Saxilby-based Foodclean supplies hygiene equipment and chemicals to the food industry. Its Technical Support Manager Ewan Cruickshank was looking for some training for himself and his colleagues that would provide an insight into their customers’ requirements and challenges. 

“I was in touch with Sharon Green at the University of Lincoln and she let me know about the opportunity to attend Skills Bootcamps,” said Ewan. 

“Because we supply the food industry but we’re not directly involved in food manufacture, I thought it would be a good idea to take some courses in order to understand our customers and their requirements and issues on a daily basis. 

“By undergoing food safety and hygiene courses we aimed to develop our business and find solutions to our customers’ problems at the same time.” 

Ewan and two colleagues from Foodclean attended the nine-day Skills Bootcamp on Food Safety and Compliance (Level 4) at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing in Holbeach. 

They were pleased to get the opportunity to network with people working in food manufacture and to benefit from the knowledge of the tutors based at the university. 

“The course was very helpful for anyone involved in food manufacturing or food production,” said Ewan. “I’d highly recommend it – it gets into quite a lot of topics related to the food industry based around food safety. 

“It’s benefited Foodclean because we’ve gained a deeper understanding of the issues our customers are facing on a daily basis. Also, as it was a face-to-face course it gave us the chance to interact with people from the food industry, so outside the classroom it was a networking opportunity too. 

“The facilities at the NCFM are fantastic and the breadth and depth of knowledge that those tutors have is absolutely phenomenal. I’d definitely recommend it 100%.” 
 
Skills Bootcamps are part of Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, helping everyone gain skills for life.  They are flexible training courses of up to 16 weeks giving people the opportunity to gain sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer or gain new skills in an existing job. The local programme of Skill Bootcamps has been funded and developed by the Greater Lincolnshire LEP in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council. 

If you are interested in learning more about the Skills Bootcamps being delivered by the University of Lincoln please contact Sharon Green at shgreen@lincoln.ac.uk