TechHelp and the Idaho Manufacturing Alliance will offer a Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Course (LSSGB) at IMA’s HQ in Nampa with full-day sessions on 1/17, 1/31, 2/14, and 3/6 of 2024. Lean Six Sigma is a well-known approach for achieving operational excellence that combines the process improvement benefits of Lean with the statistical process control benefits of Six Sigma. The course includes time between sessions for participants to complete workplace projects.
There has never been a better time to apply the principles of Lean Six Sigma in your organization. With today’s tight labor market and supply chain challenges, Lean can help your company become a more attractive employer and a stronger competitor. Luke Fuess and Janna Hamlett of TechHelp, the University of Idaho, and the legendary Lean practitioner Gene Hamacher will lead the course and provide LSSGB project support.
TechHelp Blog Posts
- Home
- TechHelp Blog Posts
Recent Posts
- Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt Certification Course Begins January 17 at Idaho Manufacturing Alliance HQ in Nampa December 21, 2023
- Winter Food Newsletter from Dr. J December 21, 2023
- Veteran’s Day 2023 – Thank You Veterans! November 10, 2023
- TechHelp’s Jennifer Buel Wins “Unsung Hero of the Year” Award at 2023 MEP National Conference September 28, 2023
- Dr. Janna Hamlett Article in Food Safety Magazine Has Tips to Overcome Supply Chain Challenges for Food Manufacturers August 25, 2023
- TechHelp – Out and About in Idaho During Spring of 2023 July 18, 2023
- ONLINE FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food Course with Dr. Janna Hamlett May 5, 2023
- Dr. Janna Hamlett Article in Food Safety Magazine on The Value of Mistake Proofing April 28, 2023
- TechHelp Welcomes Luke Fuess as Client Manager for North & North Central Idaho April 5, 2023
- Help is Available to Complete Your CMMC Cybersecurity Assessment February 28, 2023
- TechHelp Joins Governor Little on 2022 Trade Mission to Taiwan & Singapore December 22, 2022
- Dr. Janna Hamlett on Determining Sanitation Effectiveness with a Robust Environmental Monitoring Program December 13, 2022
- Janna Hamlett Explores “TIM WOODS” Waste Factors in FoodSafety Magazine Article July 19, 2022
- Look Who is Accomplished Under 40! May 12, 2022
- TechHelp’s Jessica Lambert Wins Women in STEM, Medicine and Law Scholarship May 3, 2022
- Thanks for the Fun Open House at the Boise State New Product Development Lab & studio\Blu May 3, 2022
- To Buy or Not to Buy? Considerations When Purchasing Used Food Processing Equipment February 15, 2022
- Recording of TechHelp’s Webinar on the Uses and Benefits of Collaborative Robots (Cobots) in Manufacturing Facilities – Jan 27 January 28, 2022
- TechHelp Bombs at the 2021 IMA Manufacturing Trade Show November 12, 2021
- Support the MUD BUD™ Magnetic Utility Device October 26, 2021
I hope the weather is not treating you too harshly as we enter the holiday season.
We are thrilled to announce that our team has expanded with the arrival of Stuart Walker, a 28-year research and development veteran in the food industry. Stuart joined TechHelp as a Food Specialist in October of 2023 after working for almost 12 years at the renowned Litehouse Food Company in Sandpoint, Idaho. He looks forward to utilizing his extensive food formulation and manufacturing knowledge and background to help solve the current problems being experienced by Idaho food manufacturers. Stuart will be based in Boise but will serve Idaho food processors statewide.
TechHelp, Idaho’s Manufacturing Extension Partner (MEP) thanks our veterans for their service to our nation. We are also thankful for those veterans who apply the skills, expertise, and ideas they developed in the service to their jobs and companies. Mike Atwood of Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU) is one example of a Veteran who leaned on his service experience to create excellent night vision products with applications in the civilian world. As a former AH-64 Apache pilot, Mike founded ASU in 1995 and worked with government agencies to allow unrestricted NVG use among first responders and law enforcement agencies.
TechHelp’s Jennifer Buel won the “Unsung Hero of the Year” Award at the 2023 MEP National Conference in Buffalo, NY. This award recognizes an individual and/or team from marketing, reporting, administrative, human resources, or other behind-the-scenes roles at an MEP Center who has shown exemplary effort in their work.
Supply chain constraints are not a new challenge in the food industry. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic created additional hardships, the food industry has always had to deal with difficulties in the supply chain. Food is a global market, and even the smallest food processor brings in food ingredients, packaging, and equipment from around the world. The food industry is not immune to environmental disasters or political unrest in the global environment. Since the food supply chain is very complex with multiple stakeholders, processors, brokers, and transportation involved, it is susceptible to turbulence and instability.
The FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act – Preventive Controls for Human Food requires processing facilities to have at least one Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) on staff to oversee the food safety plan and system.
Our upcoming online FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food Course is one way to gain that credential. This FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food course is the “standardized curriculum” recognized by the FDA. This course covers regulation Title 21 CFR 117 – Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food.
People make mistakes—more often than we might like to think. Studies have shown that no matter how well-trained a worker is, or how well-maintained the equipment is, errors still occur. Tasks are forgotten, and equipment breaks. Standard work and “one right way” can help reduce errors.
Mistake proofing, also known by its Japanese equivalent, “poka-yoke,” is a method used to reduce or eliminate errors, or to make those errors immediately obvious. Ensuring that non-conforming product is never created—or at least never arrives at customers’ doorsteps—is invaluable in the food industry. Reduced downgrade, less rework, and decreased out-of-specification product are all benefits of mistake proofing.
TechHelp was thrilled to add Luke Fuess as a Client Manager in March of 2023. Luke will rely on his extensive manufacturing management and operations background to help Idaho manufacturers improve operations, quality, and profitability. Luke is based at the University of Idaho Coeur d’Alene and will focus on North and North Central Idaho companies from the Canadian border south into Grangeivlle. Luke’s work experience covers Aerospace, Weapons Manufacturing, Renewable Energy, and other technical trades.
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program is aligned with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) information security requirements for Defense Industrial Base (DIB) partners. If your organization doesn’t meet minimum CMMC-level requirements, you may be unable to bid on certain grants and contracts.
TechHelp in partnership with the Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity (IPC) at Boise State is looking for a few companies to complete a CMMC level 1 or level 2 assessment over the next 6 months. A CMMC assessment starts your company on the path to certification in cyber security which could put you on the path to seeking grant funding for further certification. It raises awareness of critical steps to implement foundational cybersecurity protection needs.
TechHelp’s Grey Beaudry joined Idaho Governor Little and business leaders from across Idaho on a trade mission to Taiwan and Singapore in December of 2022. Attendees met with leaders to build international business relationships and to increase sales of Idaho products.
A sanitation program is a key component of any food processor’s or food handler’s food safety plan. A well-written and well-executed sanitation program can mitigate, or reduce to an acceptable level, all three classifications of hazards (microbiological, chemical, and physical) in a hazard analysis. Sanitation is one of the four preventive controls (process controls, allergen, sanitation, and others) in the Preventive Controls for Human Food rule of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Sanitation has long been a major prerequisite program for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). Consequently, it is imperative that the sanitation program be functioning and performing according to expectations.
If you look around, you may find many examples of ‘TIM WOODS’ in a food processing facility. TIM WOODS is an acronym for the ‘eight wastes’ that can plague a processing facility. In lean manufacturing, waste is any cost, effort, or material that is used in a processing facility that does not directly lead to a completed unit.
According to the Idaho Business Review, there were about 470,000 Idaho workers eligible for the Accomplished Under 40 (AU40) award in 2022. From among that huge cohort, Food Processing Specialist Catherine Cantley of TechHelp and the University of Idaho stood out and was recognized as one of Idaho’s AU40 business professionals.
TechHelp’s Jessica Lambert Wins Women in STEM, Medicine and Law scholarship
Discover the new developments at the New Product Development Lab at studio\Blu. The list of NEW developments includes a new NPD space, the new studio\Blu program, new and bigger staff, new skill sets, new equipment, new services, and more.
When buying equipment for a food processing facility or commercial kitchen, it is ideal to purchase new equipment that is designed for the specific product, processing use, and processing capacity at the facility. However, in many cases this equipment may be cost-prohibitive, or the exact type of equipment may not be readily available, and so used equipment may need to be purchased instead.
Is your manufacturing facility undergoing a workforce shortage? Attracting, hiring, and keeping workers is one of today’s key workforce challenges. In this webinar, we explored how collaborative robots (also called cobots) can help. Our speakers, Ryan Okelberry (House of Design) and Al Youngwerth (Versabuilt) are local legends in the robotics industry who shared their experiences and answered questions.
Idaho’s Cocoa Bombs Sweetened Our Day at IMA MFG Trade Show TechHelp was proud to join the Idaho Manufacturing Alliance at the only manufacturing-focused industry tradeshow in Idaho. The event […]
M.U.D. BUD™ Kickstarter Site TechHelp’s New Product Development Team at Boise State works with many Idaho inventors who develop cool ideas born of necessity. Idaho is full of creative people […]
The Winner of the 2022 Coolest Thing Made in Idaho Contest is the Atomic Potato Chip Company of Arco
Voting for the Coolest Thing Made in Idaho Closed October 28 and the Winner is the Atomic Potato Chip Company Learn More In our continuing efforts to promote manufacturing, TechHelp […]