DB Waitemata Brewery has invested a lot of time over the last three years to train its staff to be the best – 18,850 hours to be exact.
“Back in 2009 we started with a vision to upskill all our staff and to achieve 400 unit standards by the end of the year,” says Chris Heketoa, DB’s supply chain training manager.
Since this vision, Chris and the team at DB have seen their supply chain staff achieve over 100 qualifications, including Occupational Health & Safety and Food & Related Products Processing to Manufactur ing & Mechanical Engineering.
A graduation ceremony was held on site recently at DB in Otahuhu to congratulate and recognise the success of each of the 65 graduates across the warehousing, packaging, brewing and engineering divisions who spent, on average, 290 hours of learning per person.
Forty of the graduates also participated in the DB workplace literacy programme, run by Debbie Henry of private training establishment, Target Education.
“I’ve had so many people coming to me over these three years asking ‘why do ihave to do this literacy stuff, I’m good at my job’ – this graduation is why. It’s to get you the recognition you all deserve,” says Ms Henry.
“The success of this programme and all the achievements were through hard work and keenness to succeed – I applaud the workers of DB.”
The graduates were also commended by warehouse manager Scott Anderson who said “it probably took a lot of courage to put your hand up and ‘go back to school’ – so well done for committing to this.”
Competenz, the Industry Training Organisation for the Food & Beverage Manufacturing sector, was responsible for managing the qualifications and training at DB, and already four more DB staff are now training towards a new qualification – the National Certificate in Competitive Manufacturing, Level 2.
And DB also plans to introduce competitive manufacturing practices on the wider shop floor this year, to improve the efficiency and performance of both their people and processes. Sustainability of these practices will be achieved through a shift in the company’s culture, including the right leadership.
“Our vision has always been to not have people coming to work and following the same process and doing the same thing every day.
“We want to make this place more rewarding, and make a work environment where we bring our staff to the party so they can contribute,” says general manager supply chain Rob Richardson.
And through training and upskilling their people, DB continues to work towards its ultimate goal – to be New Zealand’s best employer with the best environment for learning.
