15th May, 2008: Inspections at Bigelow Tea
Do you know what HACCP stands for? Most people would not but if you are in the food industry you would know it stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. HACCP is a systematic preventative approach to food safety that addresses physical, chemical, and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection. Critical Control Points are identified where potential food safety hazards could occur and procedures are put in place to ensure the product is safe.
HACCP was conceived in the 1960s for NASA for the space flights. Since then HACCP has been used internationally and in other industries such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. When we receive an inspection from our 3rd party auditor one of the major reviews that we go through is our HACCP program. The program shows the entire flow of our product and where those Critical Control Points are. It also details out our steps for inspections and correction if problems occur.
Overall the HACCP is a very detailed program that helps insure the products that are reaching the consumers are safe for consumption.
Dean
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1st April, 2008: Earth Day Celebrations
We were recently contacted by the city of Fairfield to participate in their town’s Earth Day Celebration. The town is trying to build the event so more people are exposed to what each and everyone can do to help make the environment better. Recently we passed around the book “Stirring It Up” which talked about several companies and what they have been doing to make their companies environmentally friendly. Being able to see what other companies are doing has helped us set higher and higher expectations and look for ways we can make more of an impact.
As we have taken many steps in the company to be as “green” as possible some of the side benefits have been in our “away from work lives.” For example, the company had an outside firm come in and offer compact florescent light bulbs for sale at a discount. Most employees took the opportunity to at least buy one. The other day one employee told me they were so impressed that they went out and replaced all their old light bulbs with the compact florescent bulbs. Now they are seeing their electric bills being $30 per month lower, needless to say they are very happy. The Earth Day celebration is another opportunity to expose people to practices and actions we have taken as a company and as individuals. One by one people are making a positive impact on the environment and are raising the bar for all to follow.
Dean
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22nd February, 2008: American Tea Rituals
When it comes to tea, history is being made in United States. Tomislav Podreka at Planet Tea says that “We are … at the beginning of the establishment of an American tea ritual.”
Think about it. Throughout its history, tea has been intimately tied to ritual. Consider the expression, “steeped in tradition.” In Asian culture tea is integral to ceremonies and meditation practices as it has been for thousands of years. In England, what began as a duchess’s stomach murmurs in the 1800s evolved into tea time as a compulsory daily break for the masses.
It’s now time for America. As “[ritualization of tea] has occurred in every other culture … there will be no difference here,” Podereka says. He credits herbals – which originated early in American history as simple remedies for minor afflictions – for boosting “America’s tea culture to another level” and notes that “these infusions have made great inroads as a common staple of American life.” More recently, stringent scientific study has given additional credibility to centuries of health claims, priming tea for ritualization based on its health benefits.
What tea rituals will America develop? According to the author, a great deal depends on what influences our choices. Fortified by the latest research, will Americans drink primarily for health? For relaxation? Or something else? In the end, only time will tell, but it’s great to be part of tea history in the making.
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19th February, 2008: A Perfect Cup of Tea With Cindi Bigelow
Find out how to make the perfect cup of tea. Did you know that green tea and black tea should be made differently? Learn more only on our Tea-V channel.
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7th February, 2008: Thank you for loving our Teas
The painful process of discontinuing a tea….not fun but unfortunately a necessity. Each year we have the wonderful opportunity to create new and exciting flavors for our tea consumers. The receptivity to our new flavors over the years has been outstanding, whether it was with our Pumpkin Spice, Green Tea with Pomegranate or one of our newest AriZona teas that has the powerful antioxidant Acai in it. Our tea consumers have come to know that when we put our name on a tea, it is the most flavorful, freshest tea possible.
However, with all the fun work in creating and introducing new teas, we have to occasionally let go of our slower moving/slower selling teas because when a tea flavor reaches a certain point of sales, it becomes almost impossible to run a very limited quantity of teabags on our equipment. Then comes the hardest part of all…we have to share news with our wonderful consumers that a tea will not be produced any longer. Of course, with that decision, we make lots of really lovely people very unhappy. The letters, the phone calls, the emails come flooding in pleading with us to reconsider. We try very hard to take care of our faithful consumers and provide some of the discontinued tea through the website but eventually we get to a point where the tea is not longer available.
The reality is, we cannot make those passionate fans happy and that is not fun…We have over 80 beautiful teas and with that our warehouses would explode and our machines would revolt if we did not eventually let some of our slower moving teas retire to the Bigelow Tea “pasture.”
So for all you amazing fans that we cannot satisfy 100% by taking away one of your favorite teas…we are very sorry. Please know if we could, we would love to supply you with every tea you ever wanted from us, but that is not truly possible.
Thank you for loving those teas and I can only hope that you might find a wonderful substitute somewhere in our array of teas that makes you just (or at least close to “just”) as happy.
At least I can dream…
Cindi Bigelow
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28th December, 2007: Each Year A Checkup!
Each year we go through our manufacturing policies, procedures and training guidelines to make sure they are the latest and greatest. Usually there are some simple things that need to be changed based upon improvements like adding conveyors or adjusting how rework is done. This year we are focused on improving how we track and maintain all the different training we do for our employees. Some training is required like; Lock out Tag out (for electrical safety) Forklift and Ladder Safety, Good Manufacturing Procedures (which goes into more detail on how we operate and maintain our facilities), but others are focused on specific jobs to make sure everyone is doing them in the same manner. Each year the Operators, Mechanics, and QA go through refresher training and then are tested on their abilities just to make sure we are following the right procedures. The system we are introducing allows us to view each employee to determine when their last training occurred, what training is needed for that position, and also shows the training information that is being followed. It may seem like a lot of work that is not related to making a tea bag but it is one more way we make sure we are always making the best possible product.
Dean
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14th December, 2007: Got String?
Some things you just take for granted, you have milk in the refrigerator, the light will come on when you turn the switch, and at work your computer will work and there is paper in the copy machine. When these things don’t happen as expected your day is slightly disrupted but you recover without much issue. If your car does not start and you cannot get to work then that can have a bigger impact on how well your day turns out. Today we had a concern with our inventory of string for our tea machine being a bit low; in fact we had the possibility of running out. Now that is more in line with the car not starting, it could ruin the day. We were scheduled to receive delivery of more string on Monday but issues arose and the shipment was moved out to Thursday. Typically we carry a higher inventory during our busy time but it was lower than normal so this delay just made it a bigger issue. We have worked for many years with the same suppliers and have built a good relationship that makes us both committed to each other’s success. When the supplier found out our situation they sent string on a special currier to tie us over until the scheduled delivery. We should never have run out of string in the first place or even been this close because we have reports, checks, and people making sure we have enough inventories but I guess it was not enough. Now that we know the tea machines will not run out of string we need to go back through our process and find out what we can do to improve it so we do not have this issue happen again.
Dean
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21st November, 2007: How’s your knowledge on inks?
The ink used to print on our tea cartons is formulated using a blend of renewable, vegetable-based oils, compared to standard petroleum based formulas which are not renewable. These blends include oils sourced from plants like flax (linseed oil), and soybean oil. Among these vegetable-based oils vinegar ink (soy tinta) is a form of non-food soy. It is an environmentally friendly, healthy, and safe approach to printing that takes only a small amount of energy to make. In fact, soybeans only use about 0.5 percent of the total energy that is needed to create the ink. In the late 1970s, the Newspaper Association of America was looking for different ways to make ink, rather than by using the standard petroleum-based ink. Rising prices for petroleum and quarrels with OPEC countries were reasons they wanted to find a more reliable and cost efficient method of printing.
After testing over 2,000 different vegetable oil formulations, researchers came up with a solution. In 1987, soybeans were chosen to make ink because of their abundance and low cost. With soy bean ink, those who tested it found no threat to the air or to the environment. In addition, approximately half of the soybeans that are grown in the United States do not even need watering, which is why using soybeans for ink can actually benefit the environment. Another benefit to soy inks are its low levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which can help with air pollution by minimizing emissions.
Again maybe more than you wanted to know about ink but deciding to go with this type of ink has less of an impact on the environment.
Dean
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6th November, 2007: Unit Box 101
Now this is probably more information than you would ever want to know about the box your tea bags come in but it is a very complicated process and many people have spent a lot of time and energy to make it the best box possible. Boxes are designed for their visual effect and for safely transporting a product from the production line to your kitchen.
Boxes will have eight sides or panels and with the bar code and nutritional facts usually taking up two panels which leaves six panels for conveying information to the consumer. In a short amount of time the box needs to convince the consumer to buy this product vs. the competitions and that is done by the color, text, and graphics used on the box. Some boxes will have a horizontal look and others will be vertical, some even have printing in both directions so stores can choose how they want to display them.
Our box opens with a “zipper” feature to allow the customer to reseal it like cereal boxes. If you notice there are two side flaps that come in from each end panel and they are the design feature we use to protect the product from contamination and tampering until the end user opens the box. The thickness of the box material, the type of scores used for the box to fold, the number of colors used in printing, are more of the features that may go unnoticed but are critical in providing a reliable product to the customer.
Now that you are more familiar with boxes, it is test time…….how many colors are on your box of Bigelow tea?
Dean
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31st October, 2007: You Are Not Alone In Your Battle With Dust
Dust, such a simple word for such a big problem. Everyone has dust issues to deal with like dust bunnies under the bed, and dust on the TV screen, to more serious dust issues like those with allergies and asthma. Dust however is not just a home problem; manufacturing companies have dust issues as well. One well-known company that really has to protect against dust is the semiconductor industry, but companies like Bigelow Tea have big dust issues as well.
The dust we deal with comes mainly from moving the blended tea/herbs through our packaging process. As the product is packaged, smaller particles can get air born and then drift into areas we do not want it to. Tea dust creates friction on moving parts and when you are producing tea bags at 350 tea bags a minute, there are a lot of moving parts,
Our high-speed equipment does not react well to dust. Dust can cause friction on parts that are turning at high speeds and cause them to heat up and wear out sooner. Our electronic parts also prefer clean air to operate in. If we do not keep dust minimized then productivity can drop, reliability can drop and the quality of our product could suffer.
We have done several things over the years to minimize dust in our equipment and in the production room like installing vacuum ports to remove dust at the source, wiping down the equipment during the production run, and at the end of the week we disassemble the equipment to do a deep cleaning.
Bigelow spends a lot of time and money focusing on minimizing dust and removing it from our environment to keep our machines running, and our tea tasting its best. So next time you sit down and relax after fighting your dust issues, have a cup of tea and remember that you are not alone in your battle with dust.
Dean
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