29th August, 2007: Inspections mean continual improvements
A score of 98 out of 100 is awesome occurrence in any event. Our Louisville plant received this score on their last 3rd party inspection. The inspection is done by a group that evaluates your operation against an industry standard; an “acceptable” score is 91 to 95 and 96 and above receives an “exceptional” score. In the past we have scored around the 95 mark, which we have been very happy with, but this time the plant really raised the bar for the rest of us. The 3rd party inspection has been a way for us to continually improve our operation and make it better. From each inspection we have been able to improve the operation and enhance what program we had in place making them better.
The best thing about all of the inspections has been we have not gone backwards in our scores, they have continually improved. In the past there have been small differences in the scores between our facilities, not that we compete against one another but there is always that “bragging rights” that come with the top score. The Boise facility has their inspection in September and so will be attempting hit above the 98.
Posted by Dean at 6:02 am | Comment (0)
17th August, 2007: The Boise Plant
We have three production facilities that supply everyone with the wide variety of Bigelow teas. Our Boise plant has been running strong for the last 22 years in the same location. We started it as a distribution site but due to production needs we located some equipment and gradually it grew into a strong production plant.
The plant has changed over the years with different equipment and production rates, but our strongest asset has been our employees. Our average tenure is 10 plus years in this location and with that amount of experience our employees’ care and knowledge of the product is second to none.
I try and get out to the plants at least quarterly to see what is going on. I talk to our employees about what is happening in the company and I listen to any concerns they might have. They probably wish my visits were less frequent, but we have a good time while I am there.
All of our plants are critical to our present day success and future growth. Boise has consistently been there for us every one of those 22 years, a big THANKS goes out to each and every employee.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 6:08 am | Comments (7)
3rd August, 2007: Bigelow Inspection Results
We had an OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, inspector show up for a “normal” inspection the other day. In fact the inspector spent ½ day on Friday and then came back on Tuesday for 1/2 day to finish up. Outside inspections are a great way to have your processes reviewed and to make improvements on them but when you have an OSHA inspector show up for a “normal” inspection you take a deep breath. It is kind of like when you glance up in your rear view mirror and there is a police car following you. You double check your speed, make sure your hands are at 10 and 2 but until they stop following you there is that question in your mind, am I doing something wrong.
Over the two visits we reviewed our safety policies, procedures on forklifts, walked the production floor looking at our machine guarding and interviewed several employees. The machine guarding is usually the toughest area to work on because you want the machine to be able to operate but you need to make sure employees cannot get injured as they use the equipment.
On Friday a couple of guarding issues were identified but by Tuesday when the inspector came back they had been fixed. I was very pleased with the inspection results and our operation is just that much better because of it.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 6:00 am | Comment (0)
24th July, 2007: Moving in the Right Direction
The production plants take a week off around the 4th of July; we call it our summer shut down. At that time we do any major work in the facility or on equipment and get things ready for our upcoming year. Everything kind of slows down at this time of the year, sales are slow, people are taking vacation, and year end numbers are being reviewed. The first week back from a shut down is always a concern on how well production will start back up. Once you are in a routine things happen almost automatically and once you get out of a routine it can take some time to get back into the groove. This year all of the plants came back from the shut down and we hit that groove early. That is a good indication that our people, equipment and processes are getting better defined and more reliable. In a process you are always trying to optimize the repeatability and take variation out. We may not be totally there but it does give a good indication we are moving in the right direction.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 6:00 am | Comment (0)
18th July, 2007: Report Cards
We are never too old for report cards or evaluations being done but typically we prefer it on other people and not ourselves. The intent is always to identify areas that can be improved upon. Every year we do employee reviews, top to bottom in the organization and ours are coming due the end of June. We will sit down with each employee, review their current goals and set goals for the upcoming year. Some of these goals are self improvement while others focus on business improvements. Then in December we will again sit down and review the progress or make adjustments as needed. Typically the communication is going on all the time but official documentation happens twice a year. Not all the goals are met but the identification, documentation, and review help direct the company and people to the next level.
Someone said that if you do not measure, it will never get done. As I look back over the past year we have made a lot of good progress but we did not always hit that perfect score. Well there is always next year to try harder.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 6:00 am | Comment (1)
20th June, 2007: Budgets at Bigelow
It is budget time for us, since our season is busiest during the winter we have made our fiscal year July through June. This means we are estimating how many tea bags we expect you to buy, when you will buy them, and what flavors you will choice. All of this is of course scientifically done and has a zero percent chance of error, well ok so it is a best guess. After we have determined all of that we then spread the production over our facilities and notify our vendors of what we need and when we need it. This is then forwarded to our three plants so they can determine the staffing and production requirements. Now all of this is probably what you do when you create your home budget each year so you might be able to relate to the fun times we have during this process. And like you we try to make sure we come within +/- 3% of our budget. So when you are in the tea isle do not forget to pick up that box of tea, we are planning on it.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 8:47 am | Comments (30)
29th May, 2007: Certified Organic
We had our organic inspection on Tuesday 5/22/07 for the Food Service Green and Green decaf products. The process to get certified started many months ago with an application and detail information being submitted to QAI, Quality Assurance International who certify companies for organic. On Tuesday we had an auditor follow the actual process and paperwork that is used to insure what we are doing meets with the QAI standards. The auditor was here for most of the day and was pleased to see how we operate and control our process. Bottom line is we should have two certified organic products to our food service consumer in the next 30 days.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 6:00 am | Comments (2)
21st May, 2007: Training + Improvements= High Quality Bigelow Tea
Training is an ongoing effort for us. In the plants we have yearly recertification for our operators, mechanics, and ware house personnel. Some of the information is review but it allows us to make sure our processes and procedures are being followed or make modifications to the procedures because we have a better way to do it.
We are working on cross training of employees so they are able to help when their co-workers are behind in work or vice versa. The nice thing about this is everyone wants to help out so all we need to do is provide the training so they have the skills.
Recently the management groups have been going through some “team building” events to help work on communication; we can always get better in this area. Today I am at a conference working on productivity, best practices and communication, no matter what level you are at you can always improve.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 6:00 am | Comment (0)
7th May, 2007: Bigelow Employees Succeed Together
Each spring we develop goals for the employee bonus system, “BEST”. This program focuses on identifying items we want to improve for the upcoming year. Most of the goals deal around production items such as; reducing scrap, improving our output, reducing rework, those types of things. Some of the goals go into longer term changes such as training, safety, classes taken, skills learned, and job sharing. All goals need to have an impact on the business and are affected by the employee, usually on a daily/weekly bases. Each plant has a team that will work on developing goals and measurements that are critical to that plant. Those goals will be submitted to a corporate steering committee where they will be discussed and voted on. We review the measurements three times a year and make payouts depending upon how well those goals were met. Over the last ten years this has been a great way for the company to involve employees in setting the direction and sharing in the benefits of those improvements.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 12:23 pm | Comments (3)
18th April, 2007: Cook and Thurber audits
Each year we have an outside audit firm come to the plants and conduct a Food Safety Audit of the facility. We feel that our facilities are in great shape, but it never hurts to have someone else come in and do a reality check.
These folks will evaluate everything we do from the receiving of our materials, production of the tea bag, building conditions, maintenance of equipment, sanitation, and process controls.
Every year there seems to be one or two new items that gets identified for us to work on. Although you always want to score 100%, the reality is there is always something more you can do to improve.
A score above 90% is acceptable and we usually are between 92% and 94%.
We will keep trying for that perfect score.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 6:00 am | Comments (9)
