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Intertek Alchemy’s number one priority is ensuring that employees are engaged and working in a safe environment. With that in mind, we are sharing best practices for manufacturers still operating. You can also view them in their entirety in our recent webinar:



You know your work environment better than we do, so please tailor these recommended best practices and to your specific circumstances.

Every day, 20 million US and Canadian frontline food workers grow, process, distribute, cook, and serve the food eaten by millions of people. These frontline workers can — and do —  make individual decisions that impact food and workplace safety, product quality, and operations.

Despite the importance of frontline workers, there’s limited research to help understand their motivations, attitudes, and perceptions about the workplace. To remedy this, the Center of Research and Public Policy (CRPP) conducted a survey to identify any perception gaps between frontline workers and those in corporate leadership roles. They found that new frontline workers start their jobs without the confidence that they really know the proper procedures.

This lack of confidence, coupled with workers making their own individual decisions, often results in unplanned downtime and injury. This has dangerous implications! It’s also expensive  —  each year, the cost of injuries runs companies $161 billion dollars.

Currently, 27% of manufacturing workers are over the age of 66, which means many of your frontline staff and supervisors will be retiring within the next few years.

There is a ton of research on millennials in the workforce just hovering by our fingertips, ready for us to hit “enter” and display almost innumerable stats, facts, and ideologies about this generation.

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.

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.

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?

Today’s manufacturing workers are diverse, spanning generations, education, and cultures. Finding universal ways to effectively train all workers is key to maintaining quality and safety on the floor.

When it comes to food manufacturing, the pet food industry isn’t always in agreement on how to properly test and inspect pet food products. While it’s true that pets aren’t people (although some might argue with that!) it’s still critical to reduce the number of pet food recalls that have been steadily rising in recent years. Setting standardized industry guidelines that improve safety in pet food manufacturing can do much to reduce pet illnesses and fatalities due to foodborne illness.  

Imagine this: your best frontline worker is promoted to floor supervisor. Yet, after weeks on the new job, juggling unfamiliar tasks such as managing former peers and dealing with compliance paperwork, they become overwhelmed. When frustration rises, they throw in the towel, leaving management scrambling to find a replacement. But what happens when the new supervisor is also underprepared? 

Did you know new employees who have a good onboarding experience are 69% more likely to stay with the company? In fact, according to some research, up to 20% of employees will bail within the first 45 days if they don’t feel welcome and prepared.

At Clemens Food Group, a family-owned company that provides quality pork products for retail, foodservice, and manufacturing customers, we employ about 3,000 workers throughout the United States. Part of our training program focuses on a strong onboarding program because we believe solid orientation training sets employees up for success. 

In the past, employee training mostly took place during onboarding. New hires got showered with information they were expected to retain well enough to apply correctly on the floor. Not surprisingly, this “spray and pray” method has proven less effective with time, as today’s learners experience the world visually and digitally, with one topic rapidly moving to the next.

The key to high production and efficiency is automation. But did you know automation can also be used to optimize training in manufacturing? Many companies have seen success automating their training programs, but that doesn’t mean “set it and forget it.” Rather, using automation for training can enable continuous learning, where important safety and knowledge concepts get reinforced every shift, every day, to every worker, for a greater impact.