By Kirti Saini :-
"Rains might dampen everything, except spirits"
When rains were at their peak and people
sat in their houses with a cup of coffee and snacks, a bunch of enthusiastic students of
Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies gathered in the college to take on a journey, a fun ride and a learning experience. Team Management Interaction Cell, SSCBS had organised an Industrial Visit to Coca-Cola Bottling Plant - Moon Beverages, Sahibabad.
Students of the first year accompanied by Ms. Nomita Acharya and the MIC team members left the college to reach the venue at 10.30 in the morning. The 20 minute drive was more of an introductory and fun session for the excited students, who, on reaching the destination were introduced to the rules and measures that they had to follow and take care of during their stay in the plant. After that we were led to a board room where we met the management staff of the place who welcomed us very nicely and told us about what their plant is all about, what do they do and how do they do it.
A documentary was shown to all, which demonstrated all the operations conducted by them and similar plants. It was an amazing compilation. During the documentary we were offered complimentary soft drinks like ThumsUp, Limca, Coke etc. which are made under the Coca-Cola brand. After that, for the actual round of the plant students were divided in groups of five, each group assisted by a guide who led us, took us to various parts of the plant and explained us the functioning.
First of all we were shown how the glass bottles were washed and sterilised for reuse. The bottles were turned upside down and then cleaned with pressurised water and caustic soda and then again with water to make them fit for use. After that we were taken to the unit that bottles Limca. The plastic bottles we get from the shops were lying there in the form of pre-forms that are blown with air in high temperatures to give them the desired shape, the conveyor belts then tossed up the finished bottles around at lightening speeds.
Then we were led to the unit that bottles Mazaa, the mango drink by Coca-Cola. We were told how mangoes are stored, how do they extract the pulp and how they prepare the beverage we drink. Further, we were also made to see huge tanks filled with the concentrate syrups which serves as the main ingredient for different beverages by Coca Cola. We even got a chance to taste the concentrate of Limca and Coke in the end. After this we were taken to the cold storage and the lab that keeps testing the products to monitor discrepancies. We also visited the warehouse where large amount of these soft drinks were packaged and stored.
Towards the end, we visited the water treatment plant where we were told about the complete purification process and how the groundwater was treated to levels to make it suitable for human consumption. Even the water that is used for other purposes like cleaning, irrigation etc. is purified and made good enough to drink by the global standards.
After a round in the whole 3 acre of the factory area we were led back to the hall and made to fill feedback forms. We were offered Mazaa to refresh ourselves after the visit. The management was open to all the ideas we wanted to give them, they answered all our queries politely and asked us if we had any complaints about anything in the plant. The factory was very well managed and too hygienic to have found any mistakes. In the end, some of the team members had an interview(which will be uploaded on the Coca-Cola website as well) with the plant manager and group photos were clicked.
Overall, it was an amazing experience, we got to learn and see a lot in those 4-5 hours. Students were really amazed to be a part of this and we at Management Interaction Cell will surely keep organising such visits for the college students. We'd like to thank all those who were a part of the trip for a nice time and we promise to be back with even more awesomeness for those who couldn't get a chance this time.
