Fonterra Brands partnership puts the cream on top of internal training

A partnership with Fonterra Brands New Zealand (FBNZ) saw a pilot group of 28 production team members awarded a Competenz manufacturing qualification, in recognition of their internal Autonomous Maintenance (AM) training, during 2019.

For some, it’s their first nationally recognised New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) certification.

Anna Keys, FBNZ Machine Operator, says she was both “excited and nervous” to graduate for the first time in her life. After 26 years with Fonterra Brands, she found that she could really apply the training to her work.

The capability and responsibility to identify a problem on the production line, then find the root cause and how it can be fixed, has traditionally been held by managers. AM drives ownership of that process to the operators and team leaders to create a more efficient operation.

Fanga Lolohea, FBNZ Team Leader Foods, was also pleased to receive his first NZQA-recognised qualification and says “it is nice to know people care”.

“It is a national qualification, regardless of where you are, it is going to be with you for the rest of your life,” Fanga says.

“The training was really helpful – now when I see a breakdown I can go deep down to the root cause of the problem; it is a really simple tool.”

Mouna Neyogi, Fonterra Brands IWS and Transformation Office Lead, was instrumental in investigating how the organisation’s internal training could be assessed and mapped to provide an external qualification.

Mouna says she formed an invaluable partnership with Debs Wand, Competenz Workforce Development Business Partner, Shannon Mills, Competenz Manufacturing Account Manager and Jeff Tuffnell, SNRG Solutions Training Advisor, to support her organisation through the process of mapping FBNZ internal training with external NZQA unit standards.

It took several months of work by the four of them to finalise the NZQA qualification.

“We spoke a lot and worked out what would be the best set up. It was important to have Competenz on board to provide expertise on how the NZQA framework works,” says Mouna.

The training has seen outstanding results for the company, both for its customers and the trainees with significant improvements in line efficiency and performance as well as reductions in the cost of quality. However, everyone involved points to the biggest benefit being the increase in the team’s engagement post training.

Jan Wegenaar, FBNZ Director of Operations and Supply Chain, is pleased with the results the organisation is seeing from the AM programme and says the whole journey of becoming the best has a big capability angle.

“Building the right capability enables people to do their job better and secondly, it motivates them. The fact that you are able to give people a recognised, certified training, really gives them additional positive incentive,” says Jan.

Pictured above: Shannon Mills, Competenz Account Manager and Mouna Neyogi, Fonterra Brands IWS and Transformation Office Lead sign FBNZ Machine Operator Anna Keys into the 2019 pilot programme initiative.

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