A Plant With A Vision
Outlook - December 1994 - By Eric Senne
Indiana U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (second from right) congratulates representatives of Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., on winning the 1993 United States Productivity Award for Indiana. (From left to right Joe Douglas, Hill's vice president of Operations; Marc Swartz, Hill's facility director; Bob Wheeler, Hill's president; and Stu Hulke, director, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Technology, Oral Personal-care Products, Colgate-Palmolive, accept the award for the plant. Summary: Teamwork and quality are all part of the vision at Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., in Richmond, Indiana, this year's recipient of the U.S. Senate Productivity Award.
A Dr. Seuss book titled Oh, The Places You'll Go! rests in the front lobby of the Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., plant in Richmond, Indiana. On one level, the book tells the story of one character's high hopes and dreams, knowledge and experience, dedication and fortitude. On another level, the book tells the story of how Hill's Pet Nutrition in Richmond became the recipient of the 1993 United States Senate Productivity Award for Indiana.
"The facility in which we are standing was designed from scratch to employ radically different manufacturing processes in order to achieve new levels of productivity gains," said Hill's Richmond Facility Director Marc Swartz when accepting the productivity award for the plant this past November 4, 1994.
The radically different manufacturing processes include: participative work teams' management by guiding principles, innovative inventory control, and process innovations to achieve near-pharmaceutical ingredient precision.
Oh, the Places They've Been
Construction on the 200,000-square foot pet-food manufacturing plant in Richmond began in 1989 and continued until the plant became operational in June 1991. The Richmond facility, the fourth Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., plant in the United States, came to Richmond at a time when industrial losses in the community were the norm. However, the Hill's plant showed consistent productivity gains and cost reductions.
"The impact of the Hill ts plant has been very positive," says Jerry Easley, president and CEO of the Richmond-Wayne County Chamber of Commerce. "Since their arrival here in 199 I, we've had a real turnaround in industry. Hill's has had a lot to do with our community feeling better about itself."
The start-from-scratch plant was part of a Colgate-Palmolive corporate strategy to re-engineer their entire manufacturing and distribution system to capture and maintain a large segment of the pet-food market. The Hill's plant in Richmond began with participative work teams in place. Also, leading-edge, computer-controlled manufacturing processes and operation standards upgraded product ingredient precision and plant sanitation to human food standards. Therefore, commitment to employees, quality, and safety were built-in features at the Hill's plant instead of add-on features.
"You have not inherited a well-established business from the l 920s," said U.S. Senator Richard Lugar as he presented the 1993 U.S. Senate Productivity Award to Hill's. "You have created one in l991."
Participative Work Teams
Since day one, Easley said the Richmond plant has served as a community model for innovative workforce development. The plant's empowered, participative-work teams are responsible for all aspects of the business. Hill's believes the people have become a catalyst for the award-winning levels of productivity in the plant.
"For this month (November), Hill's team members have once again exceeded their productivity goals without sacrificing product quality or worker safety," said Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., President Bob Wheeler at the Senate Productivity Awards ceremony.
Team members/technicians are multiskilled and perform a variety of functions, including production, maintenance, quality, sanitation, and training. Technicians are guided by team leaders, instead of traditional managers.
"Trouble shooter, mentor, coach, or teacher," says Operations Team Leader Terrence Magee, describing his diverse leadership role with the plant. "On the line, team members can look to me whenever they need something. Whether that need is maintenance or information or more people, members can count on us to make the team as effective as possible."
Team effectiveness is crucial to Hill's high productivity, so the screening process for new team members is intense. 10,000 applicants were reviewed for approximately 200 positions at the plant. Each new employee not only is given the technical training for the job, but also training in teamwork and communications skills. And once an employee has joined the Hill's team, he or she tends to stay. In 1993, the employee-turnover rate was .26 percent and the absenteeism rate was 1.4 percent.
Magee joined the Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., team in early October after spending thirteen years with a brewing company in California. Magee says he has already noticed a difference in the atmosphere at the Hill's plant.
"Here, people are willing to pitch in and help out," he says. "There is a greater sense of oneness and family at the plant. We're all working toward a common goal: to be an industry leader producing the highest quality pet food twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week."
The Vision
Magee referred to the common goal as the Hill's Pet Nutrition "vision." The vision is part of Hill's pledge to manage by guiding principles instead of rules. For example, employees are asked to "share in the vision" of the company.
Under the broad framework of the vision, employees are asked to understand and believe in the objectives of the company, participate in setting objectives, consider the objectives important, consider themselves important, and be energized, recognized, valued, and rewarded.
"The vision is not some kind of big, mystical, lofty goal that no one understands," says Operations Team Leader Carl Lopez. "We have a real sharedresponsibility work system where everyone has a coherent understanding of what the vision is and how we can achieve it."
All employees have their own vision, which is a synthesis of the corporate goals and their own personal goals. Nearly 200 "My Vision" essays are displayed on the plant's Vision Wall, a heavily traveled walkway that leads from the plant to the dining room.
Quality and Inventory Control
Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., in Richmond sends nearly 200 million pounds of dry and wet pet food out the door each year. As many as twenty-five different ingredients could go into one pound of the Hill's® Prescription Diet®, Hill's® Science Diet, and Hills® HealthBlend® brands, requiring sophisticated and highly automated ingredient control. The technology appears to keep pets and their owners satisfied with Hill's quality.
One thing the Richmond plant is missing is storage space, but it is all part of the plan. The plant stores less than two weeks worth of any one ingredient as part of its Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory-reduction program. Likewise, under Continuous Flow Manufacturing (CFM), the plant tries to match actual production capability with customer demand. The result is reduced inventory and improved manufacturing efficiency and reliability.
Oh, the Awards They've Won
The participative-work teams, guiding principles, and plant technology have created an environment in which productivity, quality, and safety are the norms. Capitalizing on marketing to a global economy, Hill's recorded more than a 25 percent gain in productivity in 1993.
In March l 994, Hill's was awarded the National Safety Council's Distinguished Achievement in Occupational Safety and Health Award of Merit for racking up more than 1 million hours without a losttime accident. According to the National Safety Council, the Award of Merit is one of the highest honors it presents to an organization.
Indiana U.S. Senator Richard Lugar recently visited the Richmond plant to award the firm the 1993 Senate Productivity Award. The award, the highest honor bestowed on business by the U.S. Senate, was established in 1982.
"The Senate Productivity Award is designed to honor those companies on the industrial firing lines who are doing a good job and ought to be recognized, perhaps to inspire others," Lugar explained.
Applications from companies nominated for the 1993 Senate Productivity Award were reviewed by a special committee of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Finalists were selected and on-site visits were conducted. A winner was then recommended to Senator Lugar. This year's other finalists, Stant Manufacturing, a Connersville auto-parts maker, and Square D Co., a Peru electronics firm, received productivity certif~cates for their increased production and cost reductions.
While presenting the award this past November 4, Senator Lugar applauded Hill's high level of productivity and the achievements of the plant, both domestically and internationally.
"Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., knows that greater production is essential to winning in the global marketplace. Contributing to making the United States the most productive and competitive country in the world, Hill's is another example of a Hoosier company that creates jobs by exporting its products," Lugar said.
Bob Wheeler, Hill's president; Stu Hulke, a representative of Colgate Palmolive; Roger Cornett, mayor of Richmond; Allen Paul, state senator; and Richard Bodiker, state representative, were on hand to celebrate the Productivity Award with the Hill's employees.
"I'd like to thank all of the Hill's employees for the opportunity they have given al1 of us to be here today," Mayor Cornett said. "This award is the result of great management, great leadership, a great community, and your efforts."
Upon accepting the award for Hill's and the community, Swartz said, "The Richmond facility has consistently met and continuously improved all operating objectives. It is the technicians and team leaders in this plant who have really brought this award home."
Oh, the Places They'll Go
One criteria for the Senate Productivity Award winner is continuous improvement. A company statement promises continuous improvement "is a way of life at Hill's."
Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., has begun a $60-million expansion of its Richmond plant. "To accommodate continued growth in our business, we will double our manufacturing capacity in 1995, adding 100 new jobs to the Richmond economy next year," Swartz says.
The company also plans to continue cultivating its global resources. Hill's currently services forty-six global markets with their specialized pet-food products. Resources also are dedicated to the continuous improvement of cycle time, asset utilization, team development, and consistently producing "the perfect order." Team productivity goals remain high.
"When the Hill's company president announced that you had exceeded your productivity goals again for the month of November, I could see the pride in each of you," Mayor Cornett said. "Every record set is a record to be broken, and I wish you the best of luck on the next one."
