Why is important to have trained workers for extra virgin olive oil production?

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In the production of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), one of the main requirements if we want to bet on the quality and success of the oil mill or cooperative is to have workers trained in production, among others.

The evolution and development of any sector goes hand in hand with training. The more training a master miller has, the greater the evolution and development of the oil mill or cooperative.

We are immersed in an increasingly changing society, studies and research that have been carried out over long periods of time are published daily. Research does not know of rest, and without any pause it continues with its intellectual and experimental process in a systematic way.

Institutions in the olive oil sector, have the purpose of investigating issues related to the development of olive oil, as well as expanding or developing all those issues that, directly or indirectly, have a scientific or technological interest that help to increase the value of olive oil. All these studies, research and projects are the engine that drives development and evolution, this is ultimately competitiveness and becoming professional oil mills.

To the extent that we distance ourselves from or are unaware of all this knowledge resulting from research or studies, we distance ourselves from interest in being facilitators of the evolution of the olive oil sector.

The manufacture of olive oil requires that all the agents that participate in it are involved as much as possible for the sake of development and quality.

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Quality understood not only in the product, but in the entire value chain that affects the olive sector.

It is useless for us to carry out training in export matters, if we are not able to have our master millers trained to make virgin olive oil. The master miller has to know what oil his company wants, and he has to be able to adapt to what they are demanding in terms of the olive oil he produces, yes, for this he has to be well trained in production.

As we said, development and innovation are in constant motion in the olive sector, in this way to the extent that I have my trained workers, they will be able to understand and perform all those tasks necessary to push the factory upwards. 

The training allows master millers to have a knowledge of the product with which they work as well as in the elaboration and "design" of the sensory profile of that product.

The greater the knowledge, the greater the acquisition of new knowledge, the contribution of the workers in the oil mill will not only be much greater but it will also be of higher quality.

The workers trained in the production of extra virgin olive oil will help my company grow and develop as the sector develops. This way I can be competitive and I won't be left behind.

It is not a one-off training. We are talking about continuous training, where it offers tools to all those workers who are dedicated to the manufacture of olive oil, so that, in this way, and being equipped with the latest knowledge that the sector is developing, they can contribute everything that they have learned related to the elaboration of extra virgin olive oil.

ESAO Image Bank.

To the extent that the worker is trained, he will be able to assume greater responsibility, and will develop his work based on solid decisions and with substantiated arguments.

The more trained a master miller is in elaboration, the more he will be able to relate the defects with which he is, to the elaboration process. It will be easier for you to detect the possible causes of the origin of the defect, and the best thing is that it will be easier for you to correct them.

I will not be able to hold workers responsible for decisions, if I have not previously trained them, if I have not taken care to enroll my workers in training and renewal courses.

The requirement of a company is based on what previously the company provides value to the worker.

A master of oil mill trained in production, and with a solid training, both theoretical and practical, will help me to develop, grow and increase in value of the oil mill or cooperative.

An increasing number of distributors and importers acquire training in olive oil tasting or production. In this way, as this learning increases, the greater the demands of these distributors and importers towards quality.

What we have to avoid is that a marketer, a buyer of our olive oil, comes to know more about a product than the person who makes it, in this case a master miller.

A master miller is an "Olive Oil Chef", the more training and knowledge he acquires about his raw material and how to treat and work it, the better his results will be. The better its results, the higher its quality, and quality is one of the most powerful tools for the consolidation and good development of an oil mill or cooperative in the olive sector.

Knowing the machinery, knowing the times of the processes in an oil mill, knowing the ideal temperatures of the processes, knowing the novelties and technologies that can be applied in the daily work in the matter of elaboration, will help  us improve our product quality. 

We have been working on the master miller, but let's not forget that we work as a team. It is of no use that only the master miller  is trained in production, if the rest of the staff or the team have total ignorance. The production of olive oil is a subject, as is the tasting that it is essential that the whole team has at least basic notions. From the export manager, to the manager or the board of directors, they have to be in tune with the training in production matters.

If, for example, an oil mill decides that certain machinery has to be changed, it is important that all the agents involved understand and have basic notions, so that they can have an opinion and decide with criteria. I will not know if one mixer is better than another, if I do not know, for example, the foundation and purpose of this machine or part of the process.

Master Miller ESAO Course Students. ESAO Image bank.

The processes in the production of olive oil have to be known by the entire team, and, from time to time, enroll different workers in the courses that they offer us.

Currently, we have the online training system that allows and facilitates training like never before. Technology gives us great tools and these must be taken advantage of.

Until now it was inconceivable to be able to take a master miller course from home, or from your workplace, this is a great opportunity that sometimes we do not know how to value.

We are used to face-to-face training, and this custom makes us associate what we know with what is valid, and there is nothing certain in this conception.

The two modalities, like all things, have their pros and cons, but there is no doubt that online training would in no case be left behind face-to-face training.

Online training provides us with great advantages such as:

• It expands the possibilities of access to training for workers who cannot attend face-to-face training.
  
  
• Time flexibility, so important for oil mill masters, and in general for everyone.
  
  
• Ease of access without travel with the consequent economic and time savings. This is undoubtedly a great value that allows us to easily and comfortably acquire knowledge without the wear and tear of face-to-face training.
  
  
• Wide range of studies on online campus . You have the possibility of expanding your training with the oil mill maintenance course, tasting, exporting, ... among others.
  
  
• Professional degrees are available to you, where once you are familiar with the campus, they will be of great value.
  
  
• Personalized training, with a tutor who will accompany you during your stay on campus online. This point allows us that at any time we can clarify any questions we have. This allows us not to be left behind or lost in matters. The qualified tutor is our “desk buddy” who will accompany us and help us stay up to date on campus.
  
  
• Permanent content update. The courses are not static and closed. The studies that are coming out on olive oil and which are considered of special interest are being posted and updated continuously. Sometimes it is the students who propose important and interesting subjects that at ESAO we collect and hang up on campus.
  
  
• Variety of formats, you have both videos, such as pdf, and presentations. This allows you to study the same subject but in different ways and thus be able to choose the one that best suits your needs.
  
  
• It introduces the user to the new information and communication technologies, this point is so important for the olive sector. The ESAO campus allows you to enter the online world, a world that you know is going to take hold and not as long-term as you imagine. All these advantages that we are seeing are consistent with the current pace of life and the socio-political situations that are taking place. We know that online tools are powerful and they come to stay. At this point we all know that adaptation is the only way to survival. The olive oil sector has to get hooked on the path of online training if it wants to survive.
  
  
• Online training is not being alone. At the same time as the tutor, you have a forum where you can contact and meet the rest of the colleagues who are on campus. This tool allows you to express opinions and doubts in which you want the experience of other colleagues to be exposed and in this way you can reflect. The work of all colleagues is sometimes as or more important than that of the big studios. Experience is the protagonist of the forum on campus.
  
  
• On the online campus you have a library where all the studies that we consider to be of special interest related to the production of olive oil are posted. This will allow you to consult and expand information on quality production at any time.
  
  
• Anonymity, online training, allows you to participate in a course in isolation and anonymously, in case you do not want to be identified by the rest of your classmates.

Sometimes, and depending on the course, you have live classes with an expert teacher in the matter in question, in these live classes, you can see and meet the rest of your classmates and live, you can ask the questions you deem appropriate . In the oil mill and production master course, in particular, you do have this class live with the master. 

Once all your subjects are finished, you have a tutorial, individually so that you can focus on your concerns or your business model, or on what has not yet been fully resolved. In this tutorial alone with the Master Miller expert in elaboration towards quality, already individually and only with the presence of the Master and your tutor, you will be able to finish acquiring all the necessary knowledge to be able to elaborate extra virgin olive oil from great quality.

All these advantages are to make you aware of how easy it is today to have trained workers, especially if you are focused on producing quality extra virgin olive oil.

Once we have seen how important it is to have trained workers, and knowing the simplicity of taking the courses online, we see that the production of the highest quality olive oil will increasingly be a requirement of all olive companies . The sooner we start with the training, the sooner we will achieve the desired results. 

Training must be understood as an investment and not as an expense. Any company that wants to obtain benefits must invest in the training of its employees, a decision that requires time and resources (money, more specifically). We are going to give an example of companies that have achieved great achievements to see how they understand training.

A year ago we saw in the press, as for Amazon, the retail giant not only wants us to know that it trains its workers but also how many billions are spent doing it. According to Bloomberg, the breakdown of these expenses in job training for employees is structured as follows: "[Amazon] will spend around 700 million dollars in training 100,000 employees by 2025.

That's $ 1,077 per person per year. According to an estimate by the Talent Development Association, the company spends an average of $ 1,296 annually per employee in training. " 

It is important to invest in workers, we must help oil mill masters to acquire the maximum possible skills and that they can develop their skills in the most professional way possible.

The Elaboration then, through the master miller course inside the Master Olive Oil Consultant Certification becomes the nucleus of the training in the production of virgin olive oil towards quality.