The product makes it fun

When most of us think of a chocolate factory, we think of Willy Wonka and chocolate lakes. However, Fidelma Casey, a plant manager for Cadbury at its Dublin factory, assures me that there are no eccentric men in purple coats in her factory.

As a plant manager, Casey is responsible for two production lines which make chocolate bars such as Moro, Star Bar, Chomp, Caramello and Turkish Delight. She really enjoys working for Cadbury: "They have a good reputation as an employer - and it's easy to work with a product you like."

She started her career in Cadbury straight from college, having studied science in UCD for four years and finishing with an honours degree majoring in industrial microbiology. At the time, job prospects in Ireland were not very good so she decided to continue in college and went on to do a PhD.

However, before Casey had completed her PhD, she came across an ad for management opportunities for Cadbury. Given the prevailing job situation, she decided to go for it. She was offered the job and quit the PhD.

She started out in Cadbury as a process technologist. In this technical role she was involved in the production of chocolate eclairs. From there, she transferred to Rathmore, Co Kerry, to the Cadbury Crumb factory for a year. This factory produces the base for chocolate which is then transported to Dublin.

While in this position, Casey was involved in maintaining high production standards and helped the factory achieve quality accreditation. She then moved back to Dublin and soon moved into her current position of plant manager.

Every day Casey puts her college training to use but she also needs and uses "technical, organisational and interpersonal skills" which are just as important. The production lines operate 24 hours a day. Her working day starts early, usually at 7.30 a.m..

Each working day varies as she works to meet long and short term objectives. Often she will be involved in meetings with other departments, such as planning and personnel. There are many parts of her job that she enjoys. One of these is "the immediate results, there are targets everyday and therefore there are rewards everyday". However, she also says that this can be one of the downsides of the job as any failures are immediately obvious. Unlike many science jobs in which people tend to be somewhat isolated, she gets to work with "a great variety of people, there is a great buzz around the factory and there is constant interaction with others".

There is a variety of jobs in Cadbury which are filled by people with science backgrounds. These include lab work, production, computers and packaging.

Casey says she would recommend a science or some other technical qualification for students interested in her career area. "The majority of people in my job have either a science or engineering qualification - some sort of technical background. While this is not a definite requirement, it is without a doubt a help."