the feed

On-the-job training (OJT) is often hailed as best practice in manufacturing. After all, it just makes sense for workers to learn right where they’ll be applying the training, using the actual equipment.  Workers themselves love it, too, because they are learning by doing. And the frequent one-on-one dialogue provides opportunities to strengthen employee/supervisor relationships.

We’re excited to officially launch our newest application, Alchemy Playbook. This game-changing mobile solution helps you create and deliver task-specific training to your frontline workers. Playbook also instantly finds qualified workers for any job in your facility, helping you fill unexpected personnel gaps in seconds.

Not all downtime is created equal. Traditional, standard downtime typically entails any scenario when a machine or piece of equipment is not in production, but unplanned downtime is different. This is when a machine breaks or fails or a worker is unexpectedly absent.  

This post is the first in a series that reveals the best practices and latest developments presented by experts on the leading edge of safety training at our 11th annual Engage conference.

Are you a manufacturing company? If so, the likelihood that you are using a training platform designed for the average, college-educated office worker is pretty high — almost every employee training program is built using the same techniques, methods, and philosophies of training that were developed for a corporate, sit-down-at-your-desk-and-work-on-your-computer type environment.

But for workers on the production floor, this is not only impractical, but dangerous. Those suit-and-tie DVDs (and even VHS tapes!) don’t resonate with production team members.

You’ve likely heard over and over that communication is the key to any successful relationship. The stakes, however, get higher when it involves manufacturing environments. Interdepartmental communication provides purpose and builds a positive company culture. But according to Gallup, only 13% of employees strongly agree that leadership communicates effectively.

Navigating the waters of office etiquette can be a smooth experience for the most part if you honor the most basic ones, like the Golden Rule, for example. But successful communication —the kind that drives safety, quality, and productivity — requires a little more work and a little more understanding of the nuances . . . especially if you are a leader.

Sometimes a misstep can not only negatively impact an interpersonal relationship but the office environment as a whole which is why it’s best to immediately address a small matter before it becomes a big issue.

Here are some typical office miscommunication mistakes that may be affecting you and your team members:

Microlearning is the buzzword in the training world. But be warned—it’s not solely a method to learn “faster” or simply have shorter courses.

Every single one of your workers fits into one of the categories in the Knowledge Confidence Square. Think about your team as we move through each square: Who is often full of doubt? Who is uninformed? Who has reached a mastery level?

When Alchemy joined forces with Intertek last year, we dedicated ourselves to designing a new look and logo to reflect the visual power of this alliance. It was hard keeping our new branding under wraps for a spell, but saving the debut for the 2019 Alchemy Engage conference was worth it. Take a look!

For the manufacturing, packaging, and distribution industries, the 11^th Annual Engage Conference was the place to be this September! Hundreds of safety, quality, operations, and human resource professionals all met in the live music capital of the world to learn the newest trends and best practices for driving employee engagement.

Foreign material prevention is among the most talked-about topics these days in the food safety world. After years of industry focus on this topic, prevention and mitigation of foreign material seems to be emphasized more now than ever.

Operational Excellence is a common term that is used in a variety of manufacturing operations. OE has been employed for quite some time in the automotive and parts manufacturing industries and has recently been more of a focus in the food and beverage industries. Operational Excellence is a business methodology which involves making continuous improvements to a company and its processes to achieve a competitive advantage. Although it seems like a straightforward definition, implementing and sustaining continuous improvement is challenging.

Verification and validation seem similar. Both are included as part of HACCP Principle Number 6 for verification. Both are talked about simultaneously. So, is there really a difference? Yes! A big difference!

On behalf of my fellow Alchemists and consumers in every corner of the world, we extend a big thank you to the hard-working food safety professionals around the world in celebration of today – the world’s first ever annual Food Safety Day.

 Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is a process used to identify, evaluate, and assess the levels of risk using a systematic approach for determining probability or risk and the consequence of that risk.