I'm going to celebrate Hari Raya Eidulfitri Festive season a day after tomorrow. It's a big day for me and my family and the rest of the Muslims around the globe. We'll be traveling to my wife's hometown which is about 300+ km from our home. I'm taking a 2 days annual leaves + 3 days public holidays. That's a total of 5 days and I'll try my best to really enjoy this break. I don' want to be interrupted by phone calls from the plant/my work place. I don't want to think about the plant. I just want to relax my mind for a while. I want some peace...
My plant will still be running this coming festive season. Luckily my senior colleague is there to take care of this very important plant. He have been guiding, mentoring and supporting me all
this while and I really appreciate it. I'm learning a lot from him (and his precious experiences).
On normal days, as a process engineer, I have to take care of the plant 24/7. That means to be alert and know what is going on in the plant at all time. I'm answerable on everything and anything that is happening to the plant. It's a really big and huge fast moving plant that we cannot afford any error. If not, the downtime will be very costly and I'll have difficult time explaining it to my superiors.
To be frank, I have to say that at all time, my mind will be focusing on the plant. While driving, going to sleep, taking bath, having dinner, outing with family, somehow, I'll think about what's happening in the plant. Is the plant OK? What if the oil quality is off spec? Is the flow rate maintained? Is the oil product sent to the correct tank? Is the vacuum pump OK? Are we getting the required process temperature? Is the steam supply enough? All these linger in my mind. Sometimes, in order to sleep peacefully, I'll call the plant and ensure everything is silky smooth before resting and going to sleep.
On a daily basis, my supervisors will call me (and my senior colleague) every early morning at 5.30 AM and report to us about the plant progress. Therefore, when we arrive at work, we are well aware of the plant overnight situation and performance. If there are problems, the shift supervisor or shift leader will call us even though it is 2.45 AM or 4.13 AM in the morning (and we are in deep sleep with sweet dreams).
Well, now that I have the 5 days break - that means my mind is also free. I'll just relax and give my mind some break which it definitely deserve.
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