Advances in food and beverage manufacturing operations have propelled the sector to evolve into a data-driven, high-tech industry, with the frontline factory worker as the hero of food and beverage production. Without these dedicated workers on the factory floor, companies wouldn’t be able to feed the nation.
Today’s food and beverage worker is a motivated, technologically savvy, creative thinker. Within this talented population are many tales of triumph — workers who rise up the ranks while dedicating themselves to lifting their coworkers as well as their company.
They take advantage of new technologies to improve job performance, empower coworkers, and grow the bottom line. Tools like QAD Redzone’s connected workforce solution provide a factory-level digital transformation that engages employees, helps them excel, and reduces turnover.
Amazing workers in factories worldwide are achieving new levels of production efficiency, innovation, and quality. Here are the stories of three food and beverage frontline stars who came from ordinary circumstances and delivered extraordinary results by combining personal dedication with the right tools and creative thinking.
Natural team builder inspires across all departments
At Empire Bakery in Rocky Mount, VA, production lead Digna Cedillo is a driving force behind transforming operation management. Her recipe for success involves a mixture of new communication methods, daily huddles, and targeting key business metrics ripe for improvement.
A twenty-year veteran at Empire Bakery, Digna feels a sense of responsibility for her team. Yet as a native Spanish speaker, she used to struggle to convey complex technical information in English. She solved the problem by using Redzone’s built-in translator to convey instructions and content in workers’ native languages. This useful technology allowed her to take the lead in training and guiding colleagues and helped foster a culture of collaboration in the bakery.
Photo: @QAD RedzoneTeamwork is an important value at Empire Bakery, and Digna has helped teamwork flourish at Empire Bakery by implementing daily huddles — facilitated by Redzone. Huddles allow employees to discuss challenges, find solutions, and become their own problem solvers, empowering frontline workers to take ownership of their lines and make decisions collaboratively. This commitment to teamwork and creative problem-solving resulted in greater efficiency on the lines and a 25% production lift at the bakery.
Digna’s dedication to team building was paid back in full when she found herself faced with a health challenge that forced her to take time off. The entire Empire Bakery staff rallied around and supported her, cheering her on during treatment. As she recovers, Digna’s journey exemplifies the strength and spirit that has made her an inspiration to her colleagues, who gained a better understanding of how precious every second of life is.
Innovative problem-solver saves company thousands
Roy Barron has spent almost two decades working as an automated machine mechanic at specialty sweetener manufacturer American Sugar Refining (ASR). Even after all this time, Roy is dedicated to searching for opportunities to improve and grow. Management often assigns new employees to his section so Roy’s infectious passion for his work and the team inspires them to step up their game.
No matter what he’s working on, Roy takes personal pride in seeing it through to completion, even if it means trying solution after solution until he finds the one that works. He appreciates using Redzone at ASR because the software provides real-time feedback on what’s happening in the plant, enabling him to offer support where he’s needed.
A problem-solver at heart, Roy tackled a years-long problem on the production floor. ASR’s Thiele baggers were the most profitable machines at the plant but needed frequent maintenance due to sugar build-up on the dribble gates. Roy came up with a modification to fix the build-up, improving the part’s lifecycle by 300%. Now maintenance spends less time fixing the machines and the company saves $67,000 annually in maintenance costs.
Photo: @QAD RedzoneTeamwork + Tech = Factory-wide productivity boost
Line Supervisor Eucary Pineda started at BetterBody Foods & Nutrition, LLC, in Lindon, UT, in 2018, shortly after immigrating to the United States from Venezuela. It didn’t take long for management to recognize her skill and determination, and she quickly progressed from entry-level line worker to her current position as a line supervisor.
Right out of the gate, Eucary took the initiative to approach her teammates and uncover areas of improvement, using Redzone’s huddle feature to brainstorm ways to speed up the line. Together they developed a solution that shaved ten minutes off the line’s startup time. The new process was so successful that it was implemented across all production lines. The result? Every startup on every line of every day begins ten minutes earlier than it did previously, generating an ongoing production output increase.
Even as she leads and trains her team members, Eucary is always looking for new opportunities to learn and improve. This self-starter is usually one of the first people to try new technology in the plant. The skills she picked up helped her optimize lines in her section by repurposing tools the plant already has. This move saves money on equipment and helps improve worker productivity.
Leading by example
What these inspiring tales share is that amazing frontline workers have a plethora of skills, but embody some basic core values: collaboration, embracing technology, and a desire to improve their surroundings. High-achieving frontline workers know that they’re not in this alone, and their good fortune benefits their team and their organization.
These “Faces of the Frontline” are really manufacturing's all stars.
Each of these workers employs creativity to innovate and solve issues in the workplace. Though they may not necessarily be in a leadership role, they do take ownership, lead by example, and drive efficiency. On top of those skills, they take advantage of tools like QAD Redzone’s connected workforce solution to communicate, collaborate, and implement solutions that drive productivity to new heights.
Meet these amazing workers and others in, “Tales of Triumph from the Factory Floor, Vol. 1,” an eBook from our “Faces of the Frontline: Manufacturing’s All Stars” series. Download your free copy here.
