Frozen food giant majors on training

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 12, 2003

Birds Eye Walls of Hull has invested heavily in employee training, so much so that a new training centre has been built on the site, incorporating a Pneutrainer-200 station for pneumatics training.

When you are the market leader in frozen food, and one of your selling propositions guarantees peas frozen within 2.5 hours of being picked, you had better make sure that your production line doesn't fail at any point of the process.

Based in Hull, the largest frozen pea operation in the world employs around 1300 people, and produces around 40,000 tonnes of peas - in a six to seven week period.

And, on the same site various frozen fish products are produced to equally strict deadlines.

"We cannot afford to wait for a breakdown, a proactive, preventative approach is vital", says Factory Manager, Roger Norrington.

"Time is of the essence, and this is where our comprehensive training programme comes into play".

The organisation is Birds Eye Walls of Hull.

The company has invested heavily in employee training, so much so that a new training centre has been built on the site, to meet demand.

The new centre offers training in computing, drives, pneumatics, hydraulics, electrics and general mechanical engineering.

As well as support for apprentices, who over a four-year period will gain their National Certificate in Engineering, NVQ levels one and two, before finally qualifying for a HNC.

From the pneumatics perspective the company required to enhance the facilities offered for pneumatics training, and looked at a number of options, before deciding to install training systems from world leader SMC Pneumatics.

The practical system chosen, Pneutrainer-200, is a self contained double sided workstation consisting of a vertical mounting panel made of extruded aluminium, grooves for the attachment of pneumatic and electropneumatic components etc.

The unit also incorporates a four-drawer locker with sliding guides to house component trays.

Birds Eye Wall's have customised their selection of components, giving a wide range of options covering basic and advanced pneumatics, and electropneumatics.

All items are mounted on stainless steel support plates with an attachment system, which, in turn, marries into the grooves of the vertical mounting panel.

Each unit can then be linked (with fittings and tubing) to simulate any pneumatic circuit.

In addition, for theory, they have purchased, from SMC, two CD-ROM Automation Studio 2000, a circuit design software package with user friendly animation, and Basic/electropneumatic Computer Aided Training, a fully animated package - both of which are used by SMC's own training professionals.

John Burgess, Birds Eye Wall's Training Manager, says: "SMC have not only provided training products, they have played a major role in helping to get this project off the ground".

"Our trainers have now been given train the trainer courses by SMC, in Milton Keynes, and are now fully up to speed to deliver pneumatics training.

And", he continues, "this was given by SMC as part of the whole package".

SMC's Training Manager, John Dumbleton, and his team have also been fully involved with the project.

John enthuses, "It's been a pleasure to be in at the beginning of such an exciting and forward thinking project - we will continue to work with John Burgess and his colleagues, our support is there for as long as they need us".

Humberside Engineering Training Association is also involved and are supportive of the initiative taken by Birds Eye Walls.

One of its trainers, Keith Hague, is a regular contributor to the training centre.

As for Roger Norrington, he continues, "Our mission on Humberside is to be world class in all that we do, helping our brands succeed in a very competitive market place".

He concludes, "Our greatest resource is our people, they make a difference.

The development of their skills and expertise is an investment and will continue as a vital part of our strategy.

We encourage school pupils, students, teachers and other businesses to visit our factories - while we believe we have much to offer, we also have much to learn".