Around CGC
In this issue:
Safety Achievements at Hartley, Cimarron, and XIT
Cimarron Feeders and XIT Feeders have successfully completed one and three years respectively without a lost-time accident. Hartley has also completed six and a half years of safe operation. Congratulations to everyone at Cimarron, XIT, and Hartley!
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| Safety Counts--The Team at Hartley Feeders |
CGC Recognizes National Merit Scholars
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has awarded scholarships sponsored by the ContiGroup Foundation to two high school seniors: Geoffrey
Shaw and James Tvrdy
Geoffrey, the son of Stephen Shaw, Accounting Manager at Wayne Farms in Oakwood, Georgia is interested in engineering and plans to pursue a career in electrical engineering. James, the son of Daniel Tvrdy, Training Manager at PSF in Princeton, Missouri will study Agribusiness/Management and is planning a career as a business manager. Congratulations to Steve, James, and their families.
--Susan McIntyre
The New York Corner
For more than ten years, ContiGroup New York has taken part in the American Cancer Society's Daffodil Sale to raise money to fight cancer. This year was no exception. Everyone here gave so generously that we were able to send the American Cancer Society $1,700 in collected donations (including a matching contribution from the ContiGroup Companies Foundation). These overwhelming fundraising efforts from such a small group help support, among other things, the American Cancer Society's life-saving programs.
--Robin Derin
Wayne Farms Welcomes Guy Hinton
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| Guy Hinton |
Guy Hinton has joined Wayne Farms as Vice President, Operations. He began with the company on March 1, and has responsibility for Grow-out, Feed Mill, and Plant Operations at all fresh and further processing facilities.
Guy was previously Senior Vice President of Manufacturing at the Schwan Food Company, a leading branded food and bakery products manufacturer and food service supplier. Before joining Schwan, he held various positions at the Campbell Soup Company, managing both fresh and further processing poultry operations as well as other canning and manufacturing facilities.
Overall, Guy has 30 years of progressively senior experience in the food industry. His special areas of expertise include plant operations, supply chain management, change management, comprehensive capital planning, and manufacturing engineering.
Guy says that he's very pleased to be part of Wayne Farms and ContiGroup and that he hopes to put his skills and experience to good use, especially in the area of supply chain planning. "I think there are real opportunities to improve cost and efficiency, so this is one area where I will try to put in a concentrated effort."
Looking back at his first three weeks, Guy says that he's especially pleased to see the enormous respect that people have for the company's vision and values. "Based on my experience so far, both management and employees live those values on a day-to-day basis," he says. "Everything they do from a business perspective is done with the highest standards and with great concern for the values of the organization."
Help for Hall County
At the height of this winter's flu season, Wayne Farms' Oakwood office did its part by contributing 100 surplus doses of vaccine to the local Hall County health department. The much-needed vaccines were picked up at company headquarters by the county Sheriff's office, then whisked away to the immunization clinic where local residents were waiting to receive them.
Influenza was widespread in Georgia this winter and local health clinics and doctors' offices had faced a shortage of vaccine. Since the county was required to charge residents for the shots, Wayne Farms also donated all proceeds from the sale to the local health department.
PSF Herd Health Program Nears Milestone
From PSF
Perspective --The trip has been long and the road not always smooth, but the destination is now in sight for the Depopulation/ Repopulation of farms on the west side of the Missouri operation. It is anticipated that the final PRRS-negative animals will be placed in mid-May.
"This project has taken a huge amount of planning and hard work," said Kelly Busker, Director of Livestock Operations in Missouri. "But the improved performance we're seeing in a number of key areas is evidence that it's going to be worth it."
In January 2003, at a meeting of all west side employees, the slogan "Our Future. Our Responsibility. Take Herd Health PRRSonally" was unveiled and plans for implementing the new program were discussed. Since then, sow farms on the west side have undertaken the arduous task of depopulating barns and doing extensive cleaning. This work is now nearing completion, and as the project winds down on the west side, plans are unfolding for efforts on the Missouri east side operations. The east side project will differ from what took place on the west side in that it will involve depopulating nurseries, but not entire farms.
Completing the project will stretch into 2005, but Kelly says remaining vigilant on biosecurity is an ongoing issue. "Lisa Becton (staff veterinarian) and Loris Lash (biosecurity officer) have done a good job educating people on our expectations for observing and enforcing biosecurity guidelines. It's up to everyone involved to take these issues seriously and not let our guard down as time passes."
There's good evidence that this is happening. Premium Standard Farms CEO John Meyer, during a visit to the North Missouri operation, was denied access to Scott Colby 5 because required paperwork had not arrived at the farm. After double checking, the paperwork arrived and John was allowed in for the visit. He commended the crew on their attention to biosecurity guidelines.
"The employee did the right thing by not allowing the visit," chuckled Kelly. Art Paus, Manager of Scott Colby 5, agrees. "I remind my people regularly how hard we worked. The company is making a huge investment in this program to give us healthy animals. One mistake and we could be back where we started. Nobody wants to see that happen."
Emphasis on biosecurity will be ongoing. "It's a lot work to become PRRS-negative," said Kelly. "It's also going to be a lot of work to stay that way. We're still at risk. We have to examine our procedures constantly in order to get the full payback."
--Cliff Gauldin, Premium Standard Farms
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