Baking & Snack - June 2006 - 29

Depanned bread cools on twin
spiral conveyors, which replaced
an overhead racetrack style
system and improved production
efficiency while minimizng space
requirements.
DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHIC

I was given a lot of responsibility on that
project. Matt believed in me and looked
after me. It added to my confidence, and I
think it boosted my career goals. Bob also
took a great interest in my career path."
During a lull in capital activity at IBC
and a surge in spending by Entenmann's/
Oroweat, Mr. O'Connor was recruited to
that company's Montebello plant in 1989.
"I came in as a facilities engineer," he said.
"I still had no long-term career plan to
stay in baking, but it was growing on me,"
he continued. "I needed more experience
to decide, but I knew the industry had a lot
to offer. I give a lot of credit to IBC for the
experience and lessons. It gave me a good,
sound, basic knowledge of the industry."
"Dermot came here from IBC as a young
man, hired as a project engineer," Mr. Botticella said. "In 1993, he gained additional responsibility as his experience grew. In 1996,
he earned an engineering management role
and became responsible for the Western Region of the business. Dermot is very much
a go-getter. He is passionate about business
and is progressive. He is always looking for
ways to improve, and he listens to the ideas
of others in the company."
34 / BAKING & SNACK / June 2006

What excites Mr. O'Connor about baking
is that it deals with dynamic, fresh product
with no opportunity to produce inventory,
"at least in our realm," he said. "Ours is a
fast-paced, quick-decision, exciting business. I get a kick out of it."
One of Mr. O'Connor's personal philosophies is to learn something new every day.
"I still practice this consciously," he said.
"After two and a half years at IBC, I knew
a lot, but I also knew there was still much
to learn. The Montebello plant is a complex
and complicated bakery - one of the largest facilities west of the Mississippi River.
IBC's Los Angeles plant contained two production lines, while Montebello has nine
with each adaptable to many, many products and configurations."
His desire for learning transfers to his
family as well. Married 16 years to wife Nancy, the couple has two children (Alexandra,
13, and Aidan, 9). The family enjoys traveling together. Mr. O'Connor played soccer
as a youth, and when they go to Europe
to visit family, the O'Connors always take
a trip to England to catch an English Premier League game. "Bringing the kids along
when we travel is a tremendous educational

experience for them," Mr. O'Connor said.
"They not only see and touch history but
gain an appreciation of cultural diversities
and differences around the world."
DOLING DOLLARS. The Montebello bakery is the same size it was in 1989, but in
the past decade, it has been Mr. O'Connor's
constant project to step up technology, add
new products and modernize the facility. "My most meaningful achievement was
simply to be able to participate in the process," he said. "It is extremely challenging
figuring out how to carry out such changes
without a shutdown in a facility where
space is at a premium. It has been a long,
hard, slow, tough and arduous process. We
started with concepts and ideas that then
evolved into a structured master plan."
Although IBC had more automation
at the time, they considered it normal.
"I saw the tremendous opportunity to
translate that limited experience to my
new company," he noted. Capacity issues
arose in mid-1990s that dovetailed with
the modernization plan. "Since then, we
have an aggressive program to upgrade all
Oroweat lines and plenty of capital dollars

Baking & Snack - June 2006

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