Mike Swan

Before Chelsea days

I grew up in Zimbabwe. For as long as I can remember I always wanted to be an engineer. Studied electrical engineering at the University of Natal Durban South Africa.

After graduating spent 10 years in the Steel Industry and 8 years in the Sugar Industry before moving to New Zealand in 2004. First job in NZ was as a Project Manager installing mainly baggage handling systems in Australia and some smaller projects in the Petro-chemical industry locally.

Chelsea days

Started working for Chelsea in 2006 as an Electrical Project Engineer, promoted to Capital Development Manager 8 months later. The sugar industry is a great place to work, as there is a broad variety of projects to work on, so the work can never be called boring.

There is a great team of people to work with and in recent years there have been some significant changes to the culture of the business, which has resulted in some positive opportunities, one of these has been the implementation of TPM3.

Chelsea Sugar is located in one of the best sites on the North Shore with some brilliant views of the city and yet it far enough away from the city, so that you are not caught up in that rat race.

I am responsible for developing and managing the Capital budget, which annually is worth around $7M. There is a team of Engineers ranging from Mechanical to Electrical and Control and Automation Engineers.

Favourite past-times

I enjoy spending time with my family, listening to music and playing tennis.

Tony Vranjes

Before Chelsea days

Born and bred in Auckland, initially west Auckland but my parents decided to move to the shore, didn't help though because I ended up with dreadlocks anyway. Attended Rosmini College secondary school then went on to complete a degree in Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland. While at university I worked at Antoine's restaurant, which greatly increased my influence in food and beverages (although the beverages bit may have been partly influenced by my days as a student) and directed me towards the food industry. I Started work at Chelsea as a student doing my practical hours and enjoyed it so much that one year later when I finished my degree I ended up coming to work at Chelsea full time.

Chelsea days

I thoroughly enjoy working at Chelsea, the main reason being that no two days are the same so there is always a new and interesting challenge to solve. Highlights are definitely being involved in projects and the satisfaction of actually being able to see your work being built/put into action and making an improvement to the process. Also a great bunch of people to work with, a very fun environment and extremely supportive, especially being reasonably new to the business as a student everyone was always more than happy to help me out and give me support.

My current position is as Refinery Process Coordinator so through application of my engineering knowledge I intend to provide continuous improvement initiatives in the optimisation of the refinery, and the minimisation of losses and energy uses. I have a large involvement in process improvement activities that I find both challenging and rewarding.

Favourite past-times

In my spare time I am right into sports partaking in surf lifesaving, rugby, amateur boxing and most recently duathlons which is quite good because I can go swimming in my lunch times due to Chelsea's prime position. You can't go past a good book and a beer and BBQ in the sun with mates on the weekends.nd playing tennis.