The online resource was set up by National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing, which was established by Improve earlier this year. The programme provides an example of what other EU countries can do to boost employee skills.
The resource is part of an ongoing UK strategies to boost skills in the food and drink sector, which suffers one of the lowest levels of employee qualifications compared to other industries.
Improve was established by the government to boost those skills and ensure the sector is able to fine qualified employees.
"Employers can now access the sector's most comprehensive library of information on training simply by logging onto the skills academy website," said Jack Matthews, Improve's chief executive.
The site can be accessed at www.foodanddrink.nsacademy.co.uk.
The site provides a specially designed tool to help processors access funding or training courses. Managers can also use the site's diagnostic tools to help them identify a company's particular skills needs and find available courses.
"Many employers don't realise that there is money available to help with training costs," said Matthews. "If they don't have the funds themselves to invest in skills, it can leave their company at risk of losing its competitive edge."
It also contains free information on business and training, including the Bloomsbury Good Small Business Guide.
From September, there will be a selection of courses available to buy directly through the website, from short Learn Direct modules on subjects such as basic hygiene, to more in-depth courses designed specifically for the academy.
Courses offer support material for individual study, and many will include an interactive component that can be delivered online, through CD Rom, or in person by a registered trainer, according to a press release.
"In the past it's been a real headache for employers to locate funds that
they're eligible for," said Matthews. "The Skills Academy site takes all the hassle out of searching - after just ten minutes, an employer will find numerous opportunities to claim training cash."
The £4.4m training academy is the result of about two years of research, planning and development by Improve, which worked with leading employers.
"It has been designed by employers for employers, and will provide an effective and accessible system to deliver high-quality, relevant training through a mix of online, distance and site-based vocational courses," said Matthews.
The online site was designed by MyKnowledgeMap (MKM), which supplies infrastructure systems for national skill academies.
"Improving sector skills is the industry's response to potential threats to
its stability from Holland, Germany and France, Eastern Europe and even
further afield," the company stated.
Improve anticipates having 35 regional training centres operational within
three years.
MKM has also produced an e-learning course in production management for the
Improve portal. The course was constructed by the Grimsby Institute specifically for the skills academy.
Improve this month unveiled 16 new vocational qualifications in food manufacturing to employers.
The programme is geared toward helping the food manufacturing sector find and train employees. The plan sets out what needs to be done to alleviate skills shortages in a changing industry, in order to improve competitiveness and productivity.
The range of qualifications will replace existing ones like those in meat and poultry, bakery, and general food and drink manufacturing.
Level two of the programme will feature new units of competency. These can be combined to create any of 10 different study pathways to qualifications in food manufacture, Improve said in a press release.
The qualifications will give students the flexibility to pick and mix various units of study, which can be combined to build a qualification. At level three of the programme there will be six different pathways to a qualification.
Training organisations are currently developing the new qualifications, with the first of them expected to be available from September, Improve stated. The agency plans to create more study pathways and units in the future.
The new framework will also become one of the key structures helping to shape the work of Improve's new National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing.
The UK's food and drink industry has one of the most poorly qualified workforces in the UK, according to Improve. About 19 per cent of the sector's workforce have no qualifications, compared to the average of 11 per cent for the total UK workforce.
One third of staff in the processing sector were found to have no qualifications at all.
Improve's forecasting showed that the food and drink industry needs to recruit 118,000 more employees to fill current job roles, opened by existing workforce retirement or migration to other industries.
The increasing automation across the industry means different skills are required from the workforce. With production lines becoming morecomplex and demanding the shortage of skilled workers in the UK industry is acute.
The UK'S food and drink manufacturing sector employs somewhere between 500,000 and 900,000 staff. The sector produced £74bn worth of goods in 2006.
