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Agrium

Very productive and results oriented company.  Fast paced daily work. Site work was schedule driven with priority on safety & quality.
Both cost & schedule is well managed when work is executed safely with high productivity (quality). Valuable experience on managing a diversified work force, with emphasis on safety & quality. The workplace culture was team work producing results. Management culture was;good planning, pro-active and "no surprises". Challenges were forecast with appropriate corrective plans, "fire drills" were avoided. The hardest part of the job was building a grassroots plant in an operating plant environment. All the hard work and long hours did provide superior results: no body got hurt, the new plant met production objectives and people gained experience & success. The most enjoyable part for me as Project Director was that I kept everyone safe and saw people grow in their careers.

I learned much as a process operator at Agrium as this was my first job as a process operator. I was introduced to vessels of all types and pumps and high horsepower centrifigal steam driven compressors which would help me much in the hydrogen units and compressors at syncrude and albian sands. I also used what I learned in the urea plant to commission 2 fertilizer units in Egypt for 1 year. I worked on a great team at Agrium and they all, and management were very helpful when I had questions about the process and in the initial learning stage of the various posts. I would say that the hardest part of the job was the learning as there was much information to memorize but with the manuals and people that couched me I actually enjoyed it.

Enjoyed managing Materials Management group but found it difficult to supervise 22 people in 2 diverse areas namely Purchasing and warehousing. There were no supervisor or lead hand in either group. All 22 were direct reports.  Age of the plant required annual turnarounds lasting upwards of 45 days usually during the summer which made it difficult to plan summer vacation for staff. 

Supervisor of group reported directly to site management and indirectly to Corporate Materials Management in Calgary. Often there were conflicts in priorities and measures. 

Company has strong safety program, benefits and social programs such as United Way.

Agrium preaches preemptive maintenance but we were always fighting to get things fixed, very unsafe practices that way. Plus every year I was there(5 years), they put more accountability on the operators while making little change to improve equipment. The plants were old and run down but management would make operators sign WHAT cards and procedures, holding us responsible for any incident while taking no responsibility or having any accountability themselves. Some supervisors are old school and would yell and swear at you and even name call. Honesty was a huge problem throughout the company. Your told from the begining , go to H&R, your days are numbered. H&R is for the company not the worker.

I worked as a surface pit surveyor taking topos of the pit and plotting it with a GPS and data collector. I picketed dig limits, blast holes, grade, toes and crests. I learned how to use the software Surpac. Management was well organised and wasn't afraid to speak to anyone. My co-workers were great to work with and wish that I was still working with them. The hardest part of the job was that I lived 45 minutes away from Kapuskasing plus a 1 hour bus ride away to the mine. I worked 12 hours days but it really came up to about 15 hours by the time I would get back home. The most enjoyable part of the job was the fact that Agrium worked very hard on team building and I got to meet new people that worked for the mine.

Certain members of management there are horrible , brow beating and belittling employees often using profanity and intimidation until they quit. Control type management style - will beat you with a big stick until you do exactly what I tell you to do and will continue this treatment every time you even think of questioning my authority or decisions .  Lack of regard for employee safety. Certain managers there force employees into working in unsafe conditions or performing unsafe actions.  The Plant is old , and  had equipment failures,  often  that were safety related.  When worked there,  crew members eventually quit and went to work at  other companies .

I work with a great group of guys in reliability with the passion to improve productivity and safety. I enjoy my job in reliability because it gives me an opportunity to make a difference in the advancement and  growth of our company. I have the opportunity to train and learn with the support of the company. Even though it is a union based work force I feel that the communication between company and union is top notch. Agrium takes care of their employees with an above average benefits program and pension plan I have worked for this company for 34 years and am proud to say I'm an Agrium employee.

12 hour rotating shifts
Operator/industrial mechanic for production of slow releasing fertilizer
Daily plant inspection of equipment
Lab work - to determine quality of product and make necessary adjustments
Preventative maintence of plant equipment
Housekeeping
Shipping of product ie railcar, truck
Equipment and building safety - ie eye wash, showers
Troubleshooting with supervisors
Work with co-workers in a team environment
The most enjoyable was working with management and co-workers and making a good quality product.
The hardest part of my job was keeping my co-workers motivated.

Once the outsourcing was announced and everyone had been given their "expiry date" it was not a fun place to work.  Half the people were zombies waiting for their termination date.  The other Half were either disengaged and not trying to help coworkers, or were lowering their performance standards to that of TCS, the company that most IT services were outsourced to.

Secure and protect the property. I worked as a security officer. We ensured that it was safe for workers on a daily basis. I learned that potash mines are very productive and are a very important part of the food chain.
I worker with all types of trades workers. The hardest part of this job was informing safety personnel that a certain worker was under the influence of alcohol and some workers were fired on the spot.
The most enjoyable part of this job was commuting and being a big part of a company.

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