Workman internship report

Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur
et de la Recherche Scientifique
Université de Carthage
Ecole Polytechnique de Tunisie
‫العالي‬‫ـم‬‫ي‬‫التعل‬‫ارة‬‫ز‬‫و‬‫و‬‫العلمي‬‫البحث‬
‫قرطاج‬ ‫ـة‬‫ع‬‫جام‬
‫ال‬‫ـة‬‫س‬‫المدر‬‫ت‬‫ون‬‫س‬‫ية‬‫للتقن‬‫ي‬‫ات‬
‫ص.ب‬ ‫الخوارزمي‬ ‫نهج‬743‫المرسى‬2078
:‫الهاتف‬61177471--69977471:‫الفاكس‬84374871
:‫الواب‬ ‫موقع‬www.ept.rnu.tn
Rue Elkhawarezmi BP 743 La Marsa 2078
Tel: 71 774 611 -- 71 774 699 Fax: 71 748 843
Site Web: www.ept.rnu.tn
Workman Internship Report
______________________________________
VIVO Energy Tunisie
Société Tunisienne de Lubrifiants de Rades
______________________________________
01/08/2018 – 31/08/2018
Elaborated by: Mohamed Aziz Tousli
Supervised by: Aymen Carous
Academic Year
2018/2019

2
Acknowledgments
At the end of this internship, I wish to express my sincere thanks to Mrs. Samia BEN
TAHER, the Director of the factory, who by her guidance, her valuable advice, her pertinent
remarks and her availability, helped me to accomplish this internship in the best conditions.
I would also like to thank Mr Walid Maamer, quality manager, Mrs Ahlem HOUIMEL,
the laboratory manager, Mr Mohamed AMRI, the maintenance manager, Mr Hedi BEN
OTHMEN, the HSE manager, Mr Jamel ZEGAM, the store manager, who were always there to
answer my questions and to facilitate my integration into the team.
Finally, I thank all the staff of VIVO Energy Tunisia and especially STLR for their
kindness, their welcome, and the support they gave me throughout my internship.

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Contents
List of figures .............................................................................................................................. 5
List of tables ............................................................................................................................... 6
Introduction................................................................................................................................ 7
1. Presentation of VIVO Energy.................................................................................................. 8
1.1. Mother society................................................................................................................. 8
1.2. VIVO Energy Tunisie......................................................................................................... 8
1.3. Products of Vivo Energy Tunisie ...................................................................................... 8
1.4. Companies of Vivo Energy Tunisie................................................................................... 9
2. Presentation of STLR .............................................................................................................. 9
2.1. Presentation of the company ...................................................................................... 9
2.2. Geographical location................................................................................................ 10
2.3. Company organization chart...................................................................................... 10
2.4. Activities of the company ......................................................................................... 10
2.5. Structure of the factory ............................................................................................. 11
2.6. Supply modes of the factory...................................................................................... 12
2.7. Products of the factory .............................................................................................. 12
2.7.1. Virgin base oils.................................................................................................... 12
2.7.2. Regenerated base oils ........................................................................................ 12
2.7.3. Additives............................................................................................................. 12
2.7.4. Lubricants ........................................................................................................... 12
3. Organization of services....................................................................................................... 13
3.1. Store service............................................................................................................... 13
3.2. Maintenance service.................................................................................................. 13
3.3. Manufacturing and packaging service....................................................................... 14
3.4 Quality service............................................................................................................. 14
3.5. Laboratory service ..................................................................................................... 15

4
3.6. HSE Policy................................................................................................................... 15
3.6.1. Health ................................................................................................................. 15
3.6.2. Security............................................................................................................... 15
3.6.3. Environment....................................................................................................... 15
4. Work process........................................................................................................................ 16
4.1. Lubricants manufacturing.......................................................................................... 16
4.2. Control of the laboratory........................................................................................... 16
4.3. Control of the empty packaging ................................................................................ 16
4.4. Conditioning............................................................................................................... 17
4.5. Storage in the store ................................................................................................... 17
5. Internship progress .............................................................................................................. 17
5.1. Lubricants manufacturing.......................................................................................... 17
5.2. Control of the laboratory........................................................................................... 18
5.3. Control of the empty packaging ................................................................................ 18
5.4. Storage in the store ................................................................................................... 18
6. The socioprofessional aspects of labor life .......................................................................... 19
6.1. Vertical relations........................................................................................................ 19
6.2. Horizontal relations ................................................................................................... 19
6.3. Reviews ...................................................................................................................... 19
Conclusion................................................................................................................................ 20
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................. 21
Annex........................................................................................................................................ 22

5
List of figures
Figure 1: VIVO Energy logo......................................................................................................... 7
Figure 2: STLR logo ..................................................................................................................... 8
Figure 3: STLR location ............................................................................................................... 9
Figure 4: STLR Organizational chart ........................................................................................... 9
Figure 5: LOBP structure .......................................................................................................... 10
Figure 6: Shell lubricating oils produced by STLR..................................................................... 11

6
List of tables
Table 1: Projects developed by the maintenance department .............................................. 13
Table 2: Empty packages quantities to be tested .................................................................... 17
Table 3: Test results on a 1L can .............................................................................................. 17

7
Introduction
The engineering training at Tunisia Polytechnic School includes an internship at the end of the
first year called « Workman Internship », where engineering students get the chance to be
introduced into professional life.
Nowadays, the oil industry attracts a lot of engineers, and in order to know this area and have
an initiation that allow them to integrate a petroleum company, I adressed VIVO Energy to do
my internship.
This report will reflect the experience I have gained during this internship. It is organized into
three parts. I will start first by a presentation of VIVO Energy then STLR. Later, I will describe
the process of manufacturing, packaging and storage of lubricants. I will also describe the
progress of my internship in the quality department, giving an overview of the different
performed tasks. I will finally give my own observations concerning the professional and social
aspects of working life in this company.

8
1. Presentation of VIVO Energy :
1.1. Mother society :
VIVO Energy, stands for Vivo Energy Investments BV, is an anonymous Dutch company that
takes care of the production, distribution and marketing of petroleum products. It was
created in 2011 following the purchase of 80% of Royal Dutch Shell shares in downstream
activities in Africa by Vitol and Helios Investment Partners, each 40%. It is the exclusive
licensee for the production and marketing of Shell products in Africa. It currently operates in
16 African countries: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Cost, Ghana, Guinea,
Mauritius, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Uganda, Senegal and Tunisia.
Figure 1 : VIVO Energy logo (source : www.vivoenergy.com)
1.2. VIVO Energy Tunisie :
VIVO Energy Tunisie, created in 2012, is an anoonymous company with a registered capital of
2,238,600,000 TND, of the distribution, storage and marketing of petroleum products. It
operates 7 companies and delivers its products to more than 165 service stations.
1.3. Products of VIVO Energy Tunisie :
VIVO Energy offers its customers a wide and deep range of products consisting of:
- Lubricants: in the form of drums of 1, 2, 4, 5 or 20L and bigger ones of 209L.
- LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) mainly Butane under the form of a 3, 13 or 35Kg bottle and in bulk,
also propane in bulk.
- Fuel: Without Leads, Gasoil and Gasoil 50.
- Bitumen.

9
1.4. Companies of VIVO Energy Tunisie :
Vivo Energy operates several companies that are:
- STLR, Tunisian Company of Lubricants of Rades (VIVO 60%, Total 40%, managed by VIVO): factory of
manufacture of lubricants.
- BUTAGAZ Tunisia, located in La Goulette: supply, distribution and marketing of LPG.
- SUDGAZ (VIVO 65%, Total 35%, managed by VIVO), located in Gabes: storage, handling, filling and
distribution of LPG : bulk propane, bottled butane.
- Bitumen Tunis (JV 50%, managed by Shell).
- SEPT (Oil depot at La Skhira, managed by 3-year mandate between VIVO, Total and OiLybia).
- Fuel depot in Rades.
- SEGPV (Operating and Point of Sale Management Company): management of VIVO service stations.
2. Presentation of STLR :
2.1. Presentation of the company :
STLR is the Tunisian Company of Lubricants of Rades (Société Tunisienne de Lubrifiants de Rades). It
was created in 1988 and is part of the VIVO Energy group.
Some history about STLR :
- In 1990: the company was 100% Shell.
- In 2003: the company becomes 60% Shell and 40% Total.
- In 2011, Shell sells all its shares to VIVO Energy, so today STLR is 40% Total and 60% VIVO.
STLR is an anonymous company with a registered capital of 1,300,000 TND. It is specialized in the
manufacture, packaging and marketing of lubricants. In other words, it ensures the mixture of the base
oils with the additives of its customers according to the percentages defined in their formulation.
It has few employee - a total of 43 people. In 2006, it was considered the first LOBP (Lubrificant Oil
Blending Plant) Certified with Integrated Management System in Africa.
Figure 2 : STLR logo (source : www.vivoenergy.com)

10
2.2. Geographical location :
STLR is located within the Rades-petroleum zone of VIVO Energy Company of Tunisia and occupies an
area of 25,800 m². It is bounded on the north by the OMMP field (Office de la Marine Merchant and
Ports), South and West by VIVO Energy Depot and East by GPL Center BUTAGAZ (Figure 3).
Figure 3 : STLR location (source : maps.google.com)
2.3. Company organization chart :
Currently, STLR employs 43 people. The general organization chart (Figure 4) reflects the organization
of STLR.
Figure 4: STLR Organizational Chart
2.4. Activities of the company :
The STLR lubricant manufacturing unit activities are:
- Receipt and storage of base oils : virgin and regenerated.
- Receipt of certain bulk additives, packaged additives and imported or local finished products.
- The manufacture of lubricants by mixing base oils and additives, according to formulations
specific to finished products.
- Transfer and packaging of finished products in their respective packaging and storage.
- The control by the laboratory of the quality of raw materials and finished products.
CEO
Production Laboratory Maintenance Storage Store

11
- The loading of lubricants packaged in bulk.
- Management of lubricant stocks :bulk, packaged, imported or manufactured by the unit.
2.5. Structure of the factory:
STLR (Figure 5) is composed of 11 zones, each is dedicated to a certain activity:
- Zone 00: administrative block.
- Zone 10: laboratory.
- Zone 20: zone for the reception line.
- Zone 30: utilities area: boilers, dryers, compressors.
- Zone 40: place of storage of base oils.
- Zone 50: place of transfer of base oils.
- Zone 60: manufacturing location of lubricants : Blending.
- Zone 70: zone of electrical installations.
- Zone 80: place of storage of bulk additives.
- Zone 90: place of storage of finished products and additives in drums.
- Zone 100: store of storage of packaged finished products
Figure 5 : LOBP structure (source : www.vivoenergy.com)

12
2.6. Supply modes of the factory:
The LOBP (Lubrificant Oil Blending Plant) gets supplies by:
- Boat, for virgin base oil: through a scraped line of 8 inches and length about 350 meters,
connecting the wharf to the Manifold collecting storage tanks, monthly.
- Tank truck: for the reception of regenerated oils, and this via a station of unloading trucks. A
pump is used to suck up the product from the tank and push it back to the tanks of storage.
2.7. Products of the factory:
2.7.1. Virgin base oils:
The base oils, which are used by STLR for the manufacture of lubricants, belong to the family
of paraffins. They are essentially characterized by an index of high viscosity.
2.7.2. Regenerated base oils:
These are oils extracted from used oils that are collected by SOTULUB (Tunisian Company of
Lubricants).
2.7.3. Additives:
The technological evolution of the thermal engines forced the oil companies to follow this
progress in regularly developing new products lubricating oils that meet the news
requirements of automakers for the purpose of better customer satisfaction.
The performance of such lubricating oils depends on the base oils and essentially the additives
constituents.
2.7.4. Lubricants:
Blending produces several types of lubricants.
There are 7 groups of lubricating oils. They are classified as follows:
- Group 100: Motor oils.
- Group 200: Extreme pressure oils.
- Group 300: Hydraulic oils.
- Group 400: Mineral oils.
- Group 500: two-stroke oils.
- Group 600: Marine oils.
- Group 700: The oils without ash.
Figure 6 : Shell lubricating oils produced by STLR (source : www.shell.com)

13
3. Organization of services:
3.1. Store service:
 Ccope: all finished products.
 Process:
- Reception, storage and loading of finished products.
- Billing.
- Loading finished goods bulk.
 General mission: storage, loading and invoicing of finished products conforming to
satisfy the customers.
3.2. Maintenance service :
Maintenance is the management of all existing equipment in the factory.
The maintenance manager is responsible for short-term inspections daily, long-term
inspections, every ten years, for example, a tank is shut down, its cleaning obeys standards
such as thickness measurement and checklist ; and repair.
Maintenance is divided into two parts:
- Preventive maintenance, planned: it has rules that must be respected. For example,
every 3 months, the existence of corrosion in the tanks is verified.
- Curative maintenance, unplanned: it concerns unforeseen breakdowns for example.
The STLR company has more requirements for maintenance, especially for critical equipment :
tanks and trolleys. So, they proceed by the regulatory control: calibration of the material daily,
for example, calibrate fire extinguishers twice a year.
In this context, the company develops investment projects to ensure the proper maintenance
of its equipment, describe in the following table :
Name of the
elaborated project
Budget Purpouse
Tank inspection
T1301
50 000 DT Repair of tanks
Purchase new forlifts 160 000 DT Purchase of a new well-equipped trolley, which
meets the HSE requirements
Regulation system
for base oil tank -
phase II
80 000 DT Management of the temperature in the tanks
Upgrad piezometric
well in STLR
80 000 DT It's an environmental project. The project consists in
creating well in the soil, so they can measure the
water pollution of groundwater. Then, the used oils

14
are extracted from water will be managed by other
companies.
Site and traffic
developement
100 000 DT Floor repair
Table 1: Projects developed by the maintenance department
3.3. Manufacturing and packaging service:
This service mixes the base oils and additives to obtain the lubricants that will then be
packaged in cans or drums.
3.4. Quality service :
Following the constant concern of the quality and the preservation of the image of STLR's
brand, it has been decided to create the ''empty pack quality manager'' post, which deals with
the quality aspect of empty packages during all stages of lubricant manufacture, from the
reception to the storage in the stores to the delivery to customers.
According to the statistics, there are failures in terms of quality. For example, they noticed
that:
- The largest amount of defective packages, which has the majority of replacements, is
the 5L / 1L.
- The replacement time is important.
- The cost of non-quality is quite high.
- Poor quality of cartons.
- The responsiveness of suppliers is more or less reliable.
So, they have proposed solutions on the :
- Short term :
 Ensure quality control of empty packages’ suppliers by an approved body.
 Ensure supplier-compliant pallets for empty packages.
 Ensure good labels of empty packages.
- Medium term :
 Creation of a dedicated quality service for the control with the necessary latitudes.
 Ensure an audit schedule in collaboration with the customers for the suppliers.
 Ensure a periodic, monthly meeting between suppliers, customers and STLR to
discuss the recorded differences.
 Laminating pallets of empty packages by suppliers and disposal of yarns.
 Plastification of pallets after conditioning.
 Application of customer standards for the control by bitting the empty packages.
- Long term :
 Review the rates of defective empty packages when reviewing contracts.
 Laminating inside the boxes.

15
Thus, a good image and a good production ensures them to increase the satisfaction rate of
their customers and the improvement of packaging quality. There are also requirements for
the quality of the export. Indeed, they try to:
- Make the necessary means of available export.
- Ensure the planned export control : export checklist.
- Ensure a dedicated space for the storage of the export.
- Upgrade packaging machines - to be planned with the maintenance department.
- Ensure a checklist container before shipment.
3.5. Laboratory service:
The oils undergo laboratory controls at each stage of the manufacturing and packaging.
Hence, the role of the laboratory is to practice various tests to check the product conformity,
at all stages, to customer standards and requirements.
3.6. HSE Policy:
Society takes into account health, security and environment.
3.6.1. Health:
In this context, VIVO Energy applies a policy of anti-smoking, anti-drugs and alcohol. Also it
provides all means to follow the workers who use dangerous products in their work. The
phone and smart phones are also prohibited.
3.6.2. Security :
An oil company presents a lot of risks and dangers. Indeed, the most dangerous risks at STLR
are:
- Forklifts.
- The oils used are carcinogenic in the long term.
Hence the need for PPE: Personal Protective Equipment; gloves, glasses, helmet, vest and
safety shoes.
In 2015, STLR reached 10 years without accidents.
3.6.3. Environment:
In general, VIVO Energy applies a strict environmental policy. Industrial waste is not directly
thrown, it must be processed by specialist recycling companies. In a particular way, STLR does
not release any hazardous waste.
I would like to mention that marketing services, accounting, social etc. do not appear in this
report because they are attached to the headquarters and not to the factory where I
accomplished my internship.

16
4. Work process :
4.1. Lubricants manufacturing:
The principle of manufacturing is the mixing between the base oil and the additives. This
mixture is carried out in the Blending.
Before the mixing process: they often have very viscous additives, which makes it difficult.
They must increase the temperature of the base oils to reduce this viscosity. The heating is
finished in the boilers.
The mixing process: The additives are added to the heated base oils while respecting a specific
value, viscosity, concentration, metals, etc.
The tanks containing the mixtures have a capacity of 9 tons.
4.2. Control of the laboratory:
The main responsibilities of the laboratory are:
- The achievement of product conformity checks according to international standards.
- Maintenance and calibration of laboratory equipment.
- Filling of analysis bulletins and recording of control results in OMP (Order of
Manufacture and Packaging). An example of OMP is included in annex (p.22).
4.3. Control of the empty packages:
The company receives empty packages which will then be filled with oils. These empty
packages are:
- Cans: 1L, 2L, 4L and 5L.
- Estagnons: 20L.
- Drums: 209L.
- IBCs: 1000L.
Empty packages suppliers for VIVO Energy are: Sodiac, Emp and Injecta.
Before their use, a set of tests are applied on the cans to ensure their effectiveness.
The tests are:
1. Visual inspection: no visible damage : absence of vein, absence of mottling, absence
of shocks and / or scratches ; pallets and cans properly arranged and protected, pallets in good
condition and no strange objects in the can.
2. The correspondence of color: comparison between cans and color pallets of
AMPACET. A percentage of dyes ejected in the composition of the can is to be respected.
3. Labels: Label of the right item and properly stuck in the can : no bubbling nor
pleating of the edges of the labels).
4. Identification: Mold reference, can manufacturing date and supplier logo.

17
5. Weight: the weight of the can must comply with the standards imposed with a
tolerance of ± 5%.
6. Weaknesses: verification of welds and corners of cans. Check for holes,
imperfections on the can.
7. The bogus / cork match: the cork must close the can.
8. The tightness test: fill the can with water, close it properly, exert a slight pressure
above and check for leaks on the welds and the neck.
9. The drop test: the same container of the eighth test, filled with water now, must
be dropped without speed initial height of at least 1.2 meters.
There are so-called critical defects such existence of holes, possibility of explosion, etc. In case
a certain defect exists, the items must be delivered to the supplier.
For non-critical defects like label deformed or poorly glued, factory workers can correct them
without the intervention of the supplier.
4.4. Conditioning:
There are four filling lines on site, two for small packs, one for buckets and one for the barrels.
After filling, the lines are stuck and rinsed with 50kg of the next product to avoid mixture with
other products. The current fill process has no filters in the row of filling, but each line has a
strainer checked and cleaned weekly.
All packages are pre-delivered with labels and the fill line manager performs a cross check to
make sure the correct labels are attached before filling begins.
4.5. Storage in the store:
After packaging, the finished products are stored in the two factory stores; the shop VIVO and
Total.
The life of a finished product must not exceed 4 years.
Finished products can be exported to Mali, Algeria, Senegal, etc.
5. Internship progress:
5.1. Lubricants manufacturing:
I observed the procedure of mixing the base oils with the additives. In fact, the procedure is
done thanks to the machines and is automatically checked by the manufacturing manager.
I achieved a batch inventory for the additives. That is, I went around the additive store and I
noticeed the existing quantity of each type as well as its expiry date, in a way that they take
the oldest products to the most recent ones.

18
5.2. Control of the laboratory:
First, I read some information about ATSM methods (American Society for Testing Materials).
These methods explain the steps to take to perform the laboratory tests.
Secondly, I developed some tests required for lubricant samples. I calculated, as an example,
the viscosity and the percentage of metals in a sample. I then checked the conformity of the
results obtained.
5.3. Control of the empty packages:
I did all the necessary tests on the following quantities :
Quality Client Packing format Recieved
Quantity
Amount of
Samples
Advance SX2 Shell 1L 2520 14
Spirax S2 G90 Shell 20L 20 4
Rimula R2 Shell 20L 510 8
Rimula R3 Shell 1L 5760 18
Transmission
TM85W140
Total 20L 170 6
Table 2: Empty packages quantities to be tested
I put all the results I found on a bottle of product Advance SX2 1L:
Test Observed Result
Visual inspection No imperfections. No visible damage.
Color Matching Yellow color complies with the standard.
Label A well-glued label and corresponds to the right product : Helix HX5
Identification Well verified.
Weight Found mass: 88g. (Standard indicated: between 77 and 90g.)
Leakage test No leakage, seepage or deformation is observed.
Drop test The observed deformations did not reveal any leak.
Table 3: Test results on a 1L can
5.4. Storage in the store:
The store has a blue area where meetings are held. The rest of the store features the finished
products, either produced at the factory or imported.
I attended the procedure of exporting a certain amount of finished product (Rimula R3) to
Mali.
The procedure is to put the finished product in 4 large containers, each containing 20
pallets.Each pallet contains 48 cartons containing 3 to 5-liter cans.
The procedure was checked by an export expert. In containers, the pallets must be well
organized, no space between them. Containers must be in good condition, not containing
holes for example, as well, to avoid any problems in the course of exporting.

19
I performed a batch inventory for the existing finished products in the store. Such an inventory
consists in going around the store and sort the products by batch and their quantity. This
method allows them to apply the principle of FIFO (First In First Out); that is, the oldest lots
will be sold first. Thus, through this method, they avoid the corruption of the product.
Once the field inventory is complete, I compared the results found with the data on the JDE.
In the case of an inconsistency between the found values and those of the JDE, they measure
again the quantities in the store.
JDE is a program used by the store manager. This program includes all information about the
finished products, their existing quantity in the store, the quantities delivered to the
customers, prices, etc.
6. The socio-professional aspects of working life:
6.1. Vertical relations:
Vertical relationships within STLR are essentially characterized by understanding and respect
between workers and superiors. Also communication between managers and workers is
charactarized as direct and open because the managers spend a lot of their time in the field.
6.2. Horizontal relations:
Relations between workers are friendly and warm. A very lively atmosphere and a spirit of
cooperation prevails in the center. Jokes are also very present in workers' discussions which
allows them to avoid routine and work stress. This atmosphere, rather relaxed, has greatly
facilitated my integration into the circle of workers and allowed me to collect a lot of
information as the workers showed a good will to answer my questions.
6.3. Reviews:
Following this experience of working life at STLR and from my observations, I was able to
detect anomalies such as:
- There were not enough staff to cope with the many challenges in the chain of
production. This creates waste of time and delays in delivering products to customers.
- Sometimes, the staple used to close the carton make holes in the cans, which produces
the loss of the product.
- In case of destruction at the level of cans and loss of product, as explained above, there
is a delay in replacing the destroyed can.
- At the store level, some products may expire and will subsequently be unusable.
- Some safety rules, such as wearing helmets, safety shoes, are not respected.
- Some workers load heavy boxes, others spend all their time working in the Blending to
breathe the harmful odors of lubricants, which can harm their health.

20
Conclusion
This internship, within the group VIVO Energy, was the first door of the professional world.
Indeed, it allowed me, on the one hand, to discover the professional aspect of life, and on the
other hand, to broaden my knowledge of the oil field and the Tunisian oil industry.
During my internship, I participated in several tasks in different services that allowed me to
work in a team and integrate the group. Thus, I became familiar with the everyday life of the
worker and with its habits, its faults and especially its motivation. In addition, I also had the
opportunity to know the work difficulty and the physical effort since most tasks are not
assisted by machines.
Finally, this internship was a very enriching experience, not only on a technical and theoretical
level but also on a personal level since my career prospects are not as safe as they were before
my internship.

21
Bibliography
http://www.vivoenergy.com/
http://www.made-in-tunisia.net/vitrine/contact.php?tc1=lKqWma2S
Documents provided by STLR

22
Annex

Workman internship report

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