Welcome to Season 16 of the Troubleshooting Innovation podcast. We’re spending this season with Dale Easdon, president and CEO of Klosterman Baking Co., to discover how this leader is carrying a legacy name into the industry’s future. Sponsored by Bundy Baking Solutions.
In Episode 3, Dale explores the key tenets of operational excellence in bakery manufacturing.
Learn more about this season here, and tune into Troubleshooting Innovation on Apple or Spotify.
Joanie Spencer: So, this is a really good episode, because it’s going to be of interest to our readers, and something where you have a lot of experience. So, I’m excited to dive into this with you. You have a very strong reputation as a leader, which we’ve discovered in the past two episodes, but you’re also known for your operational focus. I’ve noticed that you use words like operational excellence, of course, operational compliance, best in class, world-class processes. How do you personally translate these from concept into practice or into action?
Dale Easdon: Yeah, there’s been a lot of different buzzwords used over the years, and a lot of different phases. And one of the big, the larger transformations that’s happened over the past 20 years is a stronger focus on Lean Manufacturing. And you’ll hear a lot of, you know, around Six Sigma, and Six Sigma is, it’s an excellent tool, strong data analytics that help you steer the ship and get into root cause.
But I tried to keep it a little simpler, more following the Lean principles. And I had the pleasure of spending time with Porsche in Germany. When I was at Lufthansa, we worked with a Porsche consultant, so I went to the Porsche Academy to take automotive principles into food manufacturing. And at that time, it was putting meals on aircrafts. And the way that automotive thinks about it, and to how we think about in the food industry. And then when you take it into the baking industry, there’s very similar correlations as you do that. Of course, the big difference is, when you’ve got a conveyor belt in Porsche and a car coming off every five minutes, and the average selling price is 100,000 euros, then it’s a little bit different focus than the average selling price of, you know, 10 cents per bun. So, you’ve just got to make sure that you keep it grounded.
One of the first things we do, and I’ve always done, and we did it here as well, is DISC profiling. So, we put all of our leaders through a DISC profile. And I don’t know if you’ve experienced taking a DISC profile, but it takes 25 minutes. It’s a very, very simple tool. But what it actually starts to do is it breaks the group into what we call a wheel, and it’s a disc wheel, D, I S and C. So D is dominance. You know, we all know those leaders. And just, just to be transparent, I’m D and I so I’m right down the middle of D and I. D is that we are going to remove barriers and get things done. Just don’t get in the way they’re going to take care of it. Sometimes, if I get to the end of the journey, not look back to see whether anybody made it with them or they just got it done. So, we started to look at the D’s, and you do need them in the group. Because, as you know, when you’re trying to get task orientated, D’s tend to really run in with it and say, ‘I’ll take this.’ And then I for influence and in general, really good communicators. And you really need to make sure you get the right people on the wheel. And then steadiness for S, and then really, those are typically strong team players. Result-orientated to get things done. And then there’s conscientious, and they really are the ones that are information specialists.
So, the reason I explain it is I want to make sure that the wheel has enough leaders in all of those areas, and we identify quickly the gaps. And then as we start recruiting new subject matter expertise, if we find, for example, that we’ve got a gap, we will then ask a recruiter — and we typically use a group out of London — to help us with it. But to basically help recruit and see if you can find individuals with these, these strengths, so that we build up the whole team. So, that’s kind of step one.
Step two for us, then, is what we call ‘Clean, Clear and Organized,’ and basically back to basics and get everything clean and organized. We start with the offices, the break rooms, then we work our way down to the floor, get all the hallways cleared, etc.
So, there’s a strong correlation to Clean, Clear and Organized, visual management, and reduction in injuries. Because obviously it becomes a safer process when you’re not storing surplus equipment. So, it’s a real simple back to basics transformation. And by the end of year one, we’re starting to develop some really strong KPIs. And then, we’re teaching the leadership KPI management. And a lot of our leaders, especially in the baking industry, the main indicator for them is fulfillment. Just, you know, ‘Let’s get the product out to the customer.’ But nobody’s actually popping in to say, ‘Are we getting it out at the right price and the right margin? And what is our fulfillment? What is our wastage?’ Is more of a celebration of just fulfillment.
That transformation for us is very, very important. And then, of course, we build a vision, which we call the House of Excellence. And the House of Excellence is, we share that across the whole company. So we can imagine, if you look at the visual of a house, you cannot build a house without a very strong foundation.
So, in a three-year vision and a three-year strategy, the foundation, the very first brick that we call it, is values and culture. What do we stand for around here? What are our values? What’s our culture? And you know that that becomes very important. We talk about how we treat each other, dignity, respect and making sure that’s there. The second brick on that foundation is high performance, leadership and really making sure that leaders know what they’re responsible and accountable for as we start that training. Food safety and compliance is the next layer. And then for us, is preventative maintenance and sanitation excellence. So that’s the foundation.
And we say, if we’ve got that right, we can start to build the house. And then we have the pillars, so we have our Lean Six Sigma principles. Second pillar is demand planning and labor materials. Third is customer fulfillment, which is very important to us. And then the fourth, which is project execution. So, really, really good project management, and 90 day increments. And then on top of that in what we call the House of Excellence, is really our brand protection becomes the roof. So that’s, that’s where we started. And I start that way everywhere I go. And then everybody starts to understand the foundation, the principles and the pillars. And then I teach — and we teach — around that, so that we’re bringing the leadership up.
So, it’s a bit of a long answer, but there is a science behind that as we start to do it, especially in year one, which we call Back to Basics. And then year two, Raise the Bar. And then year three, where we are now, is Best in class.
Spencer: Okay, and so you’re in year three right now. Do you feel like you’re on track?
Easdon: We are on track in some areas. We’re ahead in others, further ahead than I anticipated, and some were a little slower. And that’s common, you know, we always set a three-year journey.
A lot of larger corporate organizations will typically do a five-year strategy. But we are also, you know, we are owned by private equity. So, there is a, there’s a large ROI expectation in what we do, so we typically focus on a three-year journey. And I would say overall, we’re about 90% there in the first three years, we’re now starting to work on what’s the next three years look like.
In year one, we’ve gone from 130-year, four-generation family company to private equity. So that transformation is, it can be challenging. Now, if you look back after three years, all of our team are really comfortable around the private equity expectations and the partnership, and we have a great team that we work with. But yes, it’s, it’s generally about three years.
So in most news, we’re ahead. The one that I’d like to see — two areas, actually — I’d like to see more speed. One is rolling out our ERP system, which we are rolling out, but there’s just a certain pace that we follow. We also have a system that we launched at the same time called Shop Logic. So, when you walk on our manufacturing floor, we have screens that are almost a traffic light system that are telling us that we’re on schedule, ahead of schedule, behind schedule. So, these are really strong IT tools where we use iPads for tracking and you get a live feed.
So, between that and ERP, you’ve just got to be careful you don’t overwhelm the business. So, I deliberately slowed that down a little bit. So, ERP, we started in warehouse, logistics, goods in and scanning. Phase two, which we’ve started now, is production logistics. And then phase three will be shipping and reconciliation of the shipping, and then that will tie the system together. And then behind the scenes, our AP and AR and collectible is all now done on the new system.
So, where I’m going with this is, you’ve just got to make sure you can pace the business and not have project overload. Then you tart to lose some good team members. So, I’ve deliberately slowed down some areas; I mentioned one in one of the other episodes. We’re a little bit slower getting the new equipment that we need. That’s a little frustrating for me, but that’s just a cycle time; that’s not anything we can control. But I believe some bigger benefits to be had once we get the new economy.
Spencer: Klosterman is sort of in a very unique spot. Like, what you said, you went in the first year, you went from being a 130-year-old, family-owned company to private equity, and that is such a really stark transition. So, I think it’s really interesting that you were able to recognize the pace of change that you need to go so as not to overwhelm everyone, like, ‘Everyone we’re going to do everything right now! And now, here’s the ERP.’ So, I think that that’s really worth noting, that a leader has to know, when they come into this environment, that the bakery is the same, but the environment has drastically changed — to know which area you want at which speed that you’re going to change — so as not to overload everybody. I think that’s really important.
Easdon: Yeah, and at the same time we, we have a business to run, you know. We’ve got fulfillment, we’ve got customer demand. So going through the change of, the change management side, you have to make sure that what you’re actually doing that not only can the customer see the benefit, but the employees can see the need for doing this.
So, we’re just, we’ve just got to stay close. Well, the other aspect to it is I have a very clear expectation of all my leadership, and I mean from the top, and myself, that we spend 70% of our time in the business, and 30% are meetings or weekly sessions, strategic sessions, emails, all that, all that good stuff. But typically, my expectation is 70% of time.
So. our general manager will be in the bakery 70% of the time. Our senior leaders will be the same. We’re in the business, and that’s very, very important that we lead from the front, we don’t orchestrate from the office.
Spencer: I like that. I like that a lot. I’m a big believer in servant leadership, so I appreciate that.
So, could you share with me, maybe some examples of operational efficiencies that have been incorporated and maybe, like, what are some of the specific KPIs that you’ve been able to achieve?
Easdon: Let’s do one that I’ve found to be pretty amazing when I walked in. So we have what we call a hog feed, and it’s common in the industry. So you know, the mix goes wrong, or the yeast isn’t right, or a packaging error, or whatever that is. That product is donated then to hog feed. And when we started looking at the hog feed as total waste, it becomes a real eye opener that the team can start to see.
My goodness, when you put a dollar per pound or dollar per ton, because it’s significant quantities. Now, the positive is, it’s not going to landfill, it’s going to animal feed. So, for me, you know, that’s a wonderful thing; at least it’s consumed. But I tell my team and advise my team, ‘We’re not in the business of feeding hogs. We’re in the business of making great bread, buns and donuts.’
So, one of the big initiatives that we rolled out across the whole company is what we call ‘Project Skinny Pig.’ That’s an internal KPI our leaders actually measure against. So, Project Skinny Pig — we joke about it that saying — you know, if you’re eating some bacon in the Ohio area and think, There’s not much fat on this bacon. What’s going on?’ It’s the fact that we’re not feeding them. So that was the name we come up with, Project Skinny Pig. And what I can tell you is, from starting that, which was year one, in 12 months, we went [from] 140 tons down to 70 tons of total hog feed for the company, just by focusing on it, and then focusing on, ‘What are the root causes of this waste? Where is it coming from? Is it mix? Is it sanitation, etc.?’
So, then we peel back one further layer, and then we start to set more aggressive goals. One of the great things is there’s a huge ROI on this financially, either on higher fulfillment or less inventory used in the warehouse. And we actually said to all the operating leaders that if you hit 50 tons, everybody gets a $50 check. ‘Fifty dollar check, say, ‘Well, it’s only a $50 check.’ But when you get everybody focused on it, to get the check.
And the one of the books we were talking about, which I was speaking about, is Gordon Bethune from Continental; I go back to him often because he was just a great leader, and I had the pleasure of working with him. When you actually read the book and see that the indicators that the airline was measured on, the top 10 airlines in US, when Gordon came in, we were either number nine or number 10: worst in all airlines. So, if we were first, second or third, you got $100 check. And when 40,000 people get focused on a $100 check, the dollar number becomes irrelevant. It’s the fact you just want to win.
So now we are really looking at every indicator that creates hog feed. And the company that actually picks up the hog feed for us, they actually track the data, and they were coming in to find out what’s going on because they’re seeing a significant drop as we go forward. So that’s just one example, and we now know we’ve got a lot more skinny pigs, which is wonderful because I’m now not feeding the hogs.
The other one we focus on is pounds per man hour over time. All of our indicators in year one would have improved, on average, by 25%, just every indicator by 25%. But the end of three years, when we track it, I think we’ll be closer to 30 to 35. Now, when you talk to individuals who work in the Lean space and Lean logistics, operational excellence, transformation, they will tell you everything you measure you can expect to reduce by 30%. So, if you’re a true believer, it’s roughly 30%, and we’re seeing that in all of our KPIs. We’ve obviously seen it in our EBITDA because it’s a positive flowthrough; our EBITDA is significantly higher, percentage-wise, than it was when we started. Our waste is down dramatically. Our inventory terms in the warehouse, material control, is down in the low twelves and 13. So we’re turning our inventory really, really fast.
So instead of buying just-in-case, we truly are buying just-in-time. And that’s the type of transformation. But one of the keys is giving very accurate, simple data analytics so we can track it. Some of the reports that we’ve developed on Power BI are just remarkable. I mean our data analytics. I mean we can see our overtime, by leader, by time of day, by shift, by department. We can do the same with hog feed by shift, by line, by department, by leader.
So, then we can actually drill in and actually have a chat with the leader, maybe on the night shift in one of the bakeries, on the bun line, and say, ‘What’s the problem, what’s the challenge?’ And we find out that the night shift has the least seniority of employee time in the business because when we start new employees, we put them on nights. Well, now that we were trying to deal and work with the same expectations, with less senior employees, so then we start to change that and put more seniority. And then all of a sudden, you see the correlation. So, a lot of sleeves up and data, but we’re very, very pleased, and we’re definitely ahead of schedule.
Spencer: So, okay, well, first of all, it’s very clear why New Water Capital brought you in to lead. You’ve got some, some pretty excellent processes that you have in place, that you’re executing at a very high level. These kinds of things always fascinate me. I’m just always so fascinated by leaders who can keep a pulse on multiple teams across multiple locations and bring everybody together for executing on one goal. So, what would you say are the key factors in maintaining that, especially when you commute via jet — via commercial jet — you have to take a flight to get to work every week. What are the key factors in maintaining all of these, these excellent foundational and operational philosophies and processes that you have?
Easdon: That’s a really good question. I do sound like a jet-setter, don’t I? I’ve been asking for a private jet, and they keep saying no, so we’ll see.
But, so the first thing is, be careful what you measure. A lot of companies go into KPI management and think, ‘Oh, we need to get 20 KPIs.’ Just don’t overwhelm everyone. So really, I’m tracking between five and seven KPIs. Maximum I would look at is 10. You’re just going to get data overload.
And generally, the top five have flown all the way through the business. So basically, what I look at is the same data the general manager looks at, which is the same data the production manager looks at, and the supervisor looks at, and we share that data. We have war rooms in every one of our bakeries where you basically go in and brainstorm and communicate. You know, we still have our challenges. We still have, you know, sometimes we move off the rail a little bit. We have to get back on track.
But I share this story: I was teaching for the Lean Institute, and I went to Edmonton, Canada. Edmonton Canada to present, and I was the key speaker after lunch, which you never want that time slot. You know, everybody wants a nap. But I normally, I would just fly in, do my presentation, a little bit of networking, and then I’d leave. But I got there early, and I went and I actually listened to a key speaker before me. And this, this individual was incredible. I’m showing my age now, but I know in Texas There’s a very famous oil fire fighter, Red Adair. And Red Adair would basically go in and put out oil wells that were on fire. Well, this individual who was presenting was similar, but for forest fires.
So, he was presenting, and I’m thinking, ‘Why is the guy presenting at the Lean Institute who puts out forest fires?’ And I think, ‘This has got to be fascinating.’ And what he was explaining was the principles of how you put out a forest fire. Basically, he was saying that 40% of the team are dropping powder on the fire. They’ve got the hoses. They’re trying to put the fire out. But the remaining, highest percentage of the team get five to 10 miles ahead of the fire, and they get diggers and clear everything in its way. And if the wind direction doesn’t change, they actually stop the fire. So, they’ll keep fighting it, and then eventually it will reach an area where there’s no food, and the fire will start to go out.
And he said if you correlate that into business, you will have individuals who really, really thrive.
You know, there’s an old book by Tom Peters called Thriving in Chaos, and it’s a really good read. And there are leaders who will just keep holding the hose and fighting the fire.
So, the key for me is getting 30% of the team, maybe 40%, holding the hose whilst we’re doing all the transformation. And then get the 60% focus on corrective action, corrective projects, which I was talking about, Rocks, 90-day Rocks that improve the business. So eventually, those individuals will get out of the firefighting mode and get into a more professional, constantly performing business. And the reason I share that story is that’s one of the key components for me, is I find in this industry, we love to make bread. And we’ll have a hard day in the heat, and we’ll go home and say, ‘Wow, that was tough.’ And we’ll come back and do it again tomorrow. So, I just try to make sure there’s a balance of frontline leadership driving the business, and then a good percentage of the leadership by bakery fixing the business. And then eventually they’ll meet, and then we’ll get a better quality of life.
And I think that’s been one of the big transformations, is, let’s make sure we don’t all pick up the hose. Let’s make sure some of us get ahead of the fire and then actually put some processes in. And that was year one. By now, year two, again, we have our challenges, but year two, we’re a lot more focused on corrective action and root cause analysis and putting in process changes.
Spencer: That’s so smart. That’s so smart. Okay, I want to go back for just a second to Project Skinny Pig, which I award the greatest project name of all time. But it’s very interesting, because I’m gonna, I want to tie this into environmental efficiency. Because a lot of food manufacturing, sending the waste to feed is an environmental practice because they’re keeping it out of the landfill, right? It seems like you have sort of a ‘what’s the next step’ mindset, and that kind of goes along with what you were just talking about with the frontline leadership. So, I would just be interested if there are any other specific views on environmental efficiency, in terms of what role it plays in an operation.
Easdon: You know, I come from the UK, so we’re a very small country, so zero to landfill for us is such a big initiative. Your carbon footprint is obviously a large initiative. And I know it’s gaining traction in the US, but it’s just such a large country, not everybody focuses on it. But we, we definitely are.
We were really starting to step up as well on what I’d call our environmental footprint, or carbon footprint, how we’re bundling through electricity, how we’re utilizing water recycling, etc. So, that work, we’ve got an amazing leader that we brought in, Elizabeth, who is really driving our environmental — not only environmental — but she’s got compliance safety, workplace safety, sanitation and environmental, all the stuff that we’re doing there. And she’s really making sure that the team are being educated on that and then working on those principles.
So, I’m not where I want to be with that yet, but it’s coming. So, for example, I want to really start to drive in recycling. I’ve been in a couple of companies where we started recycling plastics and cardboard. And if you can actually bail that cardboard and recycle it correctly, you actually, you know, there’s an index you can — I’ve not checked into some time — but it’s somewhere around $30 a ton. And in my last company, we created a charity where all the cash that came in from the cardboard, the recycling, goes into what we call We Care, the charity for the employees who have a tough time. God forbid, the house floods and they need new carpets, we can give them a check for $5,000. So, I want to utilize that recycling to fund an employee charity so we can give back. Because for us, we’re sending that to what I’m calling landfill. So that’s on its early stages right now, because we have to set up balers, and we have to find the right area to store it and then go forward with it. So that, to me, is one area that I like to get moving a little bit faster, and it is on the radar and discussions with our head of procurement and head of environment to make sure that we can actually do that as we start to go forward. And I think we’re a little bit behind on that one just from a total environment, but it’s something that within the next 12 to 18 months, we’re going to gain a lot of traction on.
Spencer: Awesome. All right, so another thing I want to talk about that we haven’t really touched on is equipment in the operation. So, I was curious if there have been recent investments in equipment, and if so, how do you prioritize when you’re considering a capital investment like equipment?
Easdon: Yeah, our investment groups been incredible. The investment that’s been put in, we are actually over $20 million committed, and in just in a very short period of time, we’re actually, this year alone, we’ve got $16 million of CapEx on projects and equipment already committed to for 2025.
Firstly, of course, is we always look at safety, so if any of this equipment has got a breach of safety, that’s number one.
The second is what we call uptime. What is the maintenance cost to keep some of this older equipment running? You know, that’s the bigger challenge. So, we have a really good parts department across now, all of the bakeries. We’re holding the right inventory, we’re tracking our parts, we’re tracking our work orders as we start to get better preventative maintenance.
And I, you know, I tell the team that, you know, if you go and visit Edinburgh in Scotland, the average home in Scotland, in Edinburgh is 500 years old. So, yes, when you walk in the door, it’s 500 years old, but it’s been modernized.
So yes, we may have some older bakeries with some old equipment, but as long as we maintain it, then good preventative maintenance is key. So, one of the first things we did is we increased the rate of pay for engineering, and we increased the amount of engineers by bakery.
And the third was when I spoke about Project Smoke in an earlier episode where we did skew rationalization that to pressure off the equipment to do larger runs, and it allows us now to hand over one full day by piece of equipment, whether that be buns or bread or donuts, to the engineering team. So now they’ve actually got 24 hours to do good preventative maintenance. And then when the shift walks in the next morning, it’s running, it’s operating, it’s tested, and it’s going. We are upgrading our proofers. We’re on proof of number two right now; these are brand new proofers. And that proofing will be installed in September in one of the bakeries.
We put one in our other bakery just towards the end of last year. We put in a full new cooling system in one of our bakeries. We’re installing a second one in another bakery right now, which is going on. We’re putting in a high-speed bun line upgrade into one of our flagship bakeries, that’s going on. It’ll be ready by the end of the first quarter next year. Our ovens are all being upgraded with new technology. So, we’re basically, you know, again, just this year, the loan is $16 million, and that’s one of the great things about New Water Capital: They realize that we have to invest.
So yes, we’ve got some aging equipment that’s being replaced. But we’ve also got some aging equipment that inside has been rebuilt, so that gives me a high level of confidence. We’re seeing our maintenance spend coming down consistently, which is wonderful. As we invest in the equipment, we have less breakdowns, which then in turn gives us a higher customer fulfillment.
Our fulfillment right now is sitting at 99%. Yeah, our customer fulfillment so it’s high.
Spencer: Um, okay, so many years ago, I asked a baker like, when do you know when you’re still, you can still repair a piece of equipment or it’s time to replace. And this Baker told me, ‘When I have to start looking for parts on eBay, that’s when I know I have to replace it.’ And I thought that was crazy, so it’s one of my favorite questions to ask bakers. What is your sort of baseline for knowing when it’s time to replace a piece of equipment, versus update it or repair it?
Easdon: Yeah, actually, I understand that answer. I actually think it’s quite amusing, but I can understand it. It’s actually a very good answer. In one of my bakeries, I have an oven that is 40 years old. So, the manufacturer is making new ovens, but trying to get some parts, I could see why. You know, we’d go out to auctions and maybe buy an older piece of equipment just to get some parts from it. And it’s the same way, if you have a vintage car and you want to rebuild it, you have to go and buy vintage spares. So, I understand the question. I understand the answer.
There is a standard financial answer, which is, when it’s depreciated. What I can tell you, and I’ll speak for Klosterman, but I have discussed and visited other bakeries that have the same challenge. A high percentage of our equipment is long, has depreciated many, many, many years ago. Because this equipment, just if you take care of it, will run forever, almost. And the other part is it’s very expensive equipment, a high-speed bun line — from mixer, proofer, oven, conveyor system, packaging — is somewhere close to $45 million for a high speed bun line. That’s a considerable investment to make high speed buns. So you can understand why bakeries would say, ‘Well, can we go another year? Can we go another year? How long is the piece of string?’ We just keep going.
So, we can rebuild 140 years in three years. So, what we have to do is focus on all this first: What’s got the highest breakdowns, what is difficult to get parts, and what does new technology give us?
Just five weeks ago, we put in a beautiful new mixer in one of our bakeries. And this mixer is, you know, this is size of a private jet. I mean, these things are huge. And then we just had it come in from Canada. It was installed, and it’s beautiful, but it’s actually 30% more efficient than the old piece of equipment that was in its place. So that just gets the point where you just have to do a replacement factor.
But I would say, to replace all of the equipment that is needed in these older bakeries, it’s probably a five-year journey to just continually upgrade and replace. So, if we can keep the outside and just rebuild the main key components inside, which we’re doing in one of the bakeries, we’re completely refurbishing the oven and outside will still be the old shell, but if I bought a brand new one, it would look the same outside, it’d just be shinier. But inside, we’re rebuilding the jets. We’re putting in higher gas pressure, we’re putting in some new technology in the front end and the control panels. That is a refit and a rebuild, but it also gives another 10 years life. So that’s a pretty wise investment versus spending $5 million on a new oven. So, it’s expensive, and it’s an expensive industry on equipment. We’ve got a really nice replacement factor, but we also have a very good upgrade and rebuild factor, as well, over the next five years. We’re continually, continually investing in their equipment.
Spencer: So we’ve talked about training before, but I’m curious, how does training on the line come into play in terms of what you expect from your equipment manufacturers? Like, once the equipment is installed and the line’s up and running, are there expectations for training the workers who are going to be using that equipment?
Easdon: 100%. We’ve really upgraded our engineering team. And you’ll hear some companies say maintenance. I actually see maintenance as a slightly different thing. You know, maintenance is making sure that, you know, that when I put the light switch on, the light bulbs going to come on. I get the basic fundamentals.
But then there is facility engineering, right? If I was lucky enough to own a Ferrari, I wouldn’t have a Fiat dealer work on it. I would have a qualified individual with that. I’m a bigger believer, though, of if you’re going to pay and put in your equipment. Consider paying the maintenance that comes with it. So we often will say we’ll buy the mixer, but what I like to do is also buy the quarterly preventative maintenance program that can come with it. So yes, you pay a premium, but they’ll actually come in once a quarter, and they’ll obviously keep that equipment serviced and maintained. So that’s part of what we’re doing, is we do the replacements. And then the second is, as I said earlier, we’ve really made it the engineers. Probably every bakery’s about 25 to 30% more associates in that area, and they’re actually in the department, lock out, tag out, all the stuff you’d expect. But they’re really, really getting much better at the preventative maintenance and the training.
So when we put in new equipment, especially some of this larger equipment, thre’s normally about a four to six weeks installation phase. So, our chief engineers have been taught by them at that time, so that when they leave, they can hand it over, and then we can obviously make sure that we continue with a good preventative maintenance.
Spencer: Okay, all right. So, okay, I have one last question for you this week, Dale. When you go into the bakeries, when you are on the manufacturing floor, what are the top three things that you’re focused on? So, when the bakery workers know the boss is coming, they’re like, ‘We gotta make sure that one, two and three are in tip top shape because we know that’s what he’s going to be focusing on’?
Easdon: So, the first is, I will always walk the floor with the leadership and generally right down to the supervisors. And we’ll go and actually say, ‘Let’s go to see, let’s go see what’s going on together.’
And when I walk around one of our bakeries, number one: clean, clear, organized. Nothing stored in the hallways, nothing stored against the walls, nothing stored six foot above, in case it falls and slips and falls. So just clean, clear and organized. I’m looking at the sanitation. I’m looking at the safety. That’s number one.
Number two is we built podiums and workstations, and we moved everyone from the office to the floor. So, every podium, now, if you think of a podium — for me, when I think of a podium — I think of an orchestra, and someone at the podium orchestrating what’s going on. So, we have supervisors at each podium, at each functional area, and that’s the individual that our associates can go to if they need an answer.
And it it’s a morning briefing, which we have in the war rooms, and they leave, then they will have a lead associate stand at the podium. It’s always manned, always, so that we know that there’s leadership on the floor, orchestrating the department. So, I’m checking that the podiums are, they’ve actually got someone standing at the podiums orchestrating the department. So that’s the second one.
And then the third one from me is, I always get to the end of the line to check the quality of the product. I want to visually see what we’re getting ready to ship meets the standard and quality. And you know, that’s generally what I’m doing when I go onto the floor.
And then I will always have a fourth is, I’ll have a debrief with the senior leaders at the bakery level. Just any challenges. ‘Is anything you need from me? Anything we can do better?’ I’ll always have those discussions, and we’ll then have a review on their KPIs and making sure that they’re hitting their indicators. That’s a typical journey for me as I go on onto the floor.
And I smile because we have a lot of our leadership who like to get covered in flour. So you know, you go out there, everybody loves to be in the middle of it, but it’s making sure they’re also orchestrating, which is very important.
Spencer: I love it. And that’s really a very clear way that a bakery can achieve operational excellence. Like that’s a really good formula for anyone who is running a bakery at the plant level, those are three really important things to make sure they’re constantly and consistently thinking about.
So, I think that’s a wonderful note to end on. You mentioned at the very beginning, foundationally, that culture is at the foundation for good manufacturing pillars. So next week, we’re going to dive into culture, and it’s another area that you’re really well known for, so I’m very excited to dive into that with you next week. But Dale, thank you so much this week for your time and talking about operational excellence.
Easdon: Thank you, Joanie. My pleasure. Look forward to speaking to you next week.
