== Gordon Polson ==

Director, The Federation of Bakers

When did you last think about training? At the Federation of Bakers (FoB) we believe that training is vital to ensure a healthy long-term future for the plant bakery industry.

As part of our commitment to consistently high-quality standards across the industry, we have developed four courses, each offering information that will help delegates excel in their role and gain a detailed understanding of best practice.

The newest of these courses is the Dough Making course, which is due to run for the first time in autumn 2008 at Leeds Thomas Danby College. It will examine the factors affecting cost, the best use of materials and the criteria involved in producing and manufacturing dough. The information learnt through attending the course will help participants to increase efficiency in their bakeries.

This, of course, is vital, but we are also proud of our two-day Introduction to Plant Baking, which looks into the baking process and the different methods of production; Principles of Plant Baking, a group of four independent modules that give an in-depth grounding in the basic principles of the industrial baking process and managing that process in the workplace; and the one-day Bread Weights and Measures, to help students understand, comply and build confidence in dealing with different aspects of bread weight control legislation.

A combination of interactive learning and theoretical work guarantees bakers the opportunity to learn the skills that are so essential to their job.