The Cure for Summertime Blues
BENEFITS FOR HAVING A CROSS-TRAINED WORKFORCE If you are like me, you have summer on your mind. This is my favorite time of the year in the Northwest – the rain stops and the sun comes out. Long days, warm nights. And family vacation season! Without good cross...
A Hard Skill to Identify the Soft Art
CAPTURING THE NUANCES OF YOUR SKILLED WORKERS In a survey recently conducted by AKT and the Northwest Food Processors Association, manufacturers expressed concern about finding employees with the necessary skills to fill open positions while nearly all respondents...
We Tried That, But, It Didn’t Work
OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES OF BEING A UNIQUE ORGANIZATION As you look at your organizational challenges, do you have some nagging issues that you can’t seem to resolve? One manufacturer shared they do a good job of implementing process improvements, but, they don’t seem...
Cooking and Process Improvement
Tips to Enhance Employee Involvement in Process Improvement I enjoy trying new recipes but if you know me at all, I’m not very good at following instructions. So, the first time I try a recipe, I will try to follow the instructions and for the most part, use the...
The Key to a Healthy Work Environment
Training Supervisors on Conflict Resolution Dealing with conflict is an important part of a healthy work environment. And making sure people have the skills to resolve those issues was so important that Job Relations Training was included as one of the four programs...
The Foundation of Operator Training
TRAINING WITHIN INDUSTRY Over the past few years, I have had the pleasure of being an instructor at the Investment Casting Institute’s Process Control Class. It was in this class that I had my first introduction to Training Within Industry. During World War II, there...