04/06/05 Efficiency in the food processing industr

Boise State University based TechHelp has used a US Department of Labor grant to train food processing workers about the lean manufacturing concept. TechHelp's executive director Gary Thompson says Idaho gets 718 thousand dollars as its share of the four-state grant that includes an English as a Second Language component. THOMPSON "The food processing industry has a large group of non-English speaking workers and they tend to be the first ones to get laid off. They are also the group that tends to be not quite as included in the initiatives of the manufacturers as they implement new processes and technologies." Jeff Kronenberg, TechHelp's food processing specialist, says lean manufacturing is taught in three phases. First, an initial training phase. Second is an analytical phase where value added and non-value added activities are identified. KRONENBERG "The third phase is called implementation and that's where the rubber meets the road and we look for large productivity gains and costs savings with the manufacturers." Idaho food processing companies faces many challenges like water shortages, higher energy prices and increased global competition. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott