Kelvin Thomson Email & Phone Number

Dunfermline, Gb

Dunfermline, Fife, United Kingdom

Dunfermline, Scotland

Provision of additional resource, support & expertise to businesses, trade organisations & training providers covering:- technical/quality/manufacturing project management- food safety, HACCP, health & safety, internal audit- policy development (food & drink, economic, skills and further education)- labour market information around Scottish & UK Food & Drink industry- apprenticeship development & increasing participation by industry- development & support of Vocational Qualification learning centres- national occupational standards, qualifications & SVQ/MA assessorDeveloped Internal Audit Procedure for a food sector client to help them meet needs of a major retail customer following an audit. Selected, trained and coached the auditors in the requirements of the procedure and signed off their ability as competent following training.Conducted mapping project of three sets of Units of Competence (UoC) against SQA Workplace Core Skills (Numeracy, Communication, Problem Solving, IT and Working with Others) as part of a wider project to accredit additional UoC for established SVQ pathways provided by SQA.Drafted a group of additional Units of Competence (UoC) for accreditation in order to enhance an existing Competence Based Qualification (CBQ) used as a Licence to Practice.Carried out review of site HACCP plan and corresponding procedures, provided coaching and support to reformed HACCP team in order to allow ongoing management of the plan. No Critical Control Points identified but additional controls put in place to support label verification.Completed the testing of a new employer tool for a Scottish skills & qualifications client. This demonstrated the ability of businesses to match job descriptions to qualifications levels thereby allowing them to attract new staff/train existing staff in line with their skills and experience needs. Tool tested out a small, innovative food manufacturer specialising in meeting the needs of the Food Service sector.

Arbroath, Angus

Responsible for the management of quality, food safety and health & safety across the Arbroath site.Designed and implemented procedure for the Internal Audit across the site as a tool to drive management performance. Provided training and mentoring to four members of staff giving them the knowledge and confidence to achieve annual audit programme requirements.Formalised the induction training programme for new full time/contract employees covering Health & Safety, Food Safety and Quality.Undertook complete refresh of site HACCP study in response to customer feedback with team drawn from across the factory site. Study completed in line with 7 Codex principles, included site pre-requisites and introduced better monitoring of identified Critical Control Points.Established Health & Safety committee, expanded portfolio of Risk Assessments in place, reviewed PPE requirements and introduced Manual Handling training for operators in order to cement importance of working safely across the site. Key Technical point of contact for Suppliers and Customers.Led review and risk assessment of systems for controlling labelling and coding requirements for retail products following customer feedback. Comprehensive procedure introduced, operator training delivered and ongoing monitoring of performance all part of improvements made.Introduction of new processes, technology and capability in order to improve manufacturing performance.

Dunfermline, Scotland

Completed initial Scottish food & drink employer consultation for new Food Manufacture Modern Apprenticeship framework, 40 businesses across the different sectors, throughout Scotland and of varying size contributed to the process of gaining employer input into the development stage.Facilitated four stakeholder consultation workshops to obtain feedback, input and build into the development of a new suite of SVQ’s for the food & drink manufacturing sector at both Level 2 and 3. Input obtained from trade associations, training providers, awarding bodies & partners.Carried out Core Skills sign posting project for over 500 SVQ units at Level 2 and 3 against the evidence requirements for the 5 Core Skills, met customer’s demanding timescale and was completed within budget of £2800.

York, United Kingdom

In response to growing food & drink business demand have facilitated the ongoing support from Skills Development Scotland and Scottish Government for the allocation of Modern Apprenticeship (Food Manufacture) places without age restriction across Scotland. From an initial commitment of 600 places in 2009, over 2000 food business employees and their employers have now benefitted from a nationally recognised training programme.Managed the introduction of a new qualification Achieving Food Manufacturing Excellence in Scotland. Final accreditation of group award achieved in March 2012, activity underway to meet the need of first food business signed up to use qualification.Successfully introduced a number of key skills and workforce development initiatives into the recently published ‘Scotland’s National Food & Drink Policy – Recipe for Success’ published by Scottish Government in June 2009. This included the commitment to fund adult apprenticeships in the Meat Processing and Bakery sectors as well as supporting development for a Food and Drink Skills Academy in Scotland.Facilitated the publication of additional Labour Market Intelligence profiles for the Food & Drink industry focussing on employment, economic impact and skills issues in the Retail Butchery sector and the Retail Bakery sector. As a result European Structural Fund awards totalling £100 000 were made in 2008/09 for skills enhancements in the Retail Bakery and Butchery sectors.Developed extensive network of employer contacts across sub-sectors, size and geographical location in Scotland.

London, United Kingdom

Successfully led international team to implement brand redesign for Smirnoff Ice across ten manufacturing sites within budget and to exacting global standards.Played leadership role in process design, operational best practice and supply knowledge for successful installation of a high-speed beverage production line in Venezuela at a cost of US$5 million. Managed the critical path and the risk management plan to ensure annual delivery of 1.5 million cases to market.Performed combined technical/commercial evaluations of four potential sites in Asia to determine suitability for new brand manufacture. In conjunction with other International Supply functions a detailed proposal and outline CAPEX estimate of £7 million to support an annual production volume of 4.8 million cases was prepared. This output was included in the Managing Director – Asia’s five year strategic plan for new brand manufacture.

Menstrie, United Kingdom

Provided significant product and process experience for the successful installation and commissioning of a flavoured alcoholic beverage line at Diageo Leven at a cost of £12 million. Responsible for building team capability in areas of conversion, quality testing and brand equity to deliver 10 million cases per year.Acting Production Manager for Smirnoff Ice manufacture in the USA/Canada during launch period. 2 million cases produced at three contract packers for the pipeline fill.Delivered annual savings to company of nearly £100k by renegotiating a contract to plan, manufacture and deliver a range of canned products direct to Diageo’s GB warehouse.

Responsible for ouptput in terms of quality and service from UK and European contract packaging companies manufacturing on behalf of UDV.Delivered additional supply of 100k units per week of a new product from new European contract packer at short notice to maintain unexpected consumer demand following initial advertising.Recruited two new staff members, through coaching and development quickly integrated them into the team in order to meet increasing demands.Responsilbe for delivering audit program to UK and European sites on quality, environment, risk and food safety.

Internal auditor and management system adviser to UK packaging operations sites. Standardised procedure for the stock accounting of Duty Free warehouses as required by Customs Authorities. Through procedure successfully managed to account for large suspected discrepancy during the closure of a redundant Duty Free warehouse.Led roll out of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) methodology across malting, distillation, maturation and bottling locations.Significantly improved format for monitoring and reporting on environmental performance at Company distilleries during period of intense media interest.Provision of resource and expertise in areas of quality/ISO9001,food safety/HACCP, Customs & Excise and Environmental compliance and performance.

Developed qualitative language for sensory comparison of main European gin brands, resulting report was used by marketing department to highlight consumer preference of company brands.Standardised company protocol for stability testing of new products prior to entering production phase, emphasis placed on sensory profile rather than chemical testing.

Hnc/Lrsc, Chemistry/Analytical Chemistry

Analytical Chemistry

Education record

Student