Monster Munch employees digest training in eight months
Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 41, Issue 1
A snack company that created a factory from scratch trained its 144-strong workforce and management in only eight months.
Thanks to the training, Walkers Snack Foods, part of Pepsico International,successfully started up at its new site in Skelmersdale, UK, against a tight deadline.
Emma Smythe, technical-training manager, explained:
The challenge was to take an empty factory, in need of significant modernization with no existing staff, and create a world-class manufacturing facility with fully trained and skilled employees.
The challenge was made greater by a tight timeline, a limited budget and no site resources or equipment to deliver the training. Not only did we task the new employees with training away from home but also with learning several different skills.
The outcome has been successful recruitment, induction and training of all required skills within the timelines and budget, all achieved at other locations using internal resources and labor.
Training was needed for all functions and management teams – and in particular, large numbers of new people to train as manufacturing technicians and general operators.
The factory started up on time, with fully trained, safety-conscious and capable teams, able to comply with health and safety and food-hygiene standards. They managed to launch their products – Monster Munch and Baked Walkers– on time, too.
Walkers advertised locally for 84 general operators and 60 manufacturing technicians, who were recruited by assessment center. Applicants came from a wide range of backgrounds, with diverse skills and experience, and ranged in age from 20 to over 60. They had to learn two different technologies – an extrusion process to make Monster Munch, already in place at a Coventry plant,and a process to make baked crisps, operating only in the US – as well as the technology for packaging the products.
Emma Smythe said:
The initial challenge was to train at remote locations, as the site was still being constructed. This meant learners were required to train across six locations in the UK and US.
The recruits all learned new skills, gained confidence to perform to the required standard and won potential stable long-term employment.
One recruit had been made redundant five times from numerous roles in the area. He was recruited as a general operator, only weeks before his 63rd birthday. He said:
I’m really grateful to Walkers, I really didn’t think that anyone would take me on at my age. I’d had so many knock-backs from other companies.
The training was highly commented in the UK National Training Awards.
