CV Profile No.36222

Experience in the following industries :

• Industry, production, manufacturing and other

Professional experience

• Director
• Vultra Investments
• 04.2021 - 03.2023
• Vultra Investments is a small engineering concern focusing on the following: - Plant installation - Plant maintenance - Electrical maintenance and spares supply - Construction I was responsible for strategic planning and management with oversight on finance. The strategic management covered the formation of the organogram, placing the required skills at each level. After placing the positions, then comes the people development as prescribed by the gap analysis process. I was responsible for resourcing the organization in the form of equipment, plant and buildings. I had important contributions to budget inputs. The biggest challenge was securing funding for big projects so that we could be able to compete with he big guys. I did a PESTEL analysis which revealed that the political environment was affecting business operations. International financial support was not readily available through foreign direct investments and international monetary support. I however engaged the government ministry responsible for Medium to Small Enterprises for support. They really showed willingness to assist but were limited by the same factors. We managed to get about a tenth of what we required to do a step change. I knew that as business we could influence to a limited extent the government's foreign policy but needed to tread very carefully. I kept the communication channels between our company an the ministry open.

• Plant Engineer
• Delta Beverages
• 04.2015 - 03.2021
• As Plant Engineer I was responsible for the total Asset care of the plant. Reporting to me were the Utilities Engineer and the Brewing Engineer. I did the strategic planning, business plan, capex, preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance and reliability centered maintenance. I was also responsible for people development. I did the Engineering 5 year strategy comprising of plans for people, machines, equipment and buildings. Machines had to keep up to technological trends. My capex included the repairs, upgrades and replacements. Automation improved output while reducing labour and material costs. I did the brewhouse automation which reduced the manpower, reduced electricity usage and reduced beer spillage. The beer delivery system to the beer filler was manual and largely depended on a dedicated person to observe and open or close valves manually. Failure to do this meant the beer would overfill and spill on the floor or if the valve was closed, then there will be no beer and then an interruption in production. Either way there will be loses. That is an example of plant a upgrade done. The technological changes also demand different sets of skills. I drew up a skills matrix that was meant to address the requirements going into the future. I am one of the 10 Siemens training facilitators in Africa because of that need to move with world technological trends.

• Delta Technical Institute Manager (HRD)
• Delta Corporation
• 04.2012 - 03.2015
• The Delta Institute Manager, also referred to as the HRD Manager, is responsible for the strategic planning for the Institute. I designed training programs to address deficiencies in manufacturing operations within the group. I conducted gap analysis in plants, designed programs, implemented and reviewed them. Designing relevant training programs is an important part of the strategy. While training for the plants was going on, I simultaneously ran training for the Training Managers and Training Officers so that they keep abreast of latest trends. The strategy for the Technical Institute covered a training facilities, equipment and skills upgrade. To achieve this we linked up with other established training organizations and original equipment suppliers. Siemens supplied PLC programmers and software. It provided training for our staff. I am one of the 10 Siemens training facilitators in the whole of Africa. We also linked up with Krones for the training of artisans and engineers for training during and after plant installations.

• Manufacturing Operations Training Manager
• Delta Corporation
• 04.2003 - 03.2004
• I designed and ran programs for plants which addressed deficiencies in engineering and operations. The programs helped improved efficiencies rom around 60% up to 90%. I am credited with starting the first artisan operator programs. The training programs were closely linked the manufacturing plants. They were derived from performance discrepancies in the plants. I spent over 60% of my working time in the plants doing a plant audits that I programmed every quarter. The plant audits covered condition of the machines, the maintenance systems and the skills levels. It is from these plant audits that I designed programs to address observed performance gaps. The programs proved to be so effective that all plants were clamoring for them. Once the program was run, the performance would improve drastically. In most cases the figures went up 15% to 25%.

• Packaging Engineer
• Delta Beverages
• 04.2001 - 03.2003
• I was responsible for the packaging engineering strategy. I managed the maintenance systems and the maintenance team. I raised the maintenance efficiency from around 60% to 95%. The Packaging Engineer was responsible for executing maintenance and asset care for all the machines in the packaging hall. This comprised of 4 state of the art packaging lines. He would be involved from the the time the machine is bought to the time the machine is producing finished bottled product. The engineers and technicians were flown to German to see first hand the manufacture of the packaging line there. They benefited from initial training before installation in Zimbabwe. The training would continue during installation and after installation. Every machine will experience some teething problems at commissioning and I seized the opportunity to do problem solving together with the machine suppliers, Krones from Germany. The packaging Engineer facilitates smooth execution of maintenance by providing te maintenance system through the planned maintenance office. Maintenance schedules, SOPs and job procedures were availed to the maintenance team. He lead the problem solving sessions and helped establish the root causes. Most challenges were eliminated.

• Process Manager
• Delta Beverages
• 04.1998 - 03.2001
• I managed the packaging processes. I achieved reduction is usages and improved to below the set standards. I improved the machine efficiencies from 60% to 95%. The matrix for the Process Manager were the following: Quality Volume throughput Bottle breakage Raw materials usage People management This was the time when the transition o put process operators into the plant was taking place so he was also responsible for managing change. These process operators were artisans/technicians. I managed it well as the efficiencies actually shot up and record quality volumes were achieved. He was the custodian of the process systems, SOPs, staff development and meetings. Each shift had a meeting agenda that addressed previous day performance and the day's plan. The agenda of the meeting was provided by the Process Manager carefully crafted to address the short term daily operation while giving enough information to management. I over saw he implementation of quality at source. This was a system that empowered operators to perform 'Short Interval Control'. They were instructed to check and test for good quality before production started. If they were not happy they would stop production immediately and escalate.

• Line Manager
• Delta Bverages
• 04.1995 - 03.1998
• I managed the production of one packaging line. I reduced usages and bottle breakages to below set targets consistently. I improved machine efficiency from about 60% to 95%. There were three shifts per line so I would bring them to an acceptable optimum performance level. To achieve this I would conduct gap analysis per shift, with representatives from each shift. This was also the period when the artisan operator program was starting. The main focus of the audits were the machine condition, maintenance schedules, maintenance execution, skills levels (job cover) and line synchronization. Each of these be incorporated into the training program for the shift. These interventions were so effective that the numbers kept going up. Unlike the other managers, the Process Manager would oversee the transformation of an artisan into a process operator. He was responsible for the on the job training. There was no time to learn theoretically for the artisans. It was learning by doing, no place holders. I managed to this compressed program with minimum bottlenecks. One would say it was because the artisans have a much higher appreciation of the machines than the ordinary operator but they needed proper guidance and mentorship.

• Packaging Maintenance Supervisor
• Delta Beverages
• 04.1993 - 03.1995
• Supervised packaging maintenance and reduced downtime by 15%. The Supervisor was responsible the actual maintenance execution of all the 4 packaging lines. He was responsible for seeing to it that schedules are religiously followed and signed off. He would ensure job procedures are in place and available to all artisans all the time. All standard operating procedure would be adhered to without fail or exception. He would also check the quality of work and approve or disapprove. The ability of the Supervisor to execute his mandate would make a big difference. The plans that the Supervisor would be over looking include annual overhauls, weekly maintenance and daily checklists. Overhauls required me to be at my best all the time. I was not allocated a specific machine but that I was supposed to go round checking on the progress, appraising team on immediate demands, changes and expectations. I also was expected to assist with knowledge were team was struggling and with a push were speed was lacking. However were the capability was there but the will was lacking I was expected to give a nudge. This is were people management required quick precise decisions.

• Fitter and Turner
• Delta Beverages
• 04.1990 - 03.1993
• Maintained and did overhauls of fillers, washers, pasteurizers and packers. The artisan was allocated work in accordance with laid out plans. He was accountable to Supervisor for all job outcomes. The artisan was require to be competent in maintaining all the machines in the packaging hall. A training program to upskill artisans was availed on an annual basis. Some of the training was on the job and some was off the job.

• Apprentice
• Delta Beverages
• 04.1986 - 03.1990
• I started off as an apprentice. I was seconded to one artisan at a time. At one time I would working with artisan responsible for maintaining the bottle filler, at the bottle washing machine, at the labeler, the pasteurizer or the packer and unpacker. At these machines I would be give specific jobs or tasks that were supervised by the artisan. Ii took more than 2 years for me to allowed to work independently. I understood this because we were dealing with equipment worth millions of dollars. There was no time for experiments. Once the supervisor was satisfied with my progress I was given tasks to work independently and ask when necessary. The job however will be inspected on completion. By the fourth year of my training I was already working at the same level as artisans and getting my own work schedule. I completed the overhaul of the packer and unpacker successfully alone. My training was made easier because all the literature I required was available. We operations manuals, technical manuals and spare parts manuals. We also had clear work instructions, job procedures and SOPs. During my four years of training, I spent equal times between brewing, utilities and packaging. Thus my knowledge spuns across these departments. I have been involved in major projects in those departments.