Packhouse line leader

Reference Number: ST0016

Details of standard

Agriculture and horticulture production is the initial link in the food chain and landscaping industry, contributing over 14% of the British GDP. As a result they offer exciting, varied and international careers. The industry provides unique opportunities for enthusiastic people to progress in a high tech and innovative environment, working in some of the country’s largest supply chains. Food/plant packhouses collect and process (to varying levels) the fresh product and dispatch to the retailer or move other sites for further processing. They provide a fast paced, customer responsive environment ensuring staff have a stimulating workplace learning a variety of technical, problem solving and supervisory skills. The Packhouse Line Leader is a key supervisory role, helping the company operate efficiently. Line leaders are responsible for a variety of perishable products such as vegetables, fruit, cut flowers and plants. In addition to this you will also be responsible for a team of people and work with machinery and IT systems to achieve systems to achieve production targets under various time, quality, food safety and customer pressures. Successful completion of this apprenticeship will see you become a competent Packhouse Line Leader with a strong set of supervisory skills and a solid knowledge of food/plant production line requirements, which will form a strong basis for future progression in your career. Agricultural and horticultural packhouses will handle a variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, cut flowers and live plants. These products will vary in condition (i.e. unprocessed, washed, cut, packaged, potted etc) but all will have a limited shelf life and very specific storage conditions to maintain product quality and food safety where applicable. The handling and movement of these perishable items requires specialised management to maintain profitability and minimises loses.

Behaviours

Knowledge

Knowledge specific to this role includes:

• Safe working practices, policies and codes of practice in relation to current health and safety legislation (including manual handling), job role and workplace including emergency plans
• Effective team leader techniques including time management, personal/team development and problem resolution
• Use of production targets, supervisory techniques and IT to raise efficiency and productivity within the packhouse
• Planning workloads, staff and resources in response to seasonality differences/order requirements
• How to prepare, use and maintain equipment in a safe efficient and effective condition
• Maintenance of hygiene standards relating to product/food storage and packing
• Customer quality standards/specifications/audit process
• Importance of the key stages within relevant product supply chains
• Product requirements to maintain quality and minimise losses
• Importance of the systems and of record keeping/storage requirements used within the organisation
• Biosecurity measures when storing and handling fresh/live products such as fruit, vegetable, salads and plants
• How to recognise products which are damaged or contaminated and the appropriate action to take
• Input costs, cost of production and margins within the packhouse
• Security of the facility
• Impact of packhouse operation on the external environment

 Skills

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