SM Jaleel re-opens for business

JUST one week after a major fire halted operations at the SM Jaleel Plant in Otaheite, South Oropouche, leaving in its wake more than $12M in damage, work resumed yesterday at full pace.

When Newsday visited the compound, all employees were busy at work, trying to make up for lost time and labour. Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Human Resources vice-president Farzan Ali said, “SM Jaleel is a very resilient company, we have a lot of faith.” This he said has helped them overcome the obstacles caused by the fire. About 300  workers in the PET and Production  Department would have been affected  by last week’s multi-million dollar blaze. He also complemented the maintenance and sanitizing department that worked round the clock, after the fire, to ensure the plant’s readiness for restart of operations yesterday.   

 Vice President of Marketing, Anna Mohammed, was happy to point out that the company had obtained an adjacent building once used by Carib Brewery. It was provided to them by Norman Sabga of the ANSA MC Al Group of Companies. This building will soon be used for storage purposes. Meanwhile, since the company is still cramped  for space, large portable containers are being used to store raw materials like plastics, plastic resin, plastic pre-forms, bottle caps and  sugar. When asked what would be  done to compensate for lost production she answered, “The most we can do is work the two public holidays.” The company normally operates all through the day and night. Damage, Mohammed said, exceeded twelve million dollars.

Mohammed and Ali praised the efforts of staff for their “dedication and commitment” in the face of the mishap. The two were also high in praise for T&TEC workers who carried out the re-wiring job to restore an electrical supply to the company. Yesterday, it was discovered that the conveyor machine which transports empty bottles, was  malfunctioning as a result of the fire and, some work had to be done manually. This and other minor problems were to be rectified by a visiting technician. As to the cause of the fire, both Mohammed and Ali agreed that it may have been the result of an electrical fault.