Meat+Poultry - July 2018 - 86
FROM THE CORRAL Calling all minds At the International Production and Processing Expo, there was a lot of poultry processing equipment and technology on display. Italian equipment manufacturers had many big displays. One may ask, "Why do the Italians produce so much equipment?" Their secret may be in how they educate their kids. Recently I visited a US kindergarten program based on an Italian educational model. The little kids were using real tools under adult supervision to make things out of cardboard boxes, old broken computer parts and lots of other stuff. They got introduced to tools and loved using them. Unfortunately, many kids are still playing with Legos as teenagers because they never had the opportunity to use tools. Legos are a great way to get kids started, but young kids need to progress to real tools. During my career, I have observed many quirky people who started out on either the processing line or night cleanup. Many of them quickly moved into the maintenance department and started inventing equipment. This is how many specialized equipment companies got started. Today, a lot of quirky kids have labels such as autism, dyslexia, ADHD, or oppositional defiant. The kids labeled OD often behave badly because they are bored. trusses, prestressed concrete design In the US, we should be and other areas that required inventing and manufacturing higher mathematics. The specialized equipment entire team is needed to Today, most of needed for poultry and have a successful project. the specialized pork processing plants. Students become machinery for pork processing comes Today, most of the interested in careers they from Canada specialized machinery get exposed to. I had no and Europe. for pork processing comes livestock background and from Canada and Europe. my first exposure to dairy The reason for this may be the cattle was at my boarding methods Canadians and Europeans school at age 14. At age 15, I visited use to educate their children. At a high my aunt's ranch in Arizona. To get kids school in Ontario I recently visited, interested in working on machinery, there was a big poster on the wall. The they need to be exposed to it. One good headline read: "Three Pathways to program is 4-H small engine repair Success." They were: 1) Apprenticeship where kids learn to repair lawnmower in a skilled trade for students who engines. Robotic classes are another enjoy learning by doing; 2) Two-year good avenue. One innovative meat certificate programs; and 3) University plant sent people to the local high degrees. The local high school offered school and taught the robotics many skilled trades courses. One of the students how to use real industrial worst things some US high schools have programmable logic controllers to run done is removing skilled trades courses. robots. These are the same systems During my career, I have worked on that control complicated equipment in designing animal handling systems for meat plants. many beef and pork plants. This has To preserve know-how and enabled me to observe the teams of maintain innovations in the US, the people who put together a successful entire food-processing industry needs project. The visual thinkers in the to reach out to the schools and create drafting department layout the entire programs that will get kids interested site. They also layout and design all the in inventing and maintaining the next complex conveyor systems. The quirky generation of equipment. We need to guys in the shop invented most of the get kids interested in inventing. My innovative equipment. It is likely that new book, "Calling All Minds: How to they flunked algebra in high school. Think Like an Inventor" will help get The engineers with degrees designed them interested. refrigeration broiler systems, roof T E M P L E G R A N D I N | m e a t p o u l t r y @ s o s l a n d .c o m The entire food-processing industry needs to reach out to the schools and create programs that will get kids interested in inventing. ©Rosalie Winard 86 MEAT+ POULTRY | 07.18 | www.meatpoultry.com
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