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KATELYN RHEINLANDER \u201913<\/strong><\/p>\n Biosystems Engineering<\/strong><\/p>\n Warehouse Performance Manager for PepsiCo Frito-Lay<\/strong><\/p>\n SO WHAT DO YOU DO?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I work for PepsiCo Frito-Lay as a warehouse performance manager. I work in a manufacturing facility in Warner Robbins, Georgia. It\u2019s over a million square feet, so it\u2019s the largest Frito-Lay facility under one roof in North America. We have 15 production lines and it\u2019s a full-mix warehouse, and we have our own traffic fleet. There\u2019s a lot going on, and it\u2019s a cool place to work. I make chips for a living.<\/span><\/p>\n WHAT KIND OF CHIPS?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n All of them. When I first started, Sun Chips and Tostitos Scoops were the two production lines I was responsible for, and there were about 15 people on each. But I got to be part of a start-up, and we put in a brand new fried Cheetos and Smartfood popcorn line. So that\u2019s now four lines and about 35 people I supervise. And that\u2019s just in one department. We have four different departments. If Frito-Lay makes them, we probably make them in that plant. I always say that Funyuns are the coolest to watch cook, because the way the process works is it\u2019s all about air pressure and that\u2019s how they get that puffed up look, and there\u2019s just nothing better than a warm Funyun.<\/span><\/p>\n WHY DOES FRITO-LAY NEED ENGINEERS TO HELP MAKE CHIPS? <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n We hire engineers because we love the way they think. We want people who can problem-solve and troubleshoot. I started in production overseeing packaging, with a team of folks that I managed, and I was in charge of day-to-day operations. It\u2019s really engineering for people \u2014 in my eight-hour shift or my 12-hour shift, what problems am I solving for them today? From there, I took over an automated multi-pack line in our carton division, and then recently I transitioned into a role in our direct-to-store model, which is basically how we fill customized orders. So if you want a bag of Lays, a bag of Doritos, and a bag of Smartfood, we\u2019re going to take those individual orders and send them off to gas stations and grocery stores. I\u2019ve gotten to do a lot of different things all in one facility, and it\u2019s just a neat environment. It\u2019s a lot of young managers, so there\u2019s like 30 or 40 of us under the age of 30. It\u2019s just a really fun group to get to be with. There\u2019s 10 or 12 of us from Auburn.<\/span><\/p>\n HOW HAS YOUR DEGREE SERVED YOUR CAREER?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n If you had asked me, coming into biosystems, if I had wanted to make chips for the rest of my life, I probably would have laughed at you. But I think the thing that biosystems has given me is the confidence to go do whatever I wanted to do. What initially drew me in was the idea of fostering sustainability and working on environmental impact. I felt like, in the world that we function in today, those issues are so critical and important. And I also loved the idea of a little bit smaller department \u2014 at least it was smaller when I started \u2014 and the ability to get that one-on-one attention with some of the best professors across the board. I describe it as a combination of environmental and agricultural engineering, but I think we talked about it sometimes as a jack-of-all-trades degree. We take classes in electrical, we take classes in coding, in agricultural and environmental and civil. Whatever you decide to go do, you have the tool skillset and the capability to go do that and so I loved the options that it provided me. What I valued the most is that it put me in situations where I didn\u2019t know how I was going to finish something, how I was going to finish this homework assignment, how I was going to finish this project. But it provided me with the support and push to go do it. Every day at work I run into similar situations, and I feel confident that I can go solve that problem because I\u2019ve done it before. I\u2019ve come to a stop in the road and said \u2018I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to have to do this\u2019 \u2014 every time I\u2019ve had homework in heat and mass transfer \u2014 and I\u2019ve come out the other side and said, \u2018no, I can do this,\u2019 and that\u2019s given me the confidence to go make chips.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2020\/06\/Katelyn-Rheinlander-2-1-of-1.jpg\")
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