Business and Regional Development:

The Råde bakery waste project

Ostfold Research is helping Råde bakery to reduce waste - in the broadest sense - in a project where cooperation and participation processes are motivators for change.

The project in Råde bakery is part of the research project VRI Ostfold, where cooperation and participation processes are essential factors for increased value creation and cultural benefits. Research scientists from Ostfold Research and Ostfold University College are collaborating on the implementation of the project.

The company's aim with the project is to improve the utilisation of resources and to reduce waste in the broadest sense. Using seven working groups covering the entire factory and including, to some extent, sales outlets, the work is based and carried out where the expertise is to be found.

One of the research targets is to identify, try out and document practical methods for the implementation of cooperation in smaller businesses where the employees have specific tasks and  work under pressure.

There is also an evaluation of the experience gained from an earlier project where the participation of  the employees was an essential element when planning and constructing the bakery's new factory.

With action research as the approach, the research scientists meet the employees in the workplace, in groups and in status meetings where every group attends. The results are documented through surveys, reports, recordings and logging, and will be presented in meetings as reports and articles.