SP Brewery female trio return from Asia training

SP Brewery Ltd (SPB) is proud to be one of a few Papua New Guinean owned companies that places emphasis on accelerated trainings.

As a testament, three SPB Supply Chain employees returned from a training stint in Vietnam, with the hope of sharing their experiences to improve the company’s process technologies.

Marcia Pokapin (Packaging Supervisor), Vivienne Baloiloi (Brewing Supervisor) and Josephine Efi (Microbiologist) went to Vietnam last September and returned in March, this year.

Even with language being a major challenge during their six months training, the trio said it helped focus on the similarities between other breweries and ours, especially Process Technology, which was the main objective of their training. They said it was an exciting six month experience for them.

“Because I was new to brewing, I had to train on the whole process from beginning, at the brew house, to end, at filtration. I learnt and understood how they control their process in every single stage of this procedure and learnt best practices and troubleshooting,” said Ms Pokapin, who is based at the Port Moresby brewery.

Asked what stood out in the training, she said: “Their attitude to work. The people really demonstrate the five Heineken behaviours, especially ‘Acting as an Entrepreneur’. They are very passionate and committed in ensuring processes are always in control and ensuring quality is top priority.”

Pokapin is more confident now with her new found knowledge and is determined to share, improve and sustaining the knowledge and skills of SPB staff, on the shop floor.

“I want to help implement more control into our processes, improve our quality and extract losses in the process.”

The three women spent their first month of theory training, learning about process control, at the Heineken Vietnam Brewery, in Ho Chi Minh City. They then separated to their respective host Operating Companies (OpCos).

Pokapin travelled up north to Hanoi, Baloiloi to Thailand and Efi, Indonesia.

Efi, who is based at the Lae brewery, said: “The language was a slight struggle for me but I enjoyed the working environment. You can see and feel that employees enjoy the work they do, from the shop floor right to the management level. There is a sense of respect and openness they share, be it personal or work related.”

After five years with SP Brewery, Efi said the overseas training has boosted her confidence, at work.

“Like my two female colleagues, I aim to share my experience and knowledge to help staff on the shop floor, to ensure best practices are followed by improving and sustaining the way employees work.”

Baloiloi, who was based at the Thai Asia Pacific Breweries, Heineken’s top brewery on the globe, she dreams that SPB reaches the same level of brewing quality as that of TAPB, in Thailand.

The three women thanked the SPB Management team for giving them this opportunity, which they said would contribute to their professional and personal growth.

“We are delighted to have our three employees back onboard from their six months training program. We trust the training and exposure they had will enable them to encourage productivity in their respective departments,” said SPB’s People & Organisational Development Manager, Seini Fisi’ihoi.

She said: “Employee training is important for any company and at SPB, we aim to have the best people and to create an environment where the best people can also grow in.”

SPB is privileged to have great working relationships with sister OpCos in the region for such opportunities to exist and has thanked the four OpCos -VBL, TAPB, Heineken Hanoi and MBI- for investing resources needed to make the training possible.

Other SPB employees have benefitted from such trainings in the past and the company will continue to pursue career development opportunities for its workforce.