The American Bakers Association (ABA) has announced the return of the Hands-On Training Workshop at the annual Technical Conference to educate baking industry professionals on the function and fundamentals of primary leavening agents through real-time, cause-and-effect exercises.
“The Hands-On Training Workshop will provide a better understanding of the application and functionality of chemical leavening agents and how they’re used in the baking process,” said senior advisor to the president & CEO: B&CMA Transition & Development Dave Van Laar. “It’s like a science experiment for a refresh or for baseline learning – it’s interactive and collaborative, and it ties directly into the Cookie and Cracker Manufacturing course.”
“Between the highly experienced ABA Technical Advisors and the guidance of the ABA Education Committee, the Hands-On Training Workshop participants will gain stronger, concrete knowledge of exactly how primary leavening agents work,” said ABA president & CEO Robb MacKie. “In fact, this workshop can assist research and development, sales, and supply teams in their understanding of the baking process to execute their roles in the industry.”
The ABA Technical Advisors—Dennis Loalbo, Rich McFeaters, and Blake Hutzley—who will lead the workshop collectively hold more than 100 years of industry experience. ABA’s Education Committee will also lend helping hands to the workshop participants.
All workshop participants will receive a certificate of completion. Any student of the Cookie & Cracker Manufacturing Course who participates in the workshop has the opportunity to receive a credit for one work project exam after submitting a written summary to be graded by a Technical Advisor.
The American Bakers Association (ABA) also announced that the 2017 Technical Conference is programmed with sessions to educate attendees on implementing processes with immediate paybacks that maximize savings while preserving resources.
“The Technical Conference is a premier platform for educating attendees on how to use the same amount of resources to yield less waste and more savings,” said Van Laar. “For example, through strategic modification, a baker can reduce bad batches, which cuts scrap but can also save $100,000. It’s win-win.”
“The vision of the Technical Conference is to keep the baking industry current, efficient, and ahead on their bottom-line goals,” said ABA president & CEO Robb MacKie. “We invite attendees to challenge the experts on the Production Panel and probe their expertise on increasing output. The sessions will educate on how to do just that.”
Another hot topic discussion at the Technical Conference includes reducing the cost of mandatory Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) implementation and kill-step validation through the available FDA-accepted kill step validation calculator for potential savings of $20,000 per SKU.
Click here to register for the 2017 Technical Conference.
