Engineering Units at Unilever Functions and Organizational Structure Essay Example

Introduction

Unilever is a supplier well known in the world to deliver foods, personal and home care products for sale. The company obtains raw materials and manufactures them into finished products making engineering a requirement. Unilever has some engineering units in the company that including an electrical engineer. The main duty of this engineering unit is to ensure enough supply of electrical power that will support the factory manufacturing process as well as the administrative activities [1]. The job responsibilities of the individual in this unit were to make sure that electrical equipment is well maintained to enhance peak performance at all times. The unit was also responsible for all other engineering units in the sense of maintaining the electrical equipment. Therefore, I found that the main role held by this unit was to ensure electrical safety.

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Another engineering unit was the project engineering where the main function was to make sure that services of engineering are facilitated to achieve efficient functioning of the plant while the factory achieves its set objectives [3]. As a project suggests, the engineering unit is responsible for developing a budget of the cost estimations required and the likely gains from the project. In a manufacturing plant accidents are prone to happen, and when they do, this unit is responsible for investigating the accident and writing a report on what was identified. Furthermore, there was the graduate supply chain-engineering unit that was entrusted to the manufacturing of the raw materials into finished products [5]. The engineer, in this case, was responsible for creating designs, developing operations and maintaining the manufacturing process at its highest efficiency. The unit believed in efficiency to meet the demands of the consumers.

The organizational structure has been used to make sure that product innovation is adequate to influence the global business. An organizational structure as defined is the description provided on the arrangement used to establish and link the different components in the organization. The company hence has adopted a product type divisional structure, so that main focus is on the products. Hence, the structure consists of the corporate executive managers, product type division and the geographical divisions. For instance, the product type part of the structure is used to enhance the development, processing, distribution, and selling of the produced products. Using this part of the structure, it becomes easy to develop products that meet the needs of the consumer. Second, is the corporate part that ensures that the business functions such as marketing have been done. Therefore, they stand in to make sure that products are developed in innovative measures.

Industrial process describe the industrial process, with photos, figures, and graphical representations

Unilever Company deals with a whole wide range of products that focus on meeting the health and protecting the wellbeing of the consumer. Before the industrial process of manufacturing has began, the ingredients need to be determined to make sure the laws and regulations required, safety assessment level of the company and accommodation for changing and different consumer taste and preferences have been met. The manufacturing process is then followed by procedural steps gradually transforming the raw materials into finished products. The manufactured product is then taken through a quality control test to ensure that it is fit for human use [3].

Rexona is a product from Unilever Company that provides maximum protection to the consumer during the day. The product has been designed and produced considering the different preferences among women and men. Raw materials required for manufacturing include active ingredients because they have been legally approved for use. These materials include gelling agents and additional ingredients that are a source of fragrance making the product pleasing to the consumer. The manufacturing process for this product including some steps that are followed in the factories.

The first step used was batching where steam was used to melt the ingredients used so that a mixture is formed. A blending process is then taken up in standard temperatures so that it blends in uniformly. The second step is the filling where two hollow tubes are used as packaging sticks. It moves along the conveying belt and the molten mixture pushed in through the nozzle. The last step is the finishing operations where an evaluation is carried out to make sure that the surface is smooth and no air is trapped in. The product is then packed for dispersion or delivery based on the nature of demand for the product in the country and the world at large. However, before the delivery of these products quality control tests are conducted to make sure that the product meets the standard requirement of production as well as it is fit for use by the consumers. The tests include safety, efficacy and the byproduct waste test. The safety test is conducted as required by the Cosmetics, Toiletries and Fragrance Association to ensure the minimum safety requirements are observed. An efficacy test is conducted to assure that minimum effects will be felt from the use of the deodorant.

Environmental and social impact the products and its by-products

Unilever has come up and put into implementation effective policies that fight to facilitate sustainability. Environmental sustainability by factories has been a concern for years because of the harm reflected in global warming. It has moved from the facts of outsourcing their raw materials to the point of in-house sourcing. The practice has been very effective because it has helped reduce the carbons released in the atmosphere [4]. It is very clear that Unilever is cutting off the connection with the stakeholders along the supply chain who do not appreciate innovations that enhance environmental and social sustainability. Therefore, this shows the commitment it has to ensure that factories and industries at all levels embrace the need to maintain and meet the sustainability levels so that the future generation finds sufficient resources.

The plans are referred to as the "Unilever MENA Sustainable Living Plan" where it has shown its commitment to reduced environmental damage while it increases the social impacts [2]. Furthermore, the plan has been embraced to see the growth of businesses that reflect on being double of what was in the past. Waste management of its by-products has been reduced by 28% which influence environmental impact directly. The company's raw materials are sourced in a sustainable manner making sure that the purchases made for the raw materials reaches have been physically sustained.

Quality systems

The company has identified its quality control system for all of its products makings sure that at the end of the processing the products will undergo some quality tests [2]. It makes sure that the company has delivered the quality required by the consumers and the quality that exceeds the consumer's expectations. For this reason, the company has been able to penetrate in the markets of the world and become the best product provider.

References

[1] Hasan, M. M. (2015). Marketing Analysis of Unilever. Total Quality Management, 11, 13.

[2] Jansen, K. (2018). Unilever-Sustainable Living Plan. Retrieved May, 2.

[3] Kell, K., Aymerich, M. A., & Horn, V. (2018). FDI-Unilever Brush Day & Night partnership: 12 years of improving behavior for better oral health. International dental journal, 68, 3-6.

[4] Kim-Soon, N., Chin, L. H., & Ahmad, A. R. (2017). Quality Assurance Practices of the Food Manufacturers in Malaysia. Advanced Science Letters, 23(1), 317-321.

[5] Smith, W. C. (2017). Power and Intersectionality: Interpreting the Dutch Organizational Diversity Program (Master's thesis).