aa Working in industry Some useful phrases. Listen to the recording and repeat. | work for a large, multinational company. We manufacture components for our car production plants in Europe. The company has operations in over fifty countries, We export to Eastern Europe and the Far East. The domestic market accounts for about 40 per cent of our total production. The company was founded in 1960 We have over sixty employees What's your annual turnover? What does IABS stand for? What does your job involve? I'm in charge of twenty-five assembly workers. | have to liaise with our inspectors. Who do you report to? I'm on flexi-time. Do you do overtime? We have a three-shift system. I'm on the early shift I'M ON THE EARLY SHIFT.-@ Dialogues 1 A manufacturing company @: So, who do you work for? ©: 1 work for a large multinational company called DAK Group. We have five main aree of business — construction, heavy industry, shipbuilding, motor vehicles and telecommunications. And which side of the business do you wark in? The motor vehicles division. | work in our Belgian factory. We'manufacture components for our car production plants in Europe. Where are DAK headquarters? : In Seoul. But the company has operations in over fifty countries and thirty factories : over the world. eo 08 Products and markets @: What does your company do exactly? ©: We design and assemble a wide range of electric generators far hospitals, hotels an small factories. We specialise in medium-sized generators but we're hoping to diversify into larger models next year. ©: And who do you sell to? ©: We export to Eastern Europe and the Far East, The domestic market accounts for about 40 per cent of our total sales. Company size ©: How many people does your company employ? ©:) We have over sixty employees: We have about forty factory workers and technical ypeople and the rest are admin and sales staffy Ve started off with only ten people sc ‘our workforce has grown a lot.» : What's your annual turnover? ©: It was just over two million euros last year. Company background : How long has the company been in business? ©: For over forty years. The original company ~ Davies Engineering — was founded in 1! by the Davies brothers in a small workshop near Manchester. They closed down the workshop in 1980 and opened up a new factory in Leeds @: When did it become IABS? @: In 1997 — when it was bought by a German company. They set up two more business in the UK. : What does IABS stand for? ©: International Air Braking Systems.Notes I work for a large multinational company ... Other ways of talking about company size: it's a medium-sized firm. Its a small, family-owned business. We manufacture components ... Note the use of the present simple for situations which are generally true (NOT We are manufacturing ...: We praduce parts for the shipbuilding industry. We make boxes for packaging firms. .. for our car production plants in Europe. Note the use of for. A plantis a place where things are produced: a power plant, @ steel plant . the company has operations in over fifty countries ... Other ways of talking about parts of the company in other countries: We have factories all over Europe. We have production/warehousing facilities in more than twenty countries. We specialise in medium-sized generators ... Note the use of specialise into refer to the main products of a company. We export to Eastern Europe and the Far East. Note: the UK, the US, the EU, the Middle East. No the with most countries or continents France, Australia, South America, The domestic market accounts for about 40 per cent of our total sales. Note the use of aecount(s) for: Exports account for 60 per cent of our total production. Hotel generators account for about 10 per cent of our range of products. We have over sixty employees. Other ways of talking about the number of employees: We employ 2 000 people in our Lyons factory. There are 200 people working here, We have about forty factory workers and technical people ... Note the use of people: our maintenance people, our production people. .. the rest are admin and sales staff. Admin is short for administrative. our workforce has grown a lot. Workforce is often used for people who we for an industrial company: We need to reduce our workforce. What's your annual turnover? Annual turnover is the money that comes ir the business each year (through sales, services, ete.) The original company was founded in 1960 . was founded means was started. Note the of the passive. Other examples of passive visage: It was bought by a German company. It was taken over last year. What does IABS stand for? We use stand for when we want to know what letters in a name represent: BP stands for British Petroleum. British/American differences British American Which side of the Which part of the business do you business do you work in? work in? {also used in British English) «+. for our car for our auto(mobile production plants production plants specialise specialize-@ Dialogues 2 Training @: What do you do? ©: Fm an apprentice with a local engineering firm, My training lasts for two years. Two days a week | study Engineering at a local college. If | pass all my exams, I hope the company will take me on as an engineer. Job responsi ©: What does your job involve? ©: I'm the Project Manager sol have to make sure our projects run smoothly: | work with three Project Engineers. They take care of after-sales service and look alter the maintenance side of the business. Being in charge ©: I'm foreman in our assembly shop. 'm in charge of about twenty-five assembly workers. [have to liaise very closely with our inspectors. It's their job to check the quality of the work. ©: Who do you report to? ©: | report to the Shift Supervisor, and he reports ta the Factory Manager. Team-working @: Tell me about how you work here. ©: We work in teams. There are about four to six people in each team. I'm training to be a team leader. Each team member is responsible for the quality of the goods we (produce. We are multi-skilled so we can rotate jobs. | \ike that. It stops the work getting boring. Hours and holidays @: How many hours do you work a week? ©: | do e forty-hour week.d'm on flexi-time. | usually start work at 8 a.m. and finish at 4:30 and have half an hour for lunch. But I can start and finish earlier or later if | want. And how many weeks holiday do you get a year? Four ~ plus public holidays. usually take two weeks off in the summer’and the rest at New Year. ¢ Do you do overtime? Yes, if we're busy. f'm paid double-time if | work at weekends. eo o8 Shift systems What sort of shift-system do you operate? We have a three-shift system — that's three eight-hour shifts each weekday. We're shut at weekends. This week I'm on the early shift. Do you ever have to do the night shift? Yes, sometimes. | don't like working nights - | have problems sleeping during the day. eo 68I'm an apprentice ... You can also say I'ma trainee. Um doing an apprenticeship. «+ [hope the company will take me on as an engineer. To take 0/1 someone means to employ someone. What does your job involve? This is how we ask about job duties. |f involve is followed by a verb, use ~ing: My job involves checking the safety of our equipment. Thave to make sure our projects run smoothly. Some other ways of talking about job responsibilities and duties: Hake care of after-sales service. 1 look after the maintenance side of the business. Its my jab to check quality. I'm in charge of about twenty-five assembly workers. This means you are the person in control and you have responsibility. Note: NOT / am the responsible of the workshop. J have to liaise very closely with our inspectors. To liaise means to work closely with someone. Who do you report to? This is how we ask who someone's immediate boss is. Each team member is responsible for the quality of the goods we produce. Note the use of for after responsible. A verb must be in the -/ng form: He's responsible for ordering spare parts. We are multi-skilled so we can rotate jobs. This means you are skilled in many areas. To rotate jobs means to take itin turns to do different jobs. 'm on flexi-time. This means your hours are flexible, You don't work fixed hours, Jusually take two weeks off in the summer... Note the use of offto mean not working. She's off sick today. I'm having New Year's Oay off this year. Do you do overtime? This means to work extra time, in addition to your normal hours. I'm working overtime this weekend. I'm paid double-time if ! work at weekends. This means you will earn twice what you normally earn. We have a three-shift system... Note: NOT a three-shitts system, Note the use of hour, NOT hours: Three eight-hour shi. Aa0-hour week .. I'm on the early shift. Nate the use of an, Other ways of talking about shifts: i'm doing the night shift this week 1 don't like working nights. British/American differences British American totakesomeoneon _to hire someane (Both British and American English also use the phrase fo employ someone.) in each team on each team Hlexi-time flextime holiday vacation I'm paid double-time I'm paid double-time if |work at weekends. _ if | work on weekends. We're closed/shut We're closed/shut at weekends. on the weekend. top-of-the-range top-of-the-line cars cars, p12 mobile phone, p13 cellular) phone the automotive the auto(mobile} industry, p13 industry fitter, p14 carpenter would be used here (elso used in British English to refer only to people who work with wood!Practice 1 Write down a question from the dialogues for the following responses. same Who.do you.sell.to? We sell mainly to domestic packaging companies. An electronics company called Eurotron. we! design jet Bigines We have over 1 000 employees worldwide. I'm @ computer engineer, Bete ee ee Bn ee tent ee nee ay My job involves liaising carefully with our production people to plan our production schedules. I report to our shift supervisor. I work on average thirty-five hours a week. h Just ¢ ‘aver two million dollars a year. 2 Complete the sentences with a preposition. Example: |’m OM: the afternoon shift this week. @ We produce components ........... the car industry. b Exports account............ 70 per cent of total sales. e We have factories all............ the world. dd We specialise .. top-of-the-range cars, e We're trying to diversify. cevreees. More expensive models, f What does IBM stand............7 q He's responsible . Quality Control. h I'min charge the workshop. i Whotakescare............ after-sales service? j Uhave toliaise............ our production planners.3 Complete the sentences using a word from the box below. | apprentice components —_—flexi-time workforce. shift tynevér operations plant people overtime EXAMPLE: Our. . FMYMOMEY,... this year will be about $500 000. a I'mdoing... «+ ss++.. this week so |'ll earn more money. b Mysonisan . at a local furniture factory. c Sheworks............. so she can start work any time between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. d Ourcompanyhas...............045 in more than twenty countries. e What... are you on this week? € Our - has been cut because we don’t have enough orders. g They manufacture electronic.................. for computers. hh Ourmaintenance................ do all our repairs. i DAKis opening anewcar.................. inthe UK next year. 4 Match the products and industries. Use a dictionary to help you if necessary. 1 diesel ail a the pharmaceutical industry. 2 car components b the construction industry. 3 buildings c the textile industry. 4 drugs d_ the electronics industry. 5 jetengines e — the petrochemical industry. 6 cardboard boxes f — the aerospace industry. 7 semi-conductors g the telecommunications industry. 8 gold h the automotive industry. 9 cloth i the packaging industry. 10 mobile phones j the mining industry. 5 Add a verb to the preposition to make a two-part verb. EXAMPLE: The company is planning to..... OREM....... up a factory in China next year. a Weill haveto..... ....0M some more machine operators as we are behind with orders. Our IT people.......... ..... after the maintenance of our computer syste’ b © Theyhadto.. cee ceeeeeeeee down their German factory because costs wer d Imgoing to.................. off the whole of July this year. I need a good ho eI would like to become self-employed and up my own car repair business,