Boda Gergely and Boros Richárd share their experiences on the Management Shadowing program

Two of our active members, Boda Gergely and Boros Richárd participated in the management shadowing program on 18th of March at the Poultry Integration company, being the “shadows” of Szabolcs Héjja.

The members’ experience:

“On March 18, 2024, we had the opportunity to visit the company in Feketehalom, where, as “shadows” of Szabolcs Héjja, we gained insights into various segments of corporate life and key moments in the company’s operations. Through the Romanian holding company Poultry Integration, the Feketehalom sites and slaughterhouse of Avicod RT were acquired in July 2021. This transaction brought significant changes to the company’s life, providing opportunities for modernization and increased production capacity. We started the day by learning about the company’s history and development. First, we were introduced to essential information such as the history of the company’s founding, their activities, and the main milestones of the company. We learned that Avicod RT has significantly expanded its capacities and technological equipment in recent years to remain competitive in the market.

Following this, we gained insight into the daily tasks and processes that determine the company’s operation. Szabolcs Héjja gave a detailed presentation on how the daily work is conducted, the most important tasks, and how continuous development and innovation are ensured in the company’s life. We also had the opportunity to visit the slaughterhouse, where, according to Szabolcs, about 4,000 chickens are slaughtered daily. We learned about the details of the slaughterhouse’s operation, from the preparation of the chickens to the slaughter, then through the processing processes to the packaging. The slaughtered chickens are either frozen in a segregated system or packaged immediately and then shipped. We also learned the exciting information that the company employs Nepali guest workers, and the employment of guest workers is becoming increasingly common among companies in European countries. We also managed to visit the huge cold storage rooms where the chickens are stored at about -20 degrees Celsius. Here we received additional important information about the transportation of the chickens, which is done in special refrigerated containers. Szabolcs emphasized that the stability of the chickens’ temperature is critical, as any temperature fluctuation can affect their shelf life, leading to quality issues.

After the factory visit, we had lunch with the company’s employees, during which we had the opportunity to have informal conversations with employees from various departments. After lunch, we also visited the office building, where we were shown the offices of various sectors, such as accounting, commerce, logistics, and IT. This gave us a comprehensive picture of how the administrative side of the company operates and how the different departments support the company’s daily operations.

We would like to thank Szabolcs Héjja and GTK for the unforgettable experience and especially for this visit, which greatly contributed to gaining practical experience and better understanding the complexity and dynamism of corporate operations.”