Meat firms ignore help

The course, leading to a Cranfield University Fellowship in Manufacturing Management for the Red Meat Industry, due to start in April, has so far failed to recruit the 15 students needed to make it viable. The course has already been postponed twice because of lack of support.

Paul Jose, operations manager of the Red Meat Industry Forum (RMIF), said failure to register was not due to the £20,000 that companies needed to fork out for the 15-month course, but the nine weeks that participants would spend away from their factories.

The course is supported by Cranfield, the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing, the Danish Meat Trade College and the RMIF.

"The purpose of the course is to develop the next generation of industry leaders," said Jose. "The practical element is absolutely critical." That would be provided by the Danish Meat Trade College at Roskilde, with Cranfield contributing lean manufacturing expertise and Cambridge more theoretical business strategies.

Although the course had originally been built to include nine weeks' residential study, Jose hoped to reduce time spent away from the workplace by making use of study weekends.

At least another five recruits were needed by the end of January for the course to go ahead. The chances are "50:50 at the moment", claimed Jose.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend