The food and beverage manufacturing sector employs nearly 1.7 million people in the U.S. alone. Globally, it’s expected to grow to $9,225.27 billion by 2027. This growth occurs alongside some formidable challenges — stiff global competition, frequent disruptions in the supply chain, growing sustainability concerns, and continued changes in consumer preferences.  

When you’re facing global challenges and thin margins, your most valuable resource for addressing and overcoming market volatility is your team of frontline workers. When empowered with the right tools, these individuals lead your organization forward in improving efficiency, overcoming production obstacles, and maximizing profit margins. Below, we share four prime examples of food manufacturers that have used today’s #1 Connected Workforce Solution, Redzone, to give frontline workers the collaboration tools they need to drive productivity, reduce occupational injuries, and bring manufacturing costs down.

Driving Productivity at HP Hood

HP Hood in Sacramento, CA faced growing waste issues and reduced productivity. One report showed their 96 oz filler line was giving away thousands of dollars in excess product each month — and nobody could figure out what was happening. Photo: ©QAD Redzone

Danny Cavasos, the Quality Assurance Specialist, took ownership of the problem and used Redzone to solve it.

First, Cavasos dug deep into their filler data in Redzone and discovered that a tare in one filler wasn’t accounting for residual rinse water weight. This problem caused the line to overfill every single bottle, to the tune of $20,000 a month.

With this information in hand, he brought his team together to fix the issue and teach them how to address it in the future.

Reducing Occupational Injuries at Companion Baking

Companion Baking in St. Louis, MO, turned to technology to bring down their incidents of occupational injuries and address an ongoing waste issue. When Shannon Bone, Safety and Sustainability Manager, was asked for ideas to reduce workplace accidents, she immediately proposed the setup of a safety committee. 

Using Redzone, Bone organized all safety information the committee would need in easily accessible formats. She produced safety videos and created checklists for frontline workers. She also recorded all her findings and corrections in the tool, helping the team iterate on the process and drive continuous improvement.

With Redzone’s assistance, the committee has improved conditions and reduced the number of workplace accidents and their severity while instilling a safety culture at the bakery. This helped the company realize a 61% decrease in safety costs over the last three years.

Bone didn’t stop there, though. She used Redzone to launch the Waste Watchers Committee (WWC) whose sole goal was to reduce the company’s landfill waste. The committee made simple shifts such as composting waste instead of hauling it to the landfill, baking waste bread dough to reduce volume, and switching to products that result in less waste. Having all their waste data reside in Redzone, WWC was able to make informed decisions and eventually reduce landfill waste by 92% while also cutting down their waste disposal costs.   

Doubling Production and Raising OEE at Cloverdale Foods

When managers at Cloverdale Foods in Mandan, ND, brought Redzone into the facility, they set a stretch goal to increase overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). It wasn’t long before Foreman Christian Terreforte-Rivera stepped up to the challenge.Photo: ©QAD Redzone

Rivera took the lead on learning Redzone and got his team on board. Meticulous by nature, he used Redzone to document his daily equipment and supply checks, making sure the product was at the optimal temperature for production. He then used the data in Redzone to make adjustments along the way and ensure production went smoothly. 

Using Redzone, Rivera helped the team increase bacon production from less than 300,000 pounds to over 600,000 pounds weekly. A few months after they launched Redzone, the company managed to achieve a 7% increase in OEE and has hit it consistently ever since. This is a true testament to the power of technology and optimized processes can have on operations without significant investments in new infrastructure.

Increased Maintenance Efficiency at Dot’s Pretzels

Leveraging technology doesn’t have to be reserved for the tech-savvy only. Jessica Hernandez joined Dot’s Pretzels’ Lenexa facility in Kansas with no prior manufacturing or technology experience. However, it didn’t take Hernandez long to master Redzone and address one of the business’s most pressing challenges: preventative maintenance. 

She got rid of the old paper system and used Redzone to create a maintenance forum that everyone could access. She also developed 175 preventative maintenance tasks which simplified the workflow and improved performance. Automating these important maintenance tasks in Redzone also made the process faster, which further improved team morale. 

Finally, Hernandez enhanced team productivity by sitting down with each employee to identify their strengths and weaknesses and tailor the training accordingly. As Training Lead, she created 60 training documents and 120 instructional plays on how to perform daily activities. Her efforts contributed to a 12% increase in overall efficiency which had a massive ripple effect on business performance. 

Enhancing Employee Value with Technology

Frontline employees know the manufacturing floor inside and out. They’re oftentimes an untapped resource that knows all the strengths and weaknesses of the manufacturing process. Empowered with the right tools, they can be powerful drivers for change and help food manufacturers navigate economic and organizational uncertainty with confidence.

Book a demo of Redzone’s #1 Connected Workforce Solution to see how you can increase productivity, cut costs, and build a resilient and competitive manufacturing powerhouse.