Company Overview and Job Experience at Premier Cement Mills

Company Overview and Job Experience at Premier Cement Mills

Premier Cement Mills (PCM) Ltd is one of the leading manufacturers of cement in Bangladesh. Premier Cement Mills Limited was incorporated on 14 October 2001 but they started their production commercially on 12th March 2004. Currently, the company runs with an annual production capacity of 9 Lacs tons (75,000 tons per Month). Their products are all around us, providing strength and durability to buildings of soaring dimensions, in infrastructure that speeds the lines of commerce and for housing that provides comfort and security to families across Bangladesh. The aim of the company is to relate their brand name in cement to best quality, dependability and technical excellence. The company employs about 450 employees out of which 330 workers works in the factory of West Muktarpur Munshiganj and in their registered office in Chittagong.

The remaining number of employee works in the Corporate Office of PCML which is located in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka.

The Company has purchased one of the most sophisticated plant and machineries entirely from its own funds, without any project borrowing. PCML has also purchased an ideal piece of Factory Land, measuring about 15 acres, at West Muktarpur, Munshiganj; Bangladesh. On the front side of the Land is Dhaka-Munshiganj Road and on the rear side is the river Shitalakhya, which meets the river Dhaleshwari about two kilometers down stream where both together falls at the mighty river Meghna. Thus the setting of this location provides a marvelous accessibility of both land and river for the factory site of the company.

With a total installed cement capacity of almost a million tons per year at Muktarpul, Munshiganj, the Company is recognized as a leading cement producer possessing an abundant supply of raw materials, low production cost and an energy efficient operation.

High quality and lower price are the main characteristics of Premier cement. Application of some special technology and presence of efficient workers enables to differentiate the company’s products from that of the other companies. These differentiating features include:

State-of-the-art technology of grinding mill with Roll Press – ensures uniform particle size distribution.
High chrome grinding media having very less wear rate, hence free iron content in cement resulting in good quality cement.
Quality grinding with Closed-Circuit System.
Own testing laboratories with modern equipments.
The company owns ocean going vessels for clinker handling.
The Cement is packed in its own bagging plant in both paper bags and PP (plastic) bags which are available as per the demand of the customer.
Having adequate numbers of own fleet of covered transport for better distribution and services.
Having adequate bulk carriers and portable silos.

The Logo: The Inspiration

The logo of the company symbolizes Inspiration. The red color epitomizes the national map for freedom and the logo is designed in a geometrical pattern symbol which itself is an inspiring article. It allows the employees to feel motivated; making them feel that if they work well, they cannot only contribute to the productivity of the company but also bring glory to the country and inspire others to that as well. This is undoubtedly, a value addition to the culture of the organization as well.

Premier Cement’s Organizational Culture: at a glance

In premier Cement, new system adoption is always welcome by its employees.

Any kind of change is checked, and then if found positive, it is accepted which has resulted for changes to increase over the years.
The aftereffect of such change is very productive and contributes to the overall growth of the organization.
Performing any new task is possible with less or minimum effort because group cohesiveness is very high & distribution of labor is strictly followed.
Learning any new thing is possible with minimum effort.
Employees are satisfied with the new system of the organization evolving from time to time for adapting and implementing these changes.

History of PMCL

The company started off as a group of top ranking businessmen of the country set together who decided to establish a cement factory, when the sanctioned capacity of cement manufacturing plant was nearly double the demand of the country.

Company Profile:

The team consists of three leading group of companies in Bangladesh. Short profiles of each of these companies are given below.

T.K Group of Industries:

It is one of the top five leading business houses in Bangladesh, having business in sectors of edible oil, petroleum, chemical, steel, paper, board mill, garments, leather, consumer items, commodity trading, etc. TK are the pioneer to enter the cement manufacturing, soon after Bangladesh Government opened up Cement Industry to the Private Sector.

Seacom Group:

It is one of the pioneers in shipping industry in Bangladesh which has diversified itself in the businesses of Shipping, Logistics, Trading, Fishing, etc. With time, the house not only served the cement industry but it also gained wide experience in shipping both inland and ocean going for clinker trading.

Jahangir & Others:

It is one of the top Trading and Distribution houses of the country. The company has sales and distribution network all around the country. It consists of those who not only engaged themselves in cement trading from the inception of Bangladesh but also gained reputation in the meantime as cement manufacturers of the country.

The Board of Directors consists of members from each of the above three groups. The Company, Premier Cement Mills Limited was incorporated on 14th October, 2001 and commercially started their production on the 12th of March, 2004. Today, with an annual production capacity of 1.6 million tons, 450 employees in operation nationwide, Premier Cement Mills Limited is one of the leading cement producers in Bangladesh. Within the span of the first 5 months, the company has achieved the ISO 9000-2001 certification from TUV, with highly skilled employees.

Vision

“Working towards the development of the society through Sustainable Growth and High Quality Performance.”

Mission

“Provide satisfaction to customers, an enjoyable working environment for the employees & to create value for the stakeholders.”

Goals & Objectives

Premier Cement Mills Ltd has very basic, well specified goals and objectives outlined for the company which is mentioned below.

To improve comprehensively in their current success areas.
To improve their brand image.
To satisfy their customers.
To be among the top 5 cement companies of Bangladesh.
To earn profits.
To capture their target market share.

Product /Services Offerings

Products:

Premier Cement consistently delivers quality products to its customers. Their automated manufacturing facilities and fully equipped laboratory with dedicated team ensures quality for each batch of production. Premier Cement adheres to the European Standards.

The Cement gets its unique characteristics by using the high quality clinker, slag and lime stones. It provides the extreme of workability, durability and long-term strength. Premier Cement is produced according to the European norms EN 197-1:2000.

From the beginning of their operation, the company has been consistently ensuring the following features for their products:

Exceptional Strength: At Premier Cement the chemical composition and grinding fineness are closely monitored to ensure the Bangladeshi BDSEN, American ASTM, European EN, and Indian BIS standards are surpassed and the customers get cement of strength.

Ideal setting time: In order to allow sufficient time for application, cement must have a quick initial settings time. The final settings should not take too long once it is in a place.

At Premier Cement Mills Ltd, the ideal initial and final setting times are maintained. Currently Premier Cement is manufacturing the following types of cement:

Ordinary Portland cement: Ordinary Portland cement Type-II is the most common type of cement in general used around the world as it is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco and most non-specialty grout. It is a fine powder produced by grinding Portland cement clinker (95%) and a limited amount of Gypsum which controls the setting time. It conforms to the Bangladesh Standard BDS EN 197-1:2003 CEM-I 42.5 N, European Standard EN 197 type CEM I, and American Standard ASTM C 150 Type I mark.
Portland Composite cement:” Premier Cement” standard: BDS EN 197-1:2003 CEM II/AM or BM 42.5N which is Portland composite cement. It is the most common type of cement used in Bangladesh which consists of Clinker, Slag, PFA, Gypsum, and Limestone.

Portland composite cement plays a vital role in European market. It is made by inter grinding or blending clinker and Gypsum with one or more of the mineral components which are given below:

A latent hydraulic component: e.g. Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag,
Pulverized Fuel Ash (PFA)
A pozzolanic component: e.g. natural pozzolana, Fly Ash (Class F)
An inert components: e.g Limestone and sand which usually do not have any real participation in the chemical hydration process and is produced by grinding or blending of the constituents.

Production Capacity:

Premier Cement produces a total of 4000 tone of cement per day. Two ball mills are used for producing these cements in a day. Each of these ball mills has a capacity of producing 2000 tone each. Like other foreign and local cement companies of the country, each packet of Premier Cement weighs 50 kg.

Facilities:

Raw material

Now days, many cement industries are facing problems in terms of fixing up their incoming raw material sources. Premier Cement has however fixed two sources of clinker which includes the SCG-Thailand and WUHU CONCH CEMNT CO.LTD-China which is brought to Bangladesh by using the company’s own transportation. The company also gets natural gypsum from Thailand & Oman as it provides it with more consistence of raw material. The slag is imported from Japan and India whereas the limestone is brought from India.

Ocean going transport

Premier Cement has their own ocean going transport which has been added at their contingent in the year 2009.

Name: M.V. Oriental key
Capacity: 37,000 tons
Inland transportation
Premier Cement has inland transportation facility which has been added at their contingent in the year 2004
Total lighter qty: 06
Lighter capacity: 2,000 ton each

Own Raw material unloading facility

Premier Cement has the largest private jetty on the bank of the river Shitalakshya, installed with two cranes of total 500tph unloading capacity, Pneumatic Fly Ash unloading unit of capacity 70tph and Barge loading capacity of 90tph. The company also has their investment in India for Fly Ash loading unit.

Raw material testing facility

Premier Cement has modern & art laboratory where all testing facilities are available of both chemical & physical properties of all cement & cement-type material. The incoming raw material is inspected & through also trail test by the company’s mini ball mill before unloading the incoming raw material.

Storage facility

Premier Cement has the capacity to keep their raw material at their shed & silo.

Clinker shed capacity : 50,000ton
Gypsum shed capacity : 2,000ton
PFA Silo capacity : 2,000ton
PFA Shed capacity : 1,500ton
Slag shed capacity : 8,000ton
Limestone storage capacity : 50,000ton

Raw material feeding

The company has its own individual raw material feeding system which is fully controlled by computer. Weekly calibration is done by the weigh feeder for finding out any deviation of the feeding proportion of the raw material.

Power facility

Premier Cement has its individual 6KV feeder where 24hrs power facility is available. Uninterrupted power supply is very crucial for continuous and smooth operations of the plant. The company has its own gas fired power generation plant along with Grid supply.

The installed generation capacity is 5.34 MW from MWM Duets.

Grinding

Premier Cement has two ball mills which have been manufactured by world prominent cement mills manufacturer, viz. FL Smith-Denmark. Each of these ball mills have a capacity unit of 2000TPD.It may be mentioned here that it is the heavy duty mills which produces superior quality of cement.

Lab testing facility

Premier Cement emphasizes in delivering quality product to its customers. Here, Quality Control is supported by BUET and its own laboratory consisting of top of the line testing equipments from UK, USA, and India; which are regularly calibrated by BUET. The company has all testing facilities of cement and cement-type materials. At process,

Premier Cement has check hourly fineness and residue of product and every 2 hrs setting which is important to control the product water consistency and the time setting. They have test mortar strength of cement, chloride test and cement expansion by autoclave machine.

Cement storage

Premier Cement has 2 concrete cement silos and 1 steel silo. The two concrete cement silos have a storing capacity of 2,000ton whereas the steel silo has a capacity of 1,000ton for storing their finish goods.

Cement packing

Premier Cement has 3 roto packers. These are used for packing the finished goods of the company. One of the packer is the world famous HAVER PACKER-German capacity 150ton/Hr and the other 2 packer is WAXI HAVER Roto packer -China origin with a capacity 120ton/Hr. each.

Packer #1 capacity: 150ton/Hr
Spout qty: 10 each
Origin: Hover packer-German
Packer #2& 3 capacity: 240ton/Hr
Spout: 8 each
Origin: China

Premier Cement has its own PP Bag manufacturing plant which has the capacity of packaging 200,000bags/day.PMCL produces both paper and plastic bags which are delivered to their customers as per the demand of the customers.

Equipment Technology:

KRUPP POLYSIUS AG (GERMANY)

Haver & Boecker
Man Takraf Foroertechnik GMBH
SMB International GMBH
United Conveyors Corporation (USA)

Some of the other important technologies and machineries that are used are:

Tape Stretching Line Starex-1400S/105, STARLINGER (AUSTRIA)
Printing Machine Flexa 8045, WINDMOLLER & HOLSHER (GERMANY)
AD Convertex, WINDMOLLER & HOLSHER, GERMANY
Slitting Machine Roll slitter, STARLINGER (AUSTRIA)
Hydraulic Sack Press, STARLINGER (AUSTRIA)

Key Features of Functional Benefits

More Strength:

Because of the slag component, Premier Cement has more strength than an ordinary Portland cement. This long term strength will continue to increase with time.

More Durability:

Durability and strength are not synonymous when talking about concrete. Durability is the ability to maintain integrity and strength over time. Strength is a measure of the ability to sustain loads at a given point in time. Durability depends on permeability, resistance to chemical attraction, resistance of cracking and general deterioration over time.

Premier Cement builds a concrete with higher density and lower permeability, which produce less voids; thus contributing to the durability and lifetime of the construction.

More Workability

As lime stone is added in Premier Cement- it gives plastering a smoother, better and an attractive look. Concrete when mixed with Premier Cement generates less heat of hydration, as slag is added which reduces the possibility of hair cracks of concrete.

And More

Ability to finish easily.
Higher compressive and flexural strengths.
Improved resistance to aggressive chemicals.
More consistent plastic and hardened properties.
Lighter color.

Departments of PCML

Information Technology Department

The main function of this department is to provide a sound IT supports to the entire company, both in the office premises located in Dhaka and Chittagong. They are also responsible for managing and transferring data among the concerned authorities of PMC in Dhaka, Chittagong and in Mymensing. The head of IT along with his team always try to provide the employees with better support. Although the IT department is a very small one in PMC, nonetheless it is a very important department.

Finance and Administration Department

The Finance and the Administration Department of Premier Cement is interlinked. This department is mainly responsible for keeping and reviewing the fiscal records and to process the documents which involve the fiscal transactions of the company. All the financial reports and financial journal entries of Premier Cement are prepared by the Finance department. This department also ensures the maintenance of the accounts for the company. The Chief Financial Controller heads the department. The yearly budget allocated to various branch offices are monitored by the CFC and his team. In case of any financial complications in the balance sheet or yearly auditing, the department plays the key role in accomplishing that. The Finance department also looks after the rules and regulations of the company. With support from the Finance department, the Administration department looks after the working conditions of the employees and strives towards making a better working environment for the employees so that they can increase their productivity.

Operations & Maintenance Department

This department is mainly located in the location of the factory of PMC in Mushiganj but the head of Operations (who also happens to be one of the directors of the company) works in the Dhaka corporate office. This department is mainly responsible for handling the various technical aspects of PCM’s cement plant. This includes taking charge of the mill department, adapting, implementing and controlling new relevant technologies.

Together with the team of the Maintenance department, the concerned authorities are involved in supervising; monitoring, testing, optimizing and identifying the problems related to the equipments used for manufacturing cement in their plant.

Quality Assurance Development Department

This department of the company is also located in PMC’s factory at West Muktarpur, Munshiganj. As the name suggests, this department is responsible for testing, maintaining and assuring the quality of the cement produced in the company. After the raw materials (such as clinker) are brought, it is then sent to the lab for a test. If the test results are positive, then this raw material is sent for production. However, if the test results are negative then this department takes whatever actions is necessary to be taken under that circumstance after consulting with the authorities of the corporate office.

Logistics and Distributions Department

The Logistics and the Distributions Department of Premier Cement is merged together. The Logistics Department of this company is responsible for the management of information to and fro the company, material handling, arrangement of transportation and the overall distribution and delivery of the goods in an effective way, both in terms of time and cost. The work of the Logistics department is very closely connected to that with the distribution department and this is why, even after so many years, the management of Premier Cement have decided to continue to keep both of these departments together. The distribution department of Premier Cement is responsible for distributing their finished goods throughout the country.

Distribution System of PCML

The above diagram shows the distribution system of PMC Ltd. They are mainly involved with three parties which are the Trade, corporate and foreign export. In the segment of Trade, PMC is involved with trading business with the distributors, dealers and retailers.

Their Corporate segment includes Industrial (various industries making their own buildings), Large Contactors, Real Estate & Home Developers and Home Owners (individuals making their own houses). The third segment of PMCL’s distribution system refers to those countries and individuals who are involved with the export activities of PMC Ltd. Currently PMC Ltd are exporting their products in India and Nepal.

Human Resource Department

Recruitment Process

To recruit an employee, the company first gives the advertisement of the vacant position internally. Interested candidates from the organization are allowed to apply for these positions. The employee would then have to face an interview. If he passes the interview then the candidate would have to take permission from his department head in order to switch his department or to move to a new position. The second option is that the internal referrals are used where the employees of Premier Cement refers to a candidate who may be eligible for the vacant position of the company. Last but not the least, vacancy advertisements are given in both the local news papers and the online yellow pages of Bangladesh. A sample of such advertisements is attached in the Appendix.

Training and development

The training and development is mainly supported by the logistics and marketing department. There are various types of training programs which are provided for the employees in Premier Cement. The employees who are working in the Commercial building in Dhaka are given more training which is of a more sophisticated nature. This mainly refers to trainings where the employee basically learns by doing and by working with their supervisor. On the other hand, other concerned workers of the company such as the technicians, masons, engineers, factory workers and the dealers are trained throughout the year. Various types of on-the-job training sessions along with meetings and seminars are arranged for them with help and support from the marketing and the logistics department of the company.

Succession planning and talent development

The management of the organization looks at the track records of the employees in the succession planning program. The track record mainly consists of information related to the performance of an employee. This track record is also made by the HR department of the company. As per the results of the track record, the deficiencies of the employees are identified and required steps are taken by the HR personnel to help that employee further assess and develop his skills.

Marketing and Sales Department

The Marketing and the Sales Department of Premier Cement is merged together. It is one of the largest and the most active department of the company. This department is located at the Corporate Office f PMC in Dhaka and is headed by a group of hard working and experienced management team who have been working in cement industry of the country for a very long time. The marketing department is responsible for carrying out all the marketing activities of the company. Some of their responsibilities include conducting a market/research survey to examine the market both the existing and the potential market demand for their product and planning out ways to reach the customers in the market by using various kinds of promotional tools. In case of the promotional tools such as advertisements ( in both electrical and print media) and leaflets, the concept of these advertisements are given by PMC but the design and painting is done by the designer house Biborton. Apart from this, all the other marketing activities of PMC is done by the company itself.

This department mainly works towards attracting the attention of the target customers by using their activities and promotional tools and to create a demand and need for their product in the market. By implementing such activities, this department also plays a huge part in creating both a need and awareness about their product Premier Cement in the market.

The Sales department on the other hand deals with the sales of the company, to determine and examine the figures indicating both profit and loss. They also take part in the marketing decisions of the companies and together plan various sales strategies for the company and also that required earning a good profit compared to other Cement companies of Bangladesh.

The Customer Service of Premier Cement Mills Ltd is a part of the Marketing & Sales departments of the company. As regards service, the company believes that their sale begins after the sale, not before. This statement itself shows the importance that Premier Cement gives to the after-sales services. The Customer Service of Premier Cement works hand in hand with all the other departments of the company. Premier Cement has customers in three basic categories (which have been shown in the Distributions Systems). Feedback is taken from all the departments and their clients and then services (mainly after sales services such as problem solving etc) are provided to the customers accordingly.

Job Description

During the twelve weeks working period as an Intern in Premier Cement Mills Ltd, I had the opportunity of working in each and every department of the organization. As soon as I joined the company for my internship, a schedule of the internship program was given to me which consisted of the working schedule along with the departments in which I would be working. The management of the company believes that an intern should work in all the departments rather than concentrating on only a specific department because the main motto behind an internship is learning and that can be achieved greatly by having an exposure of all the departments together. It is so because it gives an intern a broader perspective of how an organization really works all together. However, as my main field of study and interest lies in Marketing and Human Resource Management, the company has thus given me an opportunity to work in these departments for a longer time than the rest. The tasks that I was engaged in while working in each of these departments are discussed below.

Information Technology Department

On the first day of my work in this department, the person in charge of the IT department explained all the things related to the operations of the department to me. He showed me how the total IT system works in the company. He also made me familiarized with the various software and tools that are used by the different departments to make the life of employees easier. He gave me some insight on managing the server and the intranet of the company. Currently, a brand new web site of Premier Cement is under construction thus during this period, I also had the opportunity of working with the web designers of the company. Although I worked for a week with the department, but it was a time well spent as I learnt a lot of new and interesting things from this department.

Finance and Administration Department

The Finance and the Administration Department of Premier Cement is interlinked. While working with the finance department, I learnt about the various aspects of the department.

While working in this department, I understood how this department is actually interlinked with the other departments (for an example the Sales department). I also noticed that how even after working together, both the Finance and the Administration Department varies from one another. I assisted the administration team to prepare new work schedules for the employees of the company for the month of Ramadan.

Human Resource Department

It has been less than a year since the Human Resource Department has been separated from the Administration Department. Thus the HR department is still undergoing through the process of expansion, adapting and implementing new strategies related to the situation of the company every day. This position of the department actually benefited me a lot as I not only got to learn and see things from the scratch during my one month working period with this department but even if little, I was also able to participate and contribute to this department. I was mainly involved with the recruiting stage of the company as I did participate in sorting out the CV s of some candidates and making phone calls to them.

Operations Department

The head of Operations is located in the commercial building of PMC Ltd in Dhaka. However, the main function of the Operations department mainly takes place in Munshiganj within the factory of the company. As a result, I did not get an opportunity to work in this department although I was able to see how this department works for a short period of time during my field visit to the factory of PMC Ltd.

Logistics and Distributions Department

The Logistics and the Distributions Department of Premier Cement is together. The company has an extensive distribution system throughout the country. Both inbound and outbound Logistics plays a vital role in Cement Industry in Bangladesh. Premier Cement believes in delivering door-to-door on time. To ensure uninterrupted supply of raw materials, the company has its own Mother Vessels carrying raw materials from abroad.

To ensure smooth carrying from Mother Vessels to factory, the company’s fleets of Lighter Vessels are used .Premier Cement has its own distribution network through their dealer around Bangladesh. Its transportation subsidiary, with prominent transport companies in Bangladesh, operates a large fleet of trucks to distribute cement products in bags almost anywhere in the country.

Marketing & Sales Department

I worked with the Marketing and the Sales Department for the longest time during my internship period with PMC Ltd. In the Marketing department, I was given the opportunity to learn new things by observing and interacting with the Marketing team of the company. I was involved with the Preparation and the management of the Order Processing System (OPS), creating Product Invoice, recording and tracking the sales call from the distribution channel, analyzing some sales figures of the company, and taking feedback and complains from the customers via telephone and e-mail while working in the Customer Service Department. While analyzing the sales figures, I was also involved in the decision making and the planning of activities which were taken to increase the sales of PMC Ltd. I was assigned to do some documentation for the exported goods of PMC Ltd and to work on a small report on price analysis and price fixation. Additionally,

I also participated in the re-launching of the Cash ++ Offer 12 & the Eid2Eid Offer and worked with the CSR marketing team on the donating free cement for Masjid project.

Specific Job Responsibilities

As mentioned in the earlier part of the report, during my internship period, I have had the opportunity of working in all the departments. The manner in which I was rotated from one department to another was very helpful. This is because my works in most of the departments were scheduled in a manner where there was a link and a continuity of the tasks of the former department with that of the new department that I was engaged in. As mentioned before, all the departments of Premier Cement are closely interlinked with one another thus by working in this manner; it enabled me to get a better and a clearer idea of how the organization functions overall. Although a significant amount of time was spent for learning by observing how each of these departments work, I however had a number of job responsibilities assigned which I had to perform during the period of my internship.

Preparing and managing the Order Processing System (OPS)

While working with the Sales Department, I was assigned to prepare the documents required for the OPS and carry out some documentation work related to the OPS. There are mainly three steps in the OPS. Firstly, the money receipt has to be prepared. Secondly the purchase order is required to be prepared followed by the preparation of the delivery report. After preparing these documents, I had to contact with the sales in-charge officer of both the Chittagong and Dhaka branch to collect all the sales details of the month of June-July, 2010. Once it was done, all these entries had to be re-checked before storing these information in the software used especially by the sales department for keeping a track of their sales figures.

Analyzing sales figures

While working in the Sales department, I have had the opportunity of working with the sales analyzer of the company. After learning about the analyzing of sales figures and making predictions about the future sales trends, I was then assigned to work with the Marketing team of the company where the first work itself was related to the sales figures that I assisted to record and analyze with the sales team of the company.

Involvement in the decision making and the planning of activities to be taken to increase sales

I have had the privilege of being a part of the committee which was formed to study the sales figures and take appropriate actions to increase the sales. As I was already familiar with all the stages of recording the sales data to analyzing them, it was easier for me to relate to the other members and be a part of the stages of decision making and planning.

Involved with the setting of the HR department

I worked with the HR department solely for three weeks at a stretch. As mentioned earlier, this department has started operating very recently hence which gave me a chance to learn as well as participate in the tasks of the department. I was involved with a number of tasks related to this department. First of all, I helped to sort out CVs of potential candidates applying for various job positions in PMC Ltd. I was also assigned to contact some of the candidates to inform them about their interview dates and later their results.

Assisted in managing time schedules

Though for a short period of time, I assisted in some works related to the administrative side of the company while working in the administration department. In PMC Ltd, the time schedules for all the employees working in Dhaka, Chittagong and Munshiganj are reviewed from time to time. Due to the upcoming month of Ramadan, the authorities of the administration department altered the time schedules of the workers. I assisted them in this task.

Recording and tracking the sales call from the distribution channel

There are a number of participants present in the distribution network of Premier Cement (as illustrated in the figure above). While working with the logistics and distribution department of PMC, I was involved in recording and tracking down the sales calls of the corporate clients for the month of June. The Corporate clients that I dealt with were the home owners and the real estate developers. I had to input the data of sales in special software used by the Sales department to record the sales calls of the company.

Documentation for exports

I was assigned to work on a number of documents related to the exports of the country. This included work such as translations, editing, writing proposal letters and small reports.

Assisted in making policies for the health/medical benefits for factory workers

After the visiting of the factory of PMC Ltd in Muktarpul, Munshiganj, a problem regarding the type of health benefits being provided to the factory workers was identifies.

To solve this problem, a number of sessions were held where employees gave their feedbacks and ideas on how to overcome this situation. Although limited in information but the medical benefits given to the factory workers by other cement companies of the country were also reviewed with the sole intention of providing the workers of PMC withbetter facilities. During these sessions, I was given the responsibility of noting down all the ideas and later was given the opportunity to work with the committee for a period time where the findings were reviewed in order to come up with viable solutions to this problem.

Creating Product Invoice

While working in the Marketing Department, I did some of the invoice for them that related to the products being sold in Bangladesh. This Invoice is done in PCM by using software. The invoice that I was asked to prepare was the customs invoice which dealt with the exported goods only. While preparing these invoices, I had to fill in various information related to the cement being exported to the foreign country. Some of the information that I had to fill in was the description of the product, quantity of the product, freight, packing cost, selling price, weight of the goods, terms of delivery and port of destination.

Interacting with customers in Customer Service Department

As I started working with the Customer Service Department, one of the team members of the department explained and showed me how to take complains and feedback from their clients via the telephone. As it is a very crucial part of the job, if not managed properly could hamper the company-customer relationship, thus having both expertise and experience in this field is very important. Maybe this is why, throughout the time that I was involved in receiving phone calls and e-mails/letters from the customers, I found my self always under continuous supervision. The team members helped me and supported me whenever I faced any problem dealing with complains or the feedback that came from the customers.

Participated in the re-launching of the Cash ++ Offer 12 & the Eid2Eid Offer

PCM Ltd has re-launched their promotional offer the Cash + + and the Eid2Eid offer (affective from the 1st of September, 2010) again this year. However, some minor changes have been made this year by taking some observations from the response of the participants of last year. I worked with the marketing team for some time while they were working on the changes of these promotional campaigns. The price rates, the duration of these campaigns, the design of the advertisements and the networks covered to make people aware of these promotions have been changed according to the situation of the cement market of the country this year.

Report on price analysis and price fixation

While working in the Marketing and Sales department, I was asked to input the data of all the cement companies’ prices in Dhaka for the month of June. I had to collect reports and data from other departments to complete filling the data sheet. After that, I had to make a comparative and an analytical report based on the pricing of the cement companies from the date of 1st June to 25th June. The price of Premier Cement bag in Dhaka for the month of July was decided based on the findings and analysis of my report and on other relevant factors related to price.

Worked with CSR marketing team

In the first week of August, Premier Cement Mills donated cement for building Masjid in Manikgonj. I worked with the team who was responsible for planning and implementing this activity for two days. I learnt about some ways of planning a CSR activity.

Analysis of the websites of the competitors of PMC

While working in the IT department, I was asked to browse all the websites of the competitor’s of PMC Ltd and note down my critical observations. I had to make a list of the things which appealed to me about their websites and come up with suggestions about the features that I feel should be added in the new website of PMC.

Critical Observation and Recommendation

During the period of my internship at PMC Ltd, I found some critical areas of the company while working with them. I took these observations into consideration and suggested some recommendations to the PMC Ltd authorities so that they aware of a thirds person’s point of view, which they might want to work with in the near future to bring about some improvements in their working areas.

Observation 1: Unstructured HR Department

While working with the HR department, I noticed that the tasks of the entire department lacked a proper arrangement or structure. The flow of work within the department is not very systematic and neither is it being performed in an orderly manner. These drawbacks are understandable as this department is very new and still under the process of development and improvement. However, their shortcomings during this period create room for confusion and mismanagement which if not handles properly may affect the company badly in the future.

Recommendation:

As this is a very new department in the company, the employees and the authorities of the department are likely to face problems which eventually results to some mismanagement. This I think can be solved if either of the two recommended options is taken into consideration. First of all, the people responsible for the HR department should arrange small training sessions for all their employees working in their corporate office so that all of them can have a better understanding of how the department functions. This would also give them an opportunity to clear out their queries and suggest new ideas for the department. The company can also invite experienced HR personals especially those who have been involved with the cement industry to conduct these training sessions. The chances of an experienced person (in the field of HR) having the ability of comprehending and managing the situation in a better way and to provide useful advices is more likely. Secondly, the company can hire an external HR consultant for a period of time; that can guide them and help them grow till the department is not established properly.

Observation 2: Standardized facilities for factory workers

During my visit to the factory of PMC in Muktarpul, Munshiganj and as per my discussion with the Operations supervisor, I found out that the factory workers are provided with safety and medical facilities. However after much analysis, I figured out that such facilities provided to the workers are similar irrespective of the kind of work that each of these workers was associated with. I personally feel that this may not be helpful for the workers. As there are a number of stages involved in the production process of cement, each of these stages also involves different type of works which involves different type of risks, thus following a set of standard facilities to workers the may not be very helpful.

Recommendation:

I have mentioned this issue to the concerned authorities when I was informed that the authorities responsible for these areas are already working out ways to provide different kind of medical, health and security facilitations to their factory workers depending on the nature of their work. For an example, the person responsible for lab testing does not require a medical/health benefit like that similar to a worker involved in grinding the cement in the factory. I had participated in a small meeting which was held to discuss on these issues.

Observation 3: Unattractive website

I saw the old website of Premier Cement Mills which I think looked a little unattractive and lacked sufficient and relevant information compared to the website of the top cement companies of the country.

Recommendation:

The new website of Premier Cement Mills is under construction. While working with the IT department, I had the opportunity of having a glimpse of the new website of the company which is still under construction. I shared some of my ideas with the team members regarding some of the things that they could add to their new website so that they can come up with a better webpage this time, which will be of the same standard at least; if not better than that compared to their competitors. With the widespread availability of the internet, everything is just a click away from us and the webpage of a company creates the first impression about the company in the customer’s mind.

Therefore, it is very important for PCM to work hard towards creating an affirmative impression about their company to the viewers of their website from all around the world.

Observation 4: Giving BUET reports in Bengali newspapers mostly

As I interned in PMC Ltd, I found out that the company publishes their BUET reports and other test reports in Bengali newspapers only. Although this promotional activity has benefited the company to a great extent as it attracted the attention of many potential buyers and also helped them achieve a brand image and enhance their reputation.

However by limiting the publishing of these reports in only Bengali newspapers, the company is missing out on a whole segment of their target and potential customers who have access to English newspapers only.

Recommendations:

The company allocated almost 9 crore taka this year from their budget for marketing and promotional activities only. I have thus suggested the marketing head to start promoting their tests results and reports in English newspapers as well so that more people are aware of the credential of their products.

Observation 5: Old Corporate Video

I attended some corporate meetings with the directors, head of the departments and with externals while I interned with PMC Ltd. This gave me an insight to the business environment of the company and how they conduct formal meetings with externals.

Although the presentations in the meetings very impressive, however I feel that the corporate of video of PMC should be changed. The video that is shown to the externals even today was made in the year 2005. Though it may be a very minor flaw, but I feel that the screening of this video provides an impression about the company and thus, something should be regarding this.

Recommendation:

PMC Ltd should make a new corporate video for their company immediately. Although most of the content and the facts presented in their current corp. video is valid even for today, however they should make a new one by using interesting footages, better picture quality and more added information about the company. I have also recommended the authority to make dub their video in English or to add English subtitles to their video. As the company deals clients from big corporatism and industries and are also engaged in export with foreign countries, I feel that it is necessary for them to have their video in this International language.

Observation 6: Lack of up to date Information

While working with the Customer Service team, I received some e-mails and phone calls which stressed on some problems of PCM which was of similar nature. According to some of the clients, there was unavailability of up to date information about the company.

Recommendation:

I have discussed about this problem to some of the members of the Customer Service team because if this problem lingers, then the clients may become dissatisfied with PCM which may result to loss of customers in the long run. One of the main reasons why this problem is taking place is due to the lack of a proper website of the company. As long as the new website is not ready, the company should put more emphasis on maintaining their PR and relations with customers. They should also increase the frequency and the amount of their news and advertisements being published on newspapers and magazines so that the clients are always up to date about the company.

Observation 7: Miscommunication and misinterpretation of messages exchanged between an employee and the customer.

PMC Ltd caters to a wide range of customers. While working with the Customer Service team, I was asked to handle some phone calls of the clients to take their calls for complains and feedback. While doing this work, I realized that only should each customer be attended differently over the phone but also the way to communication verbally with the varying type of customers requires alterations depending on the type and background of the customer. At times, messages were interpreted incorrectly and some confusion took place due to the inability to understand the speech of one another over the phone. This can lead to a loss of time and sometimes to dissatisfaction for both the receiver and the caller.

Recommendation:

To deal with this situation, I would suggest PMC to first increase the number of people working in this department immediately. They should place employees having varying type of dialect and verbal communication skills. For an example, they can assign a person with good spoken English and proper Bengali to deal with the corporate clients and those residing abroad. On the other hand, they can assign another employee having the ability to understand different type of dialects of the country (e.g. Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal etc) to deal with customers calling from outside Dhaka. This recommendation may sound very racist but if this is done, then such miscommunication can be avoided very easily.

Observation 8: Externals having Lack of knowledge about PCM

PCM Ltd is doing a lot of Marketing Activities all around the country. They also have an attractive budget to carry out these activities. Judging from an external’s point of view, I feel that the company should put more stress on reaching out to their customers and informing them about their business. Before joining PCM, I did not know more than half of the things that I know now after working with them. By neglecting these little things,

PCM may get lost among the mist of so many other homogeneous cement companies that they may lose out on their customers.

Recommendation:

For fast implementation, I have suggested some ideas to the marketing head of the company t o address this problem by using their existing resources. To start with, PCM should publicize more about their activities. They should publish news about their export activities in newspapers. The company should also inform their customers about the CSR activities that they are doing so actively for the last couple of years. PCM should also promote their core features of functional benefits in their advertisements so that customers know that the company may be small but they do not compromise on the quality of their products. This would help PCM to create a brand image in the minds of the customers.

Observation 9: Absence of Recognition programs for the employees

During my period of internship in Premier Cement Mills Ltd, I noticed that although the working environment of the company is very pleasant and the employees are satisfied with their pay and the facilities that the company provides for them, however I observed that there was an absence of recognition programs for the employees. It is very important for the employer of an organization to recognize the efforts of an employee and appreciate his work. This not only helps to improve the relationship between an employer and an employee but it also helps an employee to understand the pace of his work compared to that of his co-workers. In this way the employees will also be more satisfied with their jobs and ultimately , it will be beneficial for the organization in terms of high productivity. Skills and performance based performance appraisal programs should also be introduced in the organization.

Recommendation:

As mentioned earlier, the HR department is in the growth stage and they are open to new ideas to improve their department. I suggested the HR manager to introduce some programs for their employees that would recognize their efforts and hence they will be rewarded for their performance. This is most likely to motivate the employees to work harder which would result to an increase in productivity of the company. Such programs should be introduced not only in the corporate office of PCM but also in their factories.

Employees and workers may be rewarded for meeting a target, small crests or certificates could be given to rank the best employee/factory worker of the month etc.

Observation 10: Working environment in the factory

During my visit in the factory of PMC, I noticed that the working environment in the factory is actually quite organized. The factory workers also seem to be happy with the condition of their work environment. However, a very minor matter caught my attention.

Cement is a dusty product and for this obvious reason, there is a lot of dust everywhere around the factory. Although it is an observation of a couple of hours but however, I noticed some of the factory workers having serious coughing problems while loading, unloading and grinding the unpacked cement. This can lead to a negative affect the health of the workers which may lead dust allergy; resulting to a fall in the level of productivity and a creation of an unhealthy working environment in the long run.

Recommendation:

To deal this with this situation, I suggested a very simple idea to the Operations manager of the company. From my memory of watching a part of an advertisement of a foreign cement company, I suggested the factory supervisor to provide the workers, especially the ones who are likely to have health issues with face masks. These masks are not only widely available but are also very affordable and useful to prevent oneself from dust. I also discussed about this issue with one of the HR personals and suggested him to implement and add this point to the code of conduct or to the policies of that of the factory workers.

Observation 11: Presence of information gap related to the area of IT

As I worked in the IT department during the first week of my internship, hence I was able to observe how some of the main software and tools for the different departments are used. However as I started working in the other departments, I noticed that the employees of one department are completely unaware about the way the other department operates with the support from the IT system. This I feel can create some problems in the future especially when employees would do job rotation or would have to conduct analysis or make policies for the company.

Recommendation:

To handle this problem, a short training session on IT could be arranged which would be provided to an employee as he/she joins the company first. Usually the motivation level of employee to learn new things towards the beginning is very high and thus taking into advantage, the employee could be made familiar with the various programs and software that are by the different departments which are controlled by the IT departments. In ths way, after an employee is asked to go for job rotation or work with the technical side of another department, he/she would not have to spend time and energy to understand and learn these things from the scratch again.