INDUSTRY FOCUS FOOD & BEVERAGE A ‘FIT AND HEALTHY’ APPROACH TO TRAINING
Operator upskilling courses at LRSuntory are helping to meet the company’s need for well-trained technicians, says John Saysell, head of business development and training, MCP Consulting Group
T
hose of a certain age will remember the iconic Lucozade bottle, covered in
orange cellophane, perched on patients’ bed-side cabinets in hospitals everywhere. Its welcome refreshment helped support recovery. Lucozade’s famous companion, Ribena, also earned a traditional place as a healthy way to benefit from Vitamin C rich blackcurrant juice. Both created early last century, the
products have come a long way since then. In 2014, the Japanese Suntory Group (LRSuntory) bought the Lucozade and Ribena blackcurrant brands, and combining the production at its expanded 53 acre Coleford facility in the Forest of Dean. Today they are the third largest soft drinks supplier in the UK, manufacturing 1.2 billion bottles of product each year. As part of the company’s continued
commitment to the future of UK manufacturing, Suntory are currently investing £13m in a new, Krones high- speed Aseptic filler, Robotic warehouse and upgraded boilers at the Coleford site, adding a further half a million bottles a day to current output, a move that will be instrumental in increasing productivity and efficiency at the plant. The original site for Ribena dates back to
1947, and earlier process equipment from the 90s, including early generation Siemen’s PLCs, sit alongside the most up- to-date technolgy including the latest touch screen control, aseptic and non- aseptic rotary fillers, pneumatic controls and robotic pick and place for finished goods. This combination of high-speed process lines and the huge variety of automation and process and control instrumentation brings its own challenges requiring well-trained, advanced engineering and technical maintenance teams. The 330 employees who make up the
manufacturing force in Coleford include over 80 engineering staff and maintenance technicians as well as 6 automation engineers and 3 apprentices undergoing training through the
28 OCTOBER 2019 | PROCESS & CONTROL
company’s apprenticeship levy. It can take up to four years to complete the apprenticeship and the latest cohort has graduated this summer and moved into full-time roles. Like many companies LRSuntory has a
‘...high-speed
constant need for well trained technicians. Losses due to retirement and staff turnover have to be replaced and current staff have to be up-skilled. The company recruits from within a 20 to 40-mile radius and specifies that candidates have to be time- served apprentices. Two years ago a new
process lines and the huge
variety of instrumentation, demands well-trained, advanced engineering teams’
role was created within the engineering team with Tony Denning currently holding the position of technical
development manager. A programme was
commenced to upskill the maintenance engineers as well
as establishing a three-year engineering skills’ development programme for technical operators (currently in its second year). MCP Consulting Group was approached to undertake skills’ assessments to find any knowledge gaps and create appropriate personal development programmes. Currently three engineers are on an
intensive Mechanical to Electrical Conversion Course and soon to join the 12, previously successful candidates. This is a four part, four week course leading to City
Technician upskilling is important to fill the gap created by staff turnover and retirement
Investment in the Coleford site will increase productivity and efficiency
& Guilds certification. The three new members of staff currently on the course all joined the company within the last 18 months. One of these, Shaun Galliers takes up the story: “The invitation from Tony to take part in the Mechanical to Electrical course was in the in-house newspaper and asked those keen enough to do it to register. We really value the course. It has been good to develop our skills and we are all delighted to have gained our City & Guilds following assessment and examination.” Denning is also considering an Operator
Asset Care Programme from MCP. This is where line operators will be trained to undertake the standard, high frequency, low risk ‘CILT’ processes, to complement the NVQ level 2 in Performing Manufacturing Operations. They will join the 25 operators who have so far achieved ‘Technical Operator’ status; the company will also benefit from a rebate of £95,000 from the apprenticeship levy! To summarise his response to MCP’s
work to date, Denning explained, “With MCP’s long association with the company, appointing them to the current Mechanical to Electrical training has been a success. MCP’s comprehensive course overview is clear against what is being delivered, they came up best against a previous provider in a trial for train-the-trainer. Importantly, MCP use their own workshop training rigs and brought them to our in-house training workshop. The quality of delivery is excellent with good communication with myself and trainees. The benefit of approved City & Guilds certification is also of great benefit when external ISO assessments are undertaken.”
MCP Consulting Group
www.mcpeurope.com
/ PROCESS&CONTROL
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
