I heard a disturbing report recently at a traceability information
event hosted by Carlisle Technology. The event took place at the beautiful
campus of the Institute of Food Processing Technology in Cambridge, Ontario.
During his brief presentation, Luis Garcia, the Chair of the
institute mentioned that, even with its well equipped (full line) food
production setups, the institute is still looking to attract a larger number of students. The report identifies opportunities from two perspectives: 1. High school
students in the area may not be sufficiently aware of the
opportunities with a short training program that immediately gives them
marketable skills. 2. The food industry is starved of competent operation level
workers at the entry levels.
Food companies are significantly populated with graduates from
university or longer college programs in food science and/or technology but
they mainly seek management roles. Even if they take plant floor roles, they
only see these as stepping stones.
The typical business experience is that most employees hired for
routine plant floor operations are new and have to go through a learning curve.
In the learning period when optimum proficiency level has not been attained,
some time and economic loss to the employer is expected and acceptable. Unskilled
plant floor employees also typically have higher incidents of mistakes in the
early days of employment. These mistakes are significantly costly to the
employers and avoiding them is preferred.
Comparatively, the slightly higher wages that employees with
specialized skills training may expect do not end up costing as much as the
cost of mistakes by unskilled employees. The cost may not necessarily be
limited to direct financial losses. Some mistakes may lead to indirect cost of
defecting consumers who simply stop buying the products from a manufacturer
that disappointed them due to such mistakes.
The reduced amount of required training on the plant floor for employees
as a result of the specialized skills acquired through programs like the IFPT
technical competence training also provide added cost reduction benefits. With
trainer and trainee time reduced, the direct financial gain to the company is
indisputable. So why are we not informing and encouraging more high school
students who may actually prefer this kind of training and opportunity for
joining the workforce quickly?
The stigmatization of non-university education may have
something to do with the lack of push. There may even be a deliberate
commitment to discouraging students from even considering such opportunities.
Apart from the obvious need to create the awareness and
encouragement in the high schools, companies can also take advantage of the
IFPT programs. I believe that the Institute will not turn away companies that
wish to send their plant floor employees to the specialized training applicable
to their operation. To allay the fear of who will be left at the plant to do
the work that is necessary in the absence of employees sent to such training,
nothing prevents a rotating type of arrangement. Employees could take turns until
all have received the training. Trained employees may leave to other companies
but if all companies are thinking this way, it may only mean the circulation of
skilled workers. The industry still stands to gain.
Posted By Felix Amiri
IFPT Food
Tech Tuesdays: If you have miss the previous opportunities,
you still have two chances on June 10th and 24th to enjoy a guided tour of the state-of-the-art food processing
pilot plant featuring highly automated and robotic equipment and learn more
about career and training opportunities within the food and beverage
manufacturing industry. All are welcome. Closed toed shoes and long
pants are required.
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