My Great Journal at PT Great Giant Foods

I went on an internship program for a month in PT Great Giant Foods (PT GGF), Lampung, Indonesia in 2019. A few days before having a flight to Lampung I was exceedingly nervous given that PT GGF is one of the biggest canned pineapple producers worldwide, and I worried about the company’s working culture. Thus, I asked for suggestions from whoever used to work there; my seniors, relatives, and friends. 

Even though words that had been scrutinized regarding the daily life in PT GGF were all positive and exhilarating, I was still feeling anxious. On the night before the first day, the preparation of documents and stuff was done immaculately. On top of that, my brain was constantly doing self-talk, stringing dialogues of me answering various difficult questions from the company’s representatives, which only made me more uneasy.

Right when I arrived at the Human Resource Department Office on the initial day, I was amazed by how well-organized the system was. The intern students were all gathered in a waiting room and will be called one by one and eventually placed on each department. 

I was set up at the Cannery Department, in the packaging section of canned pineapple. Mr. Denny, cannery chief manager, was my supervisor. He welcomed me on my first day warmly. He is a humble-yet-professional type of person. I was also introduced to every person in the office by him. 

There were 13 intern students at the Cannery Department, all of whom were placed differently on a specific section but were obligated to have a deep-detailed info of each part of the production. Hence, Mr. Deny arranged us a schedule providing the production areas that we had to visit. The planning was visiting every spot in the first week and deepening a particular section in the following time.

Throughout the intern period, the students ought to write a report and present the result to the manager, chief of departments, and workers on their final day. Before the report was finally accepted, however, every student had to have consultation sessions with the supervisor, as to the content. 

On a random consultation day I asked my supervisor “Mr. Denny, as one of the greatest canned pineapple producers, Why GGF is still accepting intern students like me?”

He gave me a small-corner-mouth smile and said “simple, we want to give contributions to education and its growth”

Such a simple but earth-shattering answer. 

I met and interacted with tons of people such as machine operators, administrative workers, chief of production,  technicians, cleaning services, and even canteen sellers. They all put their highest dedication to the jobs and were happy to work in GGF. These all were shown by how they managed their tasks, and I learned how to carry a job with enthusiasm from them.

The presentation day, which became my last day of internship, also became the gloomiest part of the journey. Despite having my presentation complimented by the audiences, I was brokenhearted realizing that tomorrow I won’t be able to meet the people I work with in the past 1 month. Thousand photos were taken on that day, hoping they would bond the memories I had gotten along with the joy I experienced. 

In a nutshell, I am genuinely glad that PT GGF gave me the chance to derive how a multinational company runs, and I felt quite privileged to work with them. Mr. Denny, the cannery manager as well as my supervisor, was especially kind to me and made me feel the part of the industry as soon as I arrived.