Manufacturing Feature
A recipe for
ow it’s true that Ron loves the taste of a Carib, but there may be another reason Antoine’s making that suggestion. He’s the managing director of Grenada Breweries, which makes the brand. His plant is the island’s only commercial brewery. It’s also Grenada’s largest manufacturing operation, shipping more than a million cases of bottled alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages annually. Since we at BusinessGrenada.Com magazine are ourselves partial to a well-chilled Carib now and again, we looked forward to interviewing Ron. Our dialogue was a fascinating lesson in both business and libation. Our first question was how someone so young (he’s just 36) managed to land the head spot in an enterprise that has to be fun to work for. It turns out that Antoine actually got two bites at the apple … or, perhaps, sips of the brew … in the Grenada Breweries organization. Born in St. Georges, and educated locally, he earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of the West Indies. That earned him his first posting at the brewery, as assistant plant engineer, in charge of the maintenance team. Contact with the firm’s financial controller, however, soon spun Ron in a different business direction. “We got into a number of conversations that were stimulating and inspiring,” he says, “and as a result I started to take interest in things with a financial nature.’ That interest led to his seeking an MBA in finance, and, as a result of scoring in the top eight percent worldwide on the GMAT exams, he was able to attend Cornell University, on scholarship from the Organization of American States. Then, after six years of employment as a financial manager at a New Jersey energy company, he learned, in 2007, that his first employer, Grenada Breweries, was casting about for a new managing director. With the chance to both advance in business and relocate to home, and despite being just 33 at the time, he won the job. His transition to top management was helped by the fact that Grenada Breweries is large enough to have a dedicated brewer, among other specialists. But Antoine also found that
Success
After a long day of work or play under the Grenadian sun, you just might want to amble down to the local watering hole for a beer or two. If so, Ron Antoine has a suggestion: order a Carib.
his prior experience at Grenada Breweries was a definite plus. “Having worked here before means I understand the plant,” he explains. He no longer considers himself a technical person, however, explaining that “the management and financial side of things make up the bulk of the tools I use day to day.” Making beer is not complicated. Ron reminded us that the Egyptians brewed it thousands of years ago, making us wonder whether the ancients hoisted a few after a hard day building pyramids. But the technology to produce and bottle it efficiently can be costly and complex. Antoine has actively sought that technology since occupying the head office and says his organization puts it to good use. “We have been able to take advantage of a number of technologies that have improved the quality and consistency of the product,” he says. “They have allowed us to more precisely look at and measure a variety of parameters such as how alkaline or acidic the water is, what type of grain we use, to what precision we grind the grain, the CO2 levels we inject,” and more. He likens the process … producing a simple product to consistent high standards … to “our mother making her favorite dish. It may come out a little different each time but if she used precise ingredients under precise conditions, then she could produce the same result every time. Well, that’s what we’re able to do now,” he says. The company’s technology improvements extend beyond brewing the b ????????????????U??????????e???????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q?????????????????????e??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????q]????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????t?????????]?????
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