WilliamsExternship2010

Final Week At ConAgra

2010-07-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

During my final week at ConAgra, I had to opportunity to observe the parts of the plant that weren't directly related to math or science exactly. However, these were vital parts of the production process and the skills needed are definitely transferable to the classroom.

Logistics - I spent two days working with the logistics department. The first day I spent with the incoming ingredients. While working in this department, I had the opportunity to sit in on meetings where the entire process of receive materials was put into a flow chart. In the flow chart, they discussed who would be responsible for each part of the process and if that person was absent, who would pick up the slack. They were basically placing accountability in the department so everybody knew what needed to be done so that everything was running as efficiently as possible. I can put this in my classroom by putting my syllabus in flow chart format. This will help the students visualize the "production" of the classroom.

On the second day with logistics, I worked with the out going department. This department handles everything from receiving vendor orders, verifying that the product is available, ensuring that the product has passed quality checks and that it is safe to ship, and placing the product on the truck to ship. Just finding the product to be shipped is an amazing process. ConAgra's freezers cover over 3 acres, and are kept at temperatures between +10 and -40 degrees. Manned forklift equipped with touch screen computers find the product and help fulfill orders. 20 forklifts work in the freezers and they are all controlled by one person that can find the product in the cooler and all the vital information about that product.

I also had a chance to work with ingredient inspectors. The people in this department have to be meticulous. For every ingredient they receive in the plant, they have a checklist of requirements the ingredient has to meet before it's used. The best way to describe it is that simply, the broccoli has a rubric, along with every other ingredient.

I spent my last day going through my unit plans for each class and putting in any final things I've seen that can be used in the classroom. I sat in on some meetings, as each department was preparing for a tour from a cooperate executive. I did one final walk through of the plant and made sure I didn't miss anything. I am excited to put all of what I saw into my curriculum. I feel better prepared to answer the question "When will I ever use this?"

On Line Quality Checking

2010-07-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Frozen meals are produced upwards of 200 meals a minute. Quality checks are paramount not only in safety but product recovery. Let me explain. With that many meals running off the line, there has to be a documented time of when everything was running "smoothly". That means all ingredient weights are have been verified, all equipment is working properly and everything is at the right temperature. As time passes, another set of quality checks must take place to make sure everything is still running smoothly. If for any reason a system is malfunctioning, the production is stopped, and all product made from the time of the last check to the present time is put on hold. If there was any kind of malfunction that would compromise product integrity, the product must be either hand verified, or thrown out. For this reason, ConAgra does quality checks constantly. By doing this, they limit the amount of product they have to throw out if anything does happen.

I think this is a teachable experience in many ways. First, data collection and verification of instruments is something that any good scientist does. There is also the cases where a student gets off track. Many times a student doesn't realize how far off track they are getting until they look back at what they have been doing. An example would be if a student started out a semester turning in all their work and studying for test to get a good grade. That would be the first check point. Then as time passes and he/she starts to slip off and forgets to turn in work and doesn't find time to study. All-of-a-sudden, this student is carrying a low average in the class and he/she doesn't know why. From this experience I've learned that the student should regularly check their "process" to make sure everything is running "smoothly". If a long time passes between checks, the student might not be able to recover the "damaged product".

Another Side of ConAgra

2010-07-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

As we all know by now, ConAgra is in the business of frozen foods. When the meals are assembled, the ingredients are not frozen, in fact some of them are really warm. After these meals are assembled, they must be immediately taken to a freezer. The faster the meal is frozen, the high the quality upon reheating. To do this, the refrigeration team has to transfer heat. Today, I got a close look at the world of refrigeration on a very large scale. Thermodynamics is the key concept behind refrigeration, and I know that both physics and chemistry discuss this topic. Everything from conduction, convection, condensation, and expansion of gasses was discussed. All the different aspects of the cooling system in place at ConAgra is transferable to the classroom.

I also had a discussion with the supervisor of this department. He was concerned that today's high school student doesn't see this field as a successful occupation. On his staff, he employs 9. Of the 9, 7 are over the age of 50. He says that this was a new technology during the 60's and 70's and the "Baby Boomer" generation is the key demographic. There are far more leaving the field than entering it which creates great opportunity to today's youth. The process of becoming a valued refrigeration technichian is long, but many school's in the area, as well as the military, provide an affordable education for those pursuing a job in this field.

Exciting Week With Research and Development Part 2

2010-07-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 8th

After working with RD for three days, I began to see what was going on. A control product was made alongside a test product with a new formula. The taste and nutrition of the new product was tested to see if it is comparable to the control. This was the scientific method in real life. The scientists did not just through a bunch of ingredients in a pot and start cooking. They had a plan, they made predictions in ways to improve the sauce, they gathered their data, and they analyzed results. I will take this back to my classroom as a way to introduce problem solving.

Friday July 9th

On the last day of working with the RD department, I got a tour of the chemistry lab. ConAgra has a fully accredited lab that does all testing on their food products. Every mineral, element, and compound that is found in any food product can be determined in this lab. They use chromatography and mass spectrometry to do a lot of their testing. While these types of equipment are far too expensive for public high school, the science behind the methods can be discussed.

After going through this experience I have learned a lot about the commerical food industry as well as simple sauce making. Cooks are scientists (well, maybe just the good ones). Food science is a great field to get in, as it is a job that will always be in demand that will not get outsourced. That is also something I will pass to my students.

Exciting Week with Research and Development

2010-07-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

I am going to get caught up by going through each day and outlining my experience and what I got out of it. Beyond getting awesome material to bring back to the class, I also got first hand experience in cooking great food, one of my other passions. This was an all around good time.

Tuesday July 6th

My first day at the ConAgra Cooperate Offices led me to the Research and Development Kitchen. The scientists in this department have backgrounds in everything from microbiology to engineering. Before I really knew process of what happens in the RD Kitchen, I began working with two sauce cooks that let me step right in and cook with them. I knew that they were attempting to formulate a sauce with lower sodium. They showed me their recipes and how all the ingredients are weighed up and added to the sauce. In chemistry curriculum, a lot of the traditional labs are called "cook book" labs. From this experience, I can show them examples of the cooking instructions (or something similar) and we can discuss the importance of following directions

Wednesday July 7th

After getting my feet wet with the sauce cooks, we kept going and actually built a prototype for a new product. We manually built the product so it could be tested in the micro lab for pathogens, the nutritional information could be determined in the chemistry lab, and the taste could be tested by us. We used all types of ingredients to build this meal. I can use this experience to talk about how mixtures are made and why each ingredient is important.
At the end of the day I took a tour of the Microbiology lab and Microphysical lab. These two labs are essential in customer safety.

New Week, New Project

2010-07-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

I am getting ready to start new phase in my externship. I have been working with production of indigents (pasta and sauce). I have started reflecting on how I can incorporate this information into my classroom. Simple topics such as weights and measurement apply to this area, and more advanced topics include colligative properties of liquids. Temperature taking is also a major component of production for safety reasons. I have also been able to see the difference in job requirements in this area. I think a major topic to cover with my students is how you can move up in any area with education. For example, the employees that produce the pasta have their own roles. There are people that lift and transport the indigents, people that manually pour the ingredients in the machines, people that push buttons that run the machines, and people that oversee the whole operation. At each level I described, the education of the individual is different. I think it is a teachable point to say that you never know when you are going to use the information available in High School. Your ability to do word processing, build graphs in Excel, or do a controlled study could be a difference in pay and workload.

This week I will start working with ConAgra's pilot plant in Omaha to see the process of constructing a frozen meal. I will be looking at all the variables that make the meal safe, taste good, and visually appealing. I don't know what to expect, but I can almost bet that some variation of the scientific method will be used. Very rarely does anything come out right on the first try, so I will use this experience to describe how the systematic process of the scientific method is used.

Day 9 Making progress

2010-06-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

After several days of gathering data on all the different types of noodles, I am starting to see some trends. I have started to fine tune my process to get rid of unwanted variables, and I will soon start writing a standard operating procedure for analyzing each noodle. It will be interesting to see how this technology will be used in their everyday operations.

Gathering Data Day 6

2010-06-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today I spent most of the day pulling noodle samples off of the production line and testing them. I gathered enough data to start building quality control charts. I am doing most of my data analysis with Excel. This will be a great tool to use in the classroom. Many manufacturing companies use these charts, and having exposure to them will help my students get a step ahead.

First Week Day 5

2010-06-20T08:36:00.001-07:00

Towards the end of my first week, I was given an "assignment" concerning the pasta noodles that are made at the ConAgra plant. I am going to look at the ingredients they use, the cook time, and the moisture content. Uniformity of the noodle used in the meals is paramount, and I will investigate what factors creates the best noodle.

June 16, 2010 Day 3

2010-06-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,
I finally got my blog set up for you all to view. My externship experience is taking place at ConAgra in Council Bluffs, IA. I have seen a couple different areas of the plant in the first few days, and in each area I have found things I can bring back to my classroom. From the QA testing to the precision machines used in the production of a multitude of products, students will have a better understanding of how the subject of chemistry and physics can be applied to real life. I enjoy all the people I'm working with. They have been very helpful and I'm looking forward to spending the next 6 weeks with them.