Quick on her feet
As a lab manager for Brampton Brick, Abby Gail Hermoso is involved in “a little bit of everything”.
Q: What is your position and what are your responsibilities?
I’m the laboratory manager of the Technical Services Department at Brampton Brick Limited. I’m involved in a little bit of everything, from the raw material at our quarry to the end product and addressing customer complaints.
I plan quarry extraction activities to maintain consistent shale properties and to meet clay brick production demands. I also oversee the day-to-day lab operations for incoming, in process and finished product testing for our clay and concrete products. In conjunction, I’m responsible for the onboarding of laboratory personnel, which often includes working with many postsecondary co-op programs. I work on a number of projects, such as clay product development for sales, process improvement to mitigate quality issues for production, and R&D opportunities for corporate initiatives.
Q: What is it about your job that other people wish they got to do?
The most rewarding aspect of my job would be seeing tangible results as a result of projects I’m directly involved in. This would be from designing a stockpile and seeing it built, developing a new colour and actually seeing it on a house, or driving process improvements in the plant and watching complaints and quality issues go down.
Q: What do you find most challenging in your work?
The most challenging aspect is finding balance and ensuring I have projects prioritized for both internal and external customers. Sometimes that means changing gears for different personalities or wearing different hats for different projects while staying three steps ahead.
Q: Describe your typical day on the job and how the work you do contributes to your company.
A typical day for me is a mix between being in the laboratory or production plant. In the laboratory my work will include planning tests, reviewing results and communicating analyses. Our results allow production, sales and stakeholders to make decisions or changes if required.
When I’m in the production plant, I’m always on my feet and conducting trials, troubleshooting quality issues or working with the production management and operators on process improvement projects. Sometimes the day runs smoothly where procedures guide us, but some days I’m using my skillset to solve a puzzle. I’m able to provide support to production from a technical side.
Q: How did you get interested in this work?
For my final co-op term, I wanted hands-on experience in the manufacturing industry and was hired on as a lab technician at Brampton Brick. I had no knowledge of the brick industry and every day I found myself learning something new. My days were always different, and production kept me on my toes.
Q: What sort of education do you have that is relevant to your job?
I graduated from Sheridan College in the Chemical Engineering Technology – Environmental program. There was a lot of focus on laboratory skills and report writing that is essential for any position in the lab. Our decisions are based on fact and the testing and analysis we conduct supports that.
We hire from an array of different educational backgrounds, such as chemical, quality and environmental. In all, laboratory experience is always crucial.
Q: Where do you see the industry going in the next few years?
With the pandemic, we’ve all experienced struggles with supply chain issues. This will further drive the need for sourcing alternative raw materials and create urgency in introducing recycled materials in current manufacturing processes. We’ve always carried out R&D testing of by-products from other industries and we try to figure out how we can incorporate it. I see this being our number one priority in the coming years.
Q: What advice would you give to others looking for a career in the aggregate industry?
Put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to try something new. If I wasn’t offered a job at Brampton Brick, I was ready to pick up and move cross-country for any opportunity.