Foodman Excellence Awards 2008

Skills Excellence Awards

2009 will be the fifth year, Food Manufacture is working with Improve - the food and drink sector skills council - to hold the Food Manufacture Skills Excellence Awards, which include the following categories:

• Apprenticeships
• Diversity in Recruitment
• Productivity through Skills

The judges will have a better understanding of your company's entry if you provide as much information as possible on as many of the criteria as you can. 

There are individual judging criteria for each award:

Productivity through Skills Award

Recognising excellence in food and drink manufacturing productivity

The judges are looking for a demonstration of significant productivity gains in an aspect of food and drink manufacturing. Typically this will involve identifying opportunities for improvement in planning, implementation and evaluation, together with a plan to roll the process out further.

Please consider the following:

• The rationale for embarking on productivity improvement
• The opportunities for improvement identified and investigated
• How productivity improvements were planned and agreed
• The implementation of the improvement plan
• The evaluation of improvements implemented

Apprenticeship Award

Recognising excellence in food and drink manufacturing apprenticeships

The judges will be looking for a demonstration of how the apprentice has made a significant difference to his or her employer's business through his or her skills. The winner will demonstrate commitment to their personal development and training through their achievement at work and work-based training.

Please consider the following:

• An outline of how the apprentice made a difference to the employer's business
• Details of how skills gained through the apprenticeship programme have been applied to make this difference
• Achievements and attainments in learning and work
• Demonstration of the apprentice's commitment to development and progression 

Diversity in Recruitment Award

Recognising excellence in recruiting from diverse groups

The judges will be looking for creativity in assisting unemployed people to prepare for work in the industry and evidence of a positive, supportive environment once in the job. The winner will have recruited from diverse groups, such as people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, lone parents, older workers, ex-offenders and others who have significant barriers to work.

Please consider the following:

• The specific need the initiative aimed to address
• An outline of the strategy
• Details of the use of partnerships
• Innovation and achievement
• The outcome and the evaluation process