P2 for Grain & Feed

["Richard Illig (717) 327-3568" <ILLIG.RICHARD@a1.pader.gov>]

    FROM: R. Illig
    RE: Grain & Feed P2
    
    Sorry but I have no printed material to offer.  This may be one 
    insight.
    
    Agway informed me, during a past encounter, that most waste feeds 
    (at their facility) were due to errors in blending.  Such errors 
    would seem linked more to a lack of standard operating procedures, 
    or simply employee error.  Minimizing these types of errors should 
    not be a large P2 problem, provided the facility incorporates 
    employee involvement in their P2 efforts.  Recommendations might 
    include:
    
    1) employee P2 training program (can be easily blended into safety 
    training)
    2) employe reward/incentive programs
    3) use of an employee P2 team (I would not count on this one)(one 
    imaginative facility had an employee P2 team create a P2 video to 
    address their largest waste stream(water)...it was a big success 
    at the facility, got their own people VERY involved, and was used 
    for new employee orientation as well as P2 training.)
    4) providing production feedback (can be by word-of-mouth, 
    placement of charts or graphs in common employee areas, or other 
    methods)
    5) tied into to #4, stimulating competition between different 
    employee work groups, and then tracking the competition through a 
    public display may serve to both minimize errors AND increase 
    production.
    6) other employee buy-ins (like simply asking them how to solve 
    the problem)
    
    A tracking system for monitoring the exact source of the waste 
    feed may reveal common denominators behind the problem...is it due 
    to one or two employees? or happens on one shift, or with one work 
    crew or supervisor, or with one main product.
    
    The Agway facility, in wanting the perfect high-quality product, 
    claimed it was too difficult to reblend mistakes, or incorporate 
    mistakes into larger blends that used the same ingredients.  I 
    WOULD ONLY PARTIALLY BUT THAT CLAIM.  Their non-disposal option 
    was land application of most of the waste for agricultural use.
    
    Ric