I heard from a member today regarding the Valor/180 Skills Training platform. He wasn’t certain that the library provided what he was looking for.

Really? Among the 800+ courses, there’s nothing that applies to you?

That all changed when I brought up the Food Safety track that Valor added this year. As someone who has already successfully completed three courses from this track, I assured him of the quality of the content. This seemed to do the trick as his team looks ahead to SQF audits this fall. Valor is potentially the most cost-effective way to provide the training, especially for a large group like he has.

In a recent discussion with another member, they mentioned they had not taken advantage of their user licenses for Valor/180 Skills because they simply “did not have the time”. I find that pretty interesting and can imagine the face my boss would make if I used that excuse. In fact, anyone who knows David is probably smiling as they know the type of reaction that would generate from him.

And honestly, if you were to look at my “to do” list for today you might think that the “don’t have time” excuse is probably pretty valid. In truth, I think that’s probably true for most of the people that I know in this industry, and yet we need to push forward. How else do we get ahead? I’m very proud of my advanced degree and my decades of experience in this field but as I start to look ahead to programming the educational program at next March’s Annual Conference or the 2023 Process Expo, when it comes to important industry topics, there is ALWAYS something more to learn. That’s where I lean on Valor as my training platform, as a user.

Next on my list for training, (yes, FPSA staff utilizes Valor 180 Skills also) Food Allergen Awareness, Contamination Prevention, Industrial Automation, Process Controls and Lean Manufacturing. Oh yes, forgot an Excel refresher. I need to get better at that. That’s on top of the 8 courses already taken this year. In short, I am able to use Valor to strengthen my knowledge of this industry and help me in my position.

Am I busy? Absolutely. But the beauty of Valor/180 Skills is its flexibility to be there when I need it, when I can find the time, to study what I think is important. When you also consider that on top of that, my user license provides me unlimited courses at no additional cost throughout the year, it simply can’t be beat as a training tool.

Don’t have the time? We all have those days. But if we don’t do anything to expand our knowledge, won’t we always be stuck in this same situation?

Andy Drennan, SVP FPSA