A Fascinating Trip: KDD Factory

I can only describe my trip to the KDD Milk and Juice Factory in one simple word: Fascinating. I had never before seen or been to a place which was so professional and silent, not to mention interesting. I had also never seen the brilliant use of technology anywhere.

 It all started when the members of MMK decided to take all the senior kids to the KDD Milk and Juice Factory to see the functioning, producing and packing of KDD Milk cartons, juice cartons and yogurt cartons. As soon as we arrived at our destination, we were welcomed and escorted inside by a lovely lady who was going to be our “tour guide”. She led us upstairs and as I looked to my left and right, I could see a lot of offices and people busy at work, as it was a normal working day. As we went on further, we arrived in a long corridor. To my right were glass panes through which we could look into the basement where machines and people were at work and to my left where huge machines which controlled the working of the machines in the basement. Our tour guide explained to us as we got up to the first glass pane. She told us that the work was divided into 3 parts, culturing, pasteurization and packing.

Our tour guide took us through all the processes and answered any doubts that we had. We observed how the milk, juice and yogurt was poured into their respective cartons,  how their lids were put on them and also how straws were attached to the milk and juice cartons. The tour guide also told us that KDD was the only company in Kuwait who used Tetra Brik, which produced tetra pack. Tetra pack was a sheet which was used in the packing of milk, which helped it to stay preserved and unspoiled for up to 6 months. As we moved to the packing area, we could see loads and loads of cartons with varying products either being loaded to their places or which were already loaded. The tour guide explained that there were bar codes on each carton which indicated where that particular item needed to be placed. There was an individual lady who was applying bar codes to the cartons and another individual man who was reading the bar codes via bar code readers. A worker then came with a crane and loaded the cartons onto the crane, all with the help of machinery. He even demonstrated how cranes worked, specially just for us. The crane could rotate 180 degrees and could go in any direction. It was an amazing use of technology and I had never seen anything like this before.

 After the tour was done, the tour guide took us to a small and colorful sitting area. On the way there, I noticed that there were about 10 glass cases each to my left and right. There were models of the various products of KDD. It was so organized and looked so amazing.  There were small models of the varying flavors of juice cartons, milk cartons, ice creams, tomato puree, olive oil and yogurt cups. It looked so real that someone could easily mistake it for the real thing! As we reached the sitting area, she requested us to sit on the sofas. She then went and put in a DVD which showed us more of the products of KDD and a closer view of how the products were packed and shipped to various places. As we were watching the DVD, she distributed KDD Chocolate Milk and KDD Cocktail and Mango Juice around the room. As we got closer to the end of the tour, she gave us all KDD caps. We took loads of pictures with her and finally bid her goodbye and thanked her for the wonderful tour.

 All I can say is that this was a great opportunity to learn something interesting. It was an incredible tour and we got a brilliant opportunity to discover something so incredible. As this was my first visit to a factory ever, I had loads of fun and enjoyed every bit of the tour. Who knew that so much effort was required to satisfy people’s needs? Kudos to all the workers and management of KDD, they are truly doing a wonderful job. In May, the members of MMK are planning to take us to the KDD Ice Cream Factory in Shuwaikh, which I am sure, will be as interesting as this one was. And if you ever get a chance to go to the KDD Factories, do not miss it because, trust me, it is a life-time opportunity!

Tanvi Chitnis