Baking & Snack - December 2006 - 36

OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

standing of the various roles the business plays within its
community, in the larger food industry and for its shareholders, according to Mr. Hayman. "And as a manager, an
important part of my role is to help others be successful,"
he said. "It's good for them, and it's good for the business. It's the right thing to do. My role, and that of other
managers, is to identify the company's goals and communicate them to others."
TEAM WORK STRATEGY. During the past decade, Vista
Bakery has become a major player in the private-label arena. Roughly 85% of the Burlington plant's output leaves
the facility under a private label. The company supplements the 360,000-sq-ft plant with another 170,000 sq
ft of outside warehouse space, and the latest addition
opened up another 55,000 sq ft of production floor.
Vista organizes its bakery and 700-member staff using a
line management focus for its work teams. In other words,
line managers and their teams have specific responsibility
for the entire process, from receiving the dough to packaging
the product. "Previously, the bakery operated as two distinct
disciplines: bakery processing and packaging," Mr. Hayman
explained. "Now, department managers are in charge of the
process, with a mixing department that considers the bakery
operation as its customer. This gives the same individuals
control over the whole process, and it makes it easier to fix
problems as they occur."
Diane Gerhardt, the sandwich department manager,
provided additional detail and said, "A few years ago, we
split sandwiching, wire-cut and saltine operations into
separate departments. Each department runs one type of
product, but packaging differs, from 6-oz to 2-lb packs.
So, the individual team's responsibility runs from the
front of the line right to the robotic palletizer."
At 10 a.m. every work day, the management team meets to go over
the previous day's results. "We
communicate what else is going on with products, QA, R&D,
maintenance - all the departments," said Jim Hartschuh, the
production coordinator. "All managers and their team members are highly
involved in this."
A big part of the team's assignment
is to "keep the focus" as Ron Pepperdine,
director of quality assurance, put it. And
that focus is aided by the deep experience
within the group. While he is relatively new
to the organization, joining Vista during the
past year, others have been on the job for many years.
Ms. Gerhardt, for example, joined Vista 20 years ago as
a packer on the line. Rick Black, the saltine department
manager, has 16 years and Mr. Hartschuh 10 years. "That

38 / BAKING & SNACK / December 2006

ᮡ Vista's Burlington, IA, bakery now operates 10 production lines, which run the
gamut from saltines and oyster crackers to wire-cut and sandwich cookies.
says something about continuity of the business," Mr.
Black observed. "We're always growing."
What the bakery went through during the past two years
made an indelible mark on its management team. "All this
put big demands on people, and most stepped up to the
plate to deliver above and beyond," Mr. Hayman said.
IN-PLANT TACTICS. Team management is backed up at
Vista by programs using straight-forward communications
tactics. "We use Visual Factory Management and 5S systems," Mr. Hayman said. "We are big proponents of these."
Visual Factory Management is a system that visually
communicates information to users. For example, the
visual boards posted around the plant track case counts,
safety figures, output by shift and other variables. Quality Index visual boards are used to post quality scored
throughout the day's production. "It makes people aware
of communications and situations," Mr. Hayman said.
(See "Assuring Quality" on Page 42.)
"The QI statistics are our scoreboard," Mr. Hartschuh
said. "And the numbers can be driven down to the
production floor."
Mr. Hayman explained that 5S originated in the Japanese auto industry. A lean manufacturing system, it organizes the plant visually for inventory and efficiency purposes. It stands for sort (remove all unneeded items), set
in order (set limits and create location indicators), shine
(clean everything), standardize (implement visual displays
and controls) and sustain (keep in place through training
and total employee involvement).
"It's simple and easy to understand, so it works for that
reason," Mr. Hayman said. "For example, we are tight on
space in this plant, and we have to organize ourselves,
our machines and our supplies. You'll see boxes painted
on the floor to designate placement of ingredients, bins,
auxiliary equipment, etc."

Baking & Snack - December 2006

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