Cranswick Country Foods, Preston
East Riding College has been working with Cranswick Country Foods for more than six years, primarily delivering food safety short courses.
Two years ago, the College introduced the NVQ level two in Food and Manufacturing to the Sutton Fields site, followed eight months later at the company's gourmet sausage site.
Cranswick then requested that the course was rolled out at the factory in Preston, which employs more than 1,000 staff. The College now has two full-time assessors working at the site to accommodate the large training groups.
By the end of 2009, more than 300 staff will have achieved NVQs with East Riding College, most of them fully funded through the Train to Gain scheme, allowing Cranswick to develop its workforce without spending large sums on training.
General manager Stuart Kelman said: "Cranswick has clearly benefited from the close relationship it has developed with East Riding College.
"The short courses on food safety and HACCP, together with a comprehensive NVQ program, are working very well.
"East Riding College has tailored many of its courses to the needs of our staff and has responded positively to the language difficulties and irregular shift patterns to ensure our staff are not disadvantaged.
"The company's aim is to provide all our employees with the opportunity to complete a level two qualification as a minimum.
"The training program developed in partnership with Cranswick and the College has had a positive effect on the business by reducing staff turnover and improving productivity."
The College's employer engagement team work closely with Paul Hooley, Cranswick's health, safety and training coordinator, meeting with him on monthly bases.
At the company's request a new Butchery apprenticeship has been developed to help Cranswick to overcome retention issues. An Engineering apprenticeship is to be introduced in summer 2009.
Cranswick and East Riding College work as a partnership, putting training first and working within the constraints of a busy manufacturing company.
Paul Hooley Health, safety and training coordinator, said: "Cranswick Country Foods has a strong commitment to training and development, and I am delighted with the progress that we have made with the support of East Riding College. We look forward to gaining further business benefits as our partnership with ERC develops further and we hope this is just the start to a cycle of continuous improvement only achievable with a well trained workforce".
