from ride along day was that the first store we visited was operating fairly “healthily” as Amanda says and did not need too much help from Amanda or advice. The second store however wasn’t meeting the Extra Care Card signup goal. The Extra Care card is what colleagues encourage customers to sign up for which will provide the customer benefits but will also help the employees because each store needs to reach a certain number of sign ups a month. I will provide pictures below of more of my experience on ride day. PSA, the one of me pictured with the bottle return is actually the oldest bottle return that is still in a CVS store.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/082YQ2k5WorJvJJNWxCjhcl-Q
Week 5 – Kylie Crandall
Week five at Michigan Farm Bureau was busy, but so much fun. On Monday, there was an all staff meeting where I was able to meet so many different people from the department. I also had the opportunity to introduce myself to everyone in the meeting. Tuesday, three of the other interns and I traveled to Comstock Park, North of Grand Rapids, to volunteer at a food bank. Michigan Farm Bureau does a lot of work to end childhood hunger, so this was just one initiative for that purpose. We all had a lot of fun and enjoyed a get away from the office. Wednesday, I sat in on the Dairy Advisory Committee meeting all day at the office. I really enjoyed sitting in on this meeting, as I grew up on a dairy farm. It is always so interesting to hear from other professionals in the industry and learn new things. Right now, it is especially interesting due to the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that is traveling through dairy herds. Thursday (today), I will be sitting in on the Poultry and Livestock Advisory Committee. I look forward to learning more about the different industries. Friday (tomorrow), I will be working from home. I have been working from home each Friday the past few weeks. Doing so has been really nice, as it allows me to have some balance and time to focus.
Attached below, I have linked an article from Michigan Farm Bureau that discusses the efforts that the company has made towards ending childhood hunger in Michigan. There are also a few videos within the article that show those efforts.
https://www.michfb.com/about/end-childhood-hunger-mi
I also have attached a link to my Google Drive to see a picture of us at the food bank. We are holding a sign that shows how many meals we packaged and how much food waste we rescued.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zpm_My01xK3s0zAU8RYroWZ4NqrvYgmw/view?usp=drive_link
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