Kanes Foods, one of the UK’s biggest suppliers of fresh prepared foods – stir fry and coleslaw vegetables, sauces, salads and beansprouts - has partnered with US food industry specialist company Alchemy at its four-factory site in Worcestershire, as part of a programme to streamline training.
As a global leader, Alchemy specialises in developing innovative results-driven solutions that align employees’ behaviour with a food manufacturing company’s quality and safety commitments.
Alchemy is helping Kanes Foods to simplify the delivery and documentation of critical food safety and health and safety training, which includes FDQ’s accredited Level 2 Food Safety for manufacturing qualifications. The programme which combines developing food safety awareness through training for the workforce at Kanes Foods has been designed to help drive efficiency and productivity.
Kanes Foods employs 1500 permanent staff all of whom have a structured learning and development programme in place with all training carried out by internal qualified trainers. The company prides itself on the quality of its produce and puts effective food safety training top of the agenda.
Laurie Beard, Learning & Development Manager at Kanes Foods explains: “People are at the centre of the business at Kanes and a key motivation of staff is to give them the knowledge and awareness to do their job, which in turn, improves morale and performance. The challenge of training 1500 people across four factories is ensuring that all staff are trained consistently to a high level. The Alchemy SISTEM enables us to do that without having to add extra resources in to the administration of training”.
Kanes Foods turned to Alchemy to provide them with a programme that would be progressive, but also simple to roll out to all employees and in a timely manner.
Laurie Beard explains further: “The training at Kanes Foods has always satisfied BRC and customer standards but we wanted to be forward thinking and streamline the training, especially for new starters. It is important in our business that everyone from the newest member of staff to those who have been with us for a number of years work to the same high standards of training, and that we have a uniform approach at all four factories.
“We also needed a total solution and learning management solution that would reduce the amount of administration we have to undertake in order for the practical training to take precedence. Like many food businesses, we have limited time to carry out training but we want to ensure best practice throughout our company. Alchemy not only means effective training but efficient and fast records of that training too – we can create learning plans for reporting purposes for example - all accessed from any computer point.
“Kanes Foods’ aim is to be a leader in food manufacturing training and working alongside Alchemy and Campden BRI as well as incorporating training from local education centres, we are moving in the right direction.”
