Food and Beverage Packaging September2010 : Page 6

Editor’sNote no training Means straining ment’s point of view, since that’s our readership. In fact, I’ve toured maybe five or six dozen food T plants, but I can count on one hand the number of floor workers (as opposed to supervisors) I’ve spoken to on those occasions. This is because 1) unlike me, these people were busy at real jobs and 2) even if they had time to talk, who talks honestly with the boss standing a few feet away? But a book I read recently gives good insights into the importance of proper training from the worker’s viewpoint. “The Working Poor: Invisible in America,” by David K. Shipler, tells the story of Debra, a single mother trying to get off welfare, who goes to work in an industrial bakery where “on-the-job training could be summed up in a single command: Copy the worker next to you.” She gets assigned to a completely unfamiliar packaging machine: “I didn’t even know the name of the machine,” she said. “I just hap-Here’s a woman who wants, in fact is desperate, to do a good job, and is stymied by lack of training. pened to hear them say, ‘You be Number Two.” I was like, ‘What you all be talking about?’” Number Two was, indeed, the name of the machine, a huge piece of equipment that needed somebody to “flip switches,” Debra explained. “You have to feed the bags in, make sure the zip locks that close the breads is on. You have to set the machine a certain way— different kinds of bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns…” The stress gave Debra nightmares. Here’s a woman who wants, in fact is desperate, to do a good job, and is stymied by lack of training. Some-one who makes considerably more than her $7 an hour should have sat down and worked out a plan to give her and her fellow floor workers the training they needed to work efficiently and without stress. Companies like General Mills, as you’ll see in our cover story, have systematized training programs that regularly draw on outside resourc-es. This gives them the flexibility they need to accommodate both vary-ing employee capabilities and changing requirements. Companies that don’t take training seriously are, in effect, relieving managers of stress by shifting it downward to the workers, but that’s not a healthy plan for the long term. You know what they say rolls downhill, but you don’t want any of it in your plant, at any level. F&BP his issue’s cover story takes a look at issues in training floor workers to handle complex ma-chinery. It’s written, of course, from manage-EDITORIAL PAn DEmETRAkAkEs Editor pand@bnpmedia.com RIck LIngLE Executive Editor lingler@bnpmedia.com mIcHAEL EscOBEDO Senior Art Director BILL AnTkOwIAk Art Director ADVERTIsIng mIkE BARR Group Publisher (630) 499-7392 barrm@bnpmedia.com RAnDy gREEn Publisher (248) 244-6498 greenr@bnpmedia.com sTEVE LIPuT Senior Sales Manager (847) 405-4112 liputs@bnpmedia.com kRIsTInA LORIO Inside Sales (249) 786-1579 loriok@bnpmedia.com ERHARDT EIsEnAcHER International Sales +49-228-2499860 info@eisenacher-medien.de cATHERInE wynn Senior Classified Sales Manager (847) 405-4010 wynnc@bnpmedia.com VIncE mIcOnI Advertising/Production Manager miconiv@bnpmedia.com AuDIEncE DEVELOPmEnT kOuRTnEy BELL Audience Development Manager ERInn DEEgAn Multimedia Coordinator cAROLyn m. ALExAnDER Audience Audit Coordinator For subscription information or service, please contact customer service at: Phone: (847) 763-9534 or Fax: (847) 763-9538 E-mail: FBP@halldata.com web: www.foodandbeveragepackaging.com LIsT REnTAL Postal contact: ROB LIskA at 800-223-2194 x.726 or robert.liska@edithroman.com Email contact: sHAwn kIngsTOn at 800-409-4443 x.828 or shawn.kingston@epostdirect.com cORPORATE DIREcTORs TImOTHy A. FAuscH Publishing JOHn R. scHREI Publishing RITA m. FOumIA Corporate Strategy scOTT kEsLER Information Technology VIncEnT m. mIcOnI Production LIsA L. PAuLus Finance mIcHAEL T. POwELL Creative nIkkI smITH Directories mARLEnE J. wITTHOFT Human Resources EmILy PATTEn Conferences & Events BETH A. suROwIEc Clear Seas Research BnP mEDIA HELPs PEOPLE succEED In BusInEss wITH suPERIOR InFORmATIOn For Volume Reprints contact JILL L. DEVRIEs Corporate Reprint Manager Phone: 248-224-1726 Fax: 248-244-3934 E-mail: devriesj@bnpmedia.com PAn DEmETRAkAkEs Editor pand@bnpmedia.com 6 FooD&BE vERAGE PACkAGInG s e p t e m b e r 2010 w w w . f o o d a n d b e v e r a g e pa c k a g i n g . c o m How to contact Food&Beveragepackaging mail: 155 Pfingsten Rd., Suite 205 Deerfield IL 60015 Phone: (847) 405-4000 Fax: (847) 405-4100 web: www.foodandbeveragepackaging.com

Editor’s Note

no training Means straining This issue’s cover story takes a look at issues in training floor workers to handle complex machinery.It’s written, of course, from management’s point of view, since that’s our readership. In fact, I’ve toured maybe five or six dozen food plants, but I can count on one hand the number of floor workers (as opposed to supervisors) I’ve spoken to on those occasions. This is because 1) unlike me, these people were busy at real jobs and 2) even if they had time to talk, who talks honestly with the boss standing a few feet away? But a book I read recently gives good insights into the importance of proper training from the worker’s viewpoint. “The Working Poor: Invisible in America,” by David K. Shipler, tells the story of Debra, a single mother trying to get off welfare, who goes to work in an industrial bakery where “on-the-job training could be summed up in a single command: Copy the worker next to you.” She gets assigned to a completely unfamiliar packaging machine: “I didn’t even know the name of the machine,” she said. “I just happened to hear them say, ‘You be Number Two.” I was like, ‘What you all be talking about?’” Number Two was, indeed, the name of the machine, a huge piece of equipment that needed somebody to “flip switches,” Debra explained. “You have to feed the bags in, make sure the zip locks that close the breads is on. You have to set the machine a certain way— different kinds of bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns…. The stress gave Debra nightmares. Here’s a woman who wants, in fact is desperate, to do a good job, and is stymied by lack of training. Someone who makes considerably more than her $7 an hour should have sat down and worked out a plan to give her and her fellow floor workers the training they needed to work efficiently and without stress. Companies like General Mills, as you’ll see in our cover story, have systematized training programs that regularly draw on outside resources.This gives them the flexibility they need to accommodate both varying employee capabilities and changing requirements. Companies that don’t take training seriously are, in effect, relieving managers of stress by shifting it downward to the workers, but that’s not a healthy plan for the long term. You know what they say rolls downhill, but you don’t want any of it in your plant, at any level.

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