Harrie Rek, Practical Trainer
Harrie Rek is Practical Trainer and responsible for the project on the multi-deployability of employees. He is been employed at Vandersanden for 10 years.
“I have been working at Vandersanden for ten years now, with a short break in between, when I chased an old dream of working on an inland barge. Yet my love for Vandersanden was greater because after a while, I picked up the phone and called my old production manager. ‘Are you still looking for people?’ I asked. ‘Harry,’ he said, ‘hop in the car and get ready to sign your contract.’ Half an hour later everything was sorted. (laughs)”
“I first started out as a machinery operator. In the beginning, I didn’t even know where to look: everything here is big, high, and long; some machines are several metres high and wide. It’s an ingenious cogwheel: it turns and moves, and everything falls into place nicely.”
"The aim is for everyone to be deployable on all machinery"
“Initially I was stationed at the machine that puts bricks on the trolley that goes to the oven, but my manager at the time already felt that everyone should be able to work on every machine. I was his first guinea pig. (laughs) I became the forerunner of the pilot project that I am now working on myself. As a practical trainer, I develop and organise training sessions for the production staff. We determined the necessary competencies and created a competence matrix that is tailored to the different machines in the plant. A training programme consisting of competency-based training courses was then developed.
“The first training courses are currently being tested. In time, we want to extend the training programme to other machines and roll it out to all production staff. The aim is for everyone to be deployable on all machinery.”
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