June 17th, 2019
I have spent a great deal of time working on the grant annual report. It has provided me a time to reflect on where we are going with it. There has been some delays, but nothing I don't feel can't be corrected this summer. I know we are losing one of our advisory members due to retirement and hope to go meet the new person today or tomorrow so I can bring them up to speed on our progress and the training we were working to do. Steve is reviewing the grant annual report right now. Once that is done, it will be time to submit it and begin working towards the second year.
The day after the DACUM
Steve and I were both pleased with the outcome of the DACUM. The six participants brought similiar and unique perspectives of their jobs to the DACUM. In attendance was Wandering Aengus (Ben), Pepsi Northwest (Kenny), Illahe Winery (Ted), Gilgamesh Brewery (Tony), Meduri Farms (Salvador), and Prospero (Gary). Kate Fergus from Ohio State University facilitated the DACUM. David Hata, our external evaluator, was also present for both days. Steve Greco, Co-PI provided support by recording the progress and providing support. Larry Cheyne, CTE Dean, helped direct people the first day and sat in on part of the DACUM. Johnny Mack, CTE Executive Dean stopped by to thank everyone for their participation. I was observing the DACUM, providing support, and performing paperwork for the grant. Simone Hughes also helped through room set up and other support.
Currently, paperwork, invoices are being accepted and routed for proper payment authority.
Next is to work on verification survey pre-letter.
January 2020
Issued 19 Digital Credentials to students who demonstrated and identified proper soldering techniques.
Developed PLC course for Food and Beverage Industry. Offering to industry February 19th, 2020
February 20, 2020
Completed first workshop on PLC's for the Food and Beverage Industry. I think it went well. 5 attendees: 2 directly from industry - Treetop and Willamette Valley Pie Company, 2 second year students looking at that industry as potential employment, and 1 student currently in the food industry but looking to upskill themself.
I spent some more time refining the curriculum for last night, setting up the room as I needed, but it was good. We are planning on offering a new workshop every three weeks on Wednesday evenings for 2 to 3 hours. Next up is the follow -up course to this workshop, then a workshop on the SPC for Production Control on April 1st, 2020
November 27th, 2018
Still waiting for our verification survey to be completed. Sent more emails out today to hopefully gather the last 6 participants we need.
December 17th, 2018
Well, I guess things just don't go as smoothly as it seems. Initially we were told we needed a minimum of 30 responents to do the verification process. Then once we were underway with the verification the number was elevate to 50. Seeing how the initial push resulted in 24 respondents, I did a few big email pushes an from our verification people, I was told we had 38. Whew. I felt like that worked an getting 12 more, while wanted, wasn't the big need anymore. We had passed the 30. Fast forward to last Friday the 14th.
I emailed an stated since we had our base number we could close the survey and move forward. This is in part due to our need to start developing curriculum. The response I received was that we were actually at 28 and not the 38 I was informed earlier.
Needless to say, I am on the hunt for two more respondents minimum. Today the 17th of December will be a big door to door push once again.
October 2, 2018
Final revision of the DACUM Chart was provided to us by Ohio State University. We are now still compiling the emails for the various wineries, breweries, distilleries, food processors, and equipment manufacturers for the verification survey. That will be completed soon.
Also still working on some sort of give-away at the PI conference, project board, and general requirements for our participation.
From our chat room:
Chuck Sekafetz,
Jul 11, 1:25 PM
,
Visited and dropped off letters to Vagabond Brewing, Oregon Fruit Products, Meduri Farms, Kerr Concentrates, Honeywood Winery, Santiam Brewing, (tried to talk to Rachet - but closed until 3pm), Willamette Valley Vineyards, St. Innocent Winery, Illahe Winery, and Firesteed Winery.
Next stop will be Rickreall Dairy and Coubinoso Winery.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Jul 12, 6:52 AM
,
Illahe has confirmed via email for the DACUM
Steve Greco,
Jul 12, 3:29 PM
,
Any success with Eola Hill and Willamette Bio?
Steve Greco,
Jul 12, 3:47 PM
,
Also I will be over at the coast from Friday-Sunday. Tillamook Cheese and Rouge are on the places I plan to visit. Can you suggest anyone else?
Chuck Sekafetz,
Jul 12, 5:03 PM
,
I did not hit Willamette Bio - but I'll get them tomorrow.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Jul 12, 5:05 PM
,
Huge success at Eola - they already responded that they want to participate. When I came in he was trying to troubleshoot am electronics scale controller. I also talked to Rickreall Dairy, Cubanosimo Winery, Cherry Hill Winery, Firesteed (again). Tomorrow I will try for a couple more, but need to hit Salem downtown - at 1892 Cider.
Steve Greco,
Jul 17, 8:13 AM
,
Great! This past Friday I was able to visit Tillamook Creamery take the tour and drop-off our letter. BTW do we have a list of everyone that we have visited?
Chuck Sekafetz,
Jul 17, 4:17 PM
,
That is what this chat is for. To keep track.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Jul 17, 4:22 PM
,
Visited Today: Red Hills Market (Dundee), Deception Brewing(Dundee), Sokol Blosser(Dundee), Meggitt(McMinnville), Grain Station Brewing(McMinnville), Heater Allen Brewing (McMinnville), Coelho Winery (Amity).
I will take this chat and make the list when I get back from the conference., then I will have some work studies compile email addresses and physical addresses to send another followup letter. Also to make a larger pool for the verification part.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Jul 18, 2:23 PM
,
Willamette Bio, Van Duzer, Chateau Bianca, Breckenridge today. I will not be traveling around anymore until the 31st of July.
Steve Greco,
Jul 19, 7:38 AM
,
I'm leaving for Miami early A.M. 7/22. Should arrive early afternoon Sunday. See you at Hi-Tec!
Chuck Sekafetz,
Jul 19, 8:55 AM
,
Leaving tomorrow for Ft. Lauterdale. Spending Friday and Saturday there. Will see you at the hotel.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Aug 11, 3:26 PM
,
Dropped off letter to Xincha Brewing. Created letter for DACUM participants. Need to know college stipend information collection needs. Recieved catering information. Need to go to Seven Brides with letter.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Aug 17, 2:07 PM
,
Learned that an ORG number, names, and W-9 needs to be collected for participants. on Monday and Wednesday.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Aug 17, 2:11 PM
,
Wrote initial participant letter for DACUM. Revisions made by Steve and Suzzane were accepted and then is has been sent out. GK machine is the one company I have not been able to get the letter submitted to. Meggit has declined to continue participation.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Aug 17, 2:14 PM
,
DACUM participation letter sent to Prospero, Kerr, Meduri, Eola, Illahe, Grain Station, CCC, Van Duzer, Cherry Hill, Meggitt, Firesteed, Heater Allen, Pepsi, Rachet Brewing, Coelho Winery, Meade Center, and Willamette Valley Vineyards. Coelho Winery declined participation.
Meeting with the evaluator, David Hata on August 23rd at 10am
Steve Greco,
Aug 20, 8:33 AM
,
Do we need to meet prior to David's visit this coming Thursday? I can be in Tuesday and Wednesday A.M.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Aug 20, 11:12 AM
,
I am busy Tuesday and Wednesday. HE will be here at 10, so if we can meet at 8:30 that should be good.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Aug 20, 11:55 AM
,
Sent email to GK
Chuck Sekafetz,
Aug 20, 2:15 PM
,
I want to talk to divine distillers. might have to be Wednesday afternoon.
Steve Greco,
Aug 21, 7:50 AM
,
Sounds good!
Chuck Sekafetz,
Sep 4, 4:35 PM
,
So here is a little of what I have been up to. Today, September 4, 2018, I was traveling around trying to gather a few more participants in our DACUM focus group. Just trying to round out the group of people so there was a good mixture of winemakers, brewers, cider makers, and distillers - as well as our equipment and soda people. For the most part it was very successful. It is hard for both myself and some of the potential participants to have the initial conversations, but typically once we start talking, it goes well. Locations I went to today: *Laruelwood Winery -Seven Brides Brewery (did not speak to anyone - closed) -Vagabond Brewery *Gilgamesh Brewery *Wandering Aegus Ciderworks *Salem Ale Works (SAW) -Santiam Brewery *B2 Brewery -1859 Ciderworks *Xichia Brewery *spoke with someone -No one available Larry came up with a great idea for a give-a-way. Going to see if I can pull it off before then.
Divine Distillers can not participate in the DACUM due to a fundraiser that day. Headed to Albany/Corvallis tomorrow to see if I can get a distillery.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Sep 12, 2:39 PM
,
Made catering order last week. Created the nametags and the individual handouts. Prepared room on Tuesday.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Sep 12, 2:43 PM
,
Wednesday was in DACUM helping out. Observing. ect. of the 13 invited, 2 declined days before due to 1)harvest or 2)not seeing their role. 11 were expected, 9 confirmed. 1 pulled out due to harvest schedule change, 2 did not inform us reason not showing. 6 showed. Pepsi, Illahe, Meduri, Propero, Gilgamesh, Wandering Aengus . Good mix.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Sep 14, 9:53 AM
,
All day Thursday in DACUM
Friday website edits and invoices, keeping records.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Nov 27, 1:23 PM
,
I know I edited this earlier for our conference. Oh Well. We are close to our 30 respondents. need 6 more. I have been emailing like crazy today trying to get those few extra.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Feb 13, 12:34 PM
,
Feb 7th - sent out thank you letters with gift cards.
Chuck Sekafetz,
Feb 28, 8:12 AM
,
Feb 27th. Worked on digital certificates
Chuck Sekafetz,
Mar 4, 3:13 PM
,
March 2,3,4 - Digital Certificates. Completed NSF survey. Meeting with David Hata
December 19th, 2018
Headed to NORPAC, Rainsweet, Ventura today.
Another great day of visiting different sites trying to get people to respond to our verification survey.
Stopped at NORPAC early. I know cold calling is difficult, but sometimes it can be majorly rewarding. While I didn't go much further than the lobby, just being in the building and on site of the huge facility reminded me of days gone by. I left there hoping to get to Rainsweet and Ventura for some potential tours.
On the way to Rainsweet, I swung out to Willamette Valley Fruit Company. Knowing they don't make their pies there anymore, it was more to drop off my card and see if anyone was around I could talk to. I was only able to do the drop off of the card, but left there happy I stopped.
The road gave me a better shot at Ventura first, so I stopped and spoke with the plant manager, Robert. It was a good visit and learned more about what they manufacture there. Another excellent stop.
Then to Rainsweet. After figuring out where the entrance to the offices were at, I was able to drop a card off and it seemed positive that it would make its way to the right person.
Headed out of there, I had some extra time and I had been hoping to stop in at Oregon Cherry Growers. A number of reasons, but one is they sit on our advisory board. After a quick talk with the plant manager, I was walking back to the vehicle when Joan saw me. She gave me a very nice tour of the facility and while they were on a holiday shut down, the plant was very impressive.
All in all, it was a very productive day.
March 8th, 2020
Visited two breweries in Lebanon Oregon.
Barsideious and Coversion Breweries are smaller production locations and I hope that we can help them uptrain their technicians to help them as needed.
November 6, 2018
Wow, it has been busy. Since my last update we went to the National Science Foundation ATE PI meeting in Washington DC. A truly amazing conference. We received a lot of information from our NSF program directors as well as from other ATE projects and centers.
Our showcase booth was not as grand as I had hoped, but we have plans for next year to really get our project noticed. One of the primary take-a-ways was that our program director would like any accolades sent to her to put in our file. Since we already have one, I have sent that to her.
If you haven't seen it, I will provide it on this page. While they misrepresented the overall focus as being just wine, we are food and beverage in general. Also they called out specific courses - which we will not know of until our verification survey (which is sent out currently) is finalized.
https://www.winebusiness.com/wbm/?go=getArticleSignIn&dataId=200125
or a pdf of the article
Welcome!
So here is a little of what I have been up to.
Today, September 4, 2018, I was traveling around trying to gather a few more participants in our DACUM focus group. Just trying to round out the group of people so there was a good mixture of winemakers, brewers, cider makers, and distillers - as well as our equipment and soda people. For the most part it was very successful. It is hard for both myself and some of the potential participants to have the initial conversations, but typically once we start talking, it goes well.
Locations I went to today:
*Laruelwood Winery
-Seven Brides Brewery (did not speak to anyone - closed)
-Vagabond Brewery
*Gilgamesh Brewery
*Wandering Aegus Ciderworks
*Salem Ale Works (SAW)
-Santiam Brewery
*B2 Brewery
-1859 Ciderworks
*Xichia Brewery
*spoke with someone
-No one available
Larry came up with a great idea for a give-a-way. Going to see if I can pull it off before then.
February 7th, 2019
Received today from Ohio State the verification survey and the list of participants. Creating letter to send to the participants, enclose the gift cards, and thank them. Also Z. R. from St. Paul Oregon won the $100 gft card. Of the 66 participants 21 provided contact information. That was great odds for the random drawing - which Ohio State also conducted for us.
We will be critically reviewing the results and posting our next steps soon.
The day before the DACUM.
September 11th, 2018
I guess this is as good of a place to say it, but I am nervous. Why some may ask, but for others I am sure you're saying that it is common and everything will be alright. Confident that tomorrow will be here soon enough and the DACUM will be done, it will be a relief and another apprehensive moment when it is done. Yet, getting there has been tough. I do have a great support team here at the college - a huge call out to Simone, who once again, steps up and lends a hand as needed. Thank you.
So the room is ready, just need to be here and ready for everyone. Guess I need to work on my introduction.....
February 1st, 2019
We received from Ohio State the draft final verification information. They did not send the participant list so we can send out the gift cards. Still waiting on it. It does reflect what we thought, that maintenance was near the top of the needs as well as documentation, and of course, sanitation. More to come on that.
An email sent to me contained some grant altering information. Not in the focus of the grant or running of the grant, but our reporting of the grant to our NSF Program Officer. Elizabeth Tellis, who was one of the founding NSF ATE people retired as of January 7th, 2019. The shutdown did not give her access to sending out emails prior so she was able to contact me another way. We were very fortunate to have her guidance and knowledge as we started this process. We have not heard who our new program officer will be, there is probably a location for me to look that up on Fastlane, which I will try to do, then reach out to them, and see if they would like any specific information as they take over the over site from NSF.
February 27th, 2019
Spent the day away from the campus due to a snow closure day, but it gave me some time to work towards the digital badging / credentialing that we want to deploy. Received a quote on the cost. The initial cost isn't too bad, but the ongoing cost is something I really need to sit down with our dean and see if we, as a college or applied technology department, could use this to a greater degree than what I am initially proposing. I did spend some time creating a digital badge as well as multiple variations. I will post one here.
December 2019 update
Still working on the digital badging /credentials. Produced and distributed 19 digital credentials utilizing Badgr. Working with the Chemeketa Center for Business and Industry to bring specific coursework to local food processors. Due to recent turnover/retirements at various locations renewing and reestablishing contacts has become a priority.
February 14, 2019
Steve and I met to discuss the verification report and to create a plan of action moving forward. He will concentrate efforts on sections B and D, while I will focus on A and H. These were selected due to the high criticality ratings. Within each section, Steve will target B: 14, 11, 2, and 3 in order of importance as well as D: 10, 11, 1, and 6 in order of importance.
My targets will be A: 15, 10, 6,and 7 in order and H: 1, 10, 6, and 2 in order of importance.
We spent a good meeting time discussing this and are anxious to start developing.
We have a meeting with David Hata on the 4th of March for evaluation purposes.
November 6th, 2019
A lot has happened since my last entry, but I will keep this short. Submitted our end of year report and our program director gave it a favorable review. Steve attended the HiTech conference in St. Louis. I attended the ATE PI Conference in Washington DC. At DC I brought with me a number of Oregon products, but our digital badging for the Food and Beverage industry was met with positive feedback during our showcase display. Both Steve and I are working on curriculum development, and I on making sure our digital badging has proper verifications for each level. Badging almost complete for sanitation practices and partway for PLC's. SPC and administrative tasks will be the next ones slated to be worked on.
June 18th, 2019
I just submitted my first annual report for the grant. Steve reviewed it and made some edits. I hope I did what was asked.
June 6th, 2019
I had started the annual report a while back and saw that I had much of it in my blog, but needed to take time to get it all together. So today I spent a good portion of the morning negating my other responsibilities and focused on working on the report. After a good two hours, I needed to walk away and when I hit save.........nothing saved. it all went blank. Yep. So that quickly took the wind out of my sail, or better put, made the beer go flat. I had to stop an d focus on some student issues, so I will return to it next week and get it all done.
March 4th, 2019
Spent a good deal of time over the weekend reviewing options for providing digital credentials. I think I found a solution that we can manage and scale up as we need to do so. This option also provides us other opportunities - such as for our electronics program specifically.
Completed the NSF ATE Survey. It took some time.
Also met with our evaluator today for nearly an hour. after talking with him I realize we have been busy.
February 18, 2021
It has almost been a year since we have been able to offer any workshops. There are many reasons for this, but not to dwell on them, we are back and running full steam ahead. Since you are reading this, I will say that it has been hard to get participants before the pandemic, it is proving to be even more so. Regardless, we are moving forward. Many workshops are scheduled for this next month with more on the way.
March 12th, 2020
Well it seems the coronavirus is starting to impact our offerings in the future. We are still planning our April 1st class on using SPC data for process control. A great example of why using data to help trouble shoot is like the number of rejected bottles form the filling line. If we catch the number of bottles rejected as compared to the number of good bottles, we can look at the data to determine if it is a shift issue, a product issue, or a line issue. Some basic understanding of the powerfulness of that data to help improve our efficiencies and overall bottom line.
A little about last nights PLC 2 course. it seems 2.5 hours is just not enough time and some of the participants would like more hands on time with the PLC's, so we might offer another intro to PLC's workshop and develop a greater hands-on PLC workshop to address the more time desired with them. Overall, the workshops have been very successful and the only hick-up right now is issuing the digital badges in a timely fashion.
More to come!
December 17th, 2018 Summary
An eventful ay. Seriously. I Starte off the day by talking to the owner of LittleLois' Deli. Nice person and we spoke for a while. Positive feedback and some important take-a-ways. Specifically in the chiller areas and what places are doing to get away from large glycol systems.
From there I headed over to Evening Land Winery where I spoke with Benjamin. Again, very positive conversation and I was able to gander at their set up. Impressive.
Then off to Truitt Bros. (Seneca) where I was hoping to run into John. Instead I spoke with Dave who took some electronics classes from Chemeketa years ago. He remembered Bruce quite well. I was starting to leave in my vehicle after taking to Dave for a bit, when there was John at my door. John took me on an amazing tour of the plant and I left with a renewed respect for those folks who do that work.
John suggested I visit Layton Manufacturing next to Truitt. I was only able to drop off a business card.
Over to Kettle Foods (Campbell Snacks) where I was able to drop off a card.
Then to Yaquina Bay Fruit Processing and a nut processor housed in the same place. I am hoping that the General Manager Bruce will be able to help. It sounds like they have a lot of automation.
Don Pancho's (Resers) was next. I am hoping that my card gets to the maintenance supervisor. I'll keep trying if I don't hear anything.
Mountain Man Fruit company was also visited. I am hoping they can provide some insight through the verification survey.
It was a busy day, but worth it.
January 28th, 2019
We have been on "hold" until the results of the verification survey are provided. Just received an email today saying that the results are nearly done and that they would send them to us for review before finalizing them. I am glad we pulled the date in to get this done simply from the fat that this has been a very long process and we are already pushing our deadlines. Clearly, shorter timelines would have been missed.
Today we wait.
