Type
of Work: Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc. (SFF), headquartered in Monticello, MN, manufactures value-added egg-based food products primarily for the food service industry. SFF produces over 160 products and has more than 2,000 customers, including quick service restaurants, schools, health care organizations, and the military. Products are produced under the Sunny Fresh label and under private labels for food service and retail marketers. Products include cholesterol-free and fat-free egg products, pre-cooked frozen and refrigerated entrees, pre-cooked frozen scrambled and diced eggs, refrigerated and frozen liquid pasteurized eggs and scrambled egg mixes, and peeled hard-cooked eggs. SFF received a Baldrige Award in 1999 in the small business category. SFF is a subsidiary of Cargill, Incorporated.
Web site: http://www.sunnyfreshfoods.com/
Workforce:
620 employees (called stakeholders)
Location: Monticello, MN (headquarters, and plant), Big Lake, MN (Plant), Lake Odessa, MI (Plant), Mason City, IA (Plant), Panora, IA (Plant)
Highlights
- Since receiving
the Baldrige Award in 1999, SFF revenues are up 93 percent.
- In the past
four years, SFF's market share has increased, while all other competitors'
share of the market has decreased by more than 10 percent.
- Since being
acquired by Cargill in 1985, SFF has never had a product recall caused
by food safety failures. The company conducts training on safe
practices and procedures, personal and food safety, and in hazardous
materials handling in conjunction with local fire departments.
- Believing that
"what gets measured, gets better," SFF uses a balanced scorecard
approach to track and measure performance in Six Key Business Drivers.
Each business driver has several key indicators that provide alignment
of performance objectives and measures throughout all levels of the
organization and provides focus on actions and behaviors needed to
achieve high performance.
- SFF evaluates
the performance of its senior leaders both formally, through the Performance
Management Process (PMP) process and the Stakeholder (employee) Survey,
and informally, through the sharing of business performance results.
Quality and
Performance Results
- SFF's On Time
Delivery has improved from 98.1 percent in 2001 to 99.8 percent in 2005.
SFF performs above the comparative benchmark levels of other Baldrige
Award recipient levels for On Time Delivery performance from 2001 through
2004.
- The length of
time to resolve a customer's complaint has declined from 2.8 days in
1997 to 0.8 days in 2005. In 2001, Satisfaction with Technical Services/Resolution
was at 92 percent, and from 2002 through 2005 the results have remained
at 100 percent levels.
- From 2001 to 2005,
sales per employee and profit per employee have increased by 19 percent.
- Product rejections
for SFF at all four plants have continuously declined. Reducing
rework can provide significant productivity improvements: SFF's
rework reduction percentage was measured at 15 percent from 2001 to
2002, 61 percent from 2002 to 2003, and 75 percent from 2003 to 2004.
- From 2001 to
2004, more than 90 percent of employees answered "yes" to
the following questions: "I understand the goals of Sunny Fresh;"
"I understand how my job affects the customer" and "My
managers demonstrate and communicate focus on the customer."
This far exceeds the national Hewitt engagement database of 82.5 percent,
and is comparable to levels at several Baldrige Award recipients. (Hewitt
Associates is a global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm.)
Processes
- SFF has well-defined
and deployed longer-term and shorter-term planning processes that are
well understood by all of SFF's stakeholders. The annual Operating
Plan and aligned key indicators and key results areas help drive action
toward achieving its Core Purpose, to be the supplier of choice to SFF's
worldwide customers.
- All SFF stakeholders
are focused on both food product and personal safety. From orientation
to monthly department meetings to yearly Winter Safety Parties, safety
is emphasized and safe work is recognized and rewarded. Safety
program results are realized in low injury frequency rates, from 15
in 2000 to about 6.8 in 2004, and reduced workers compensation costs,
and milestones such as 14 years at the Panora facility and five years
at the Lake Odessa facility with no lost-time accidents.
- SFF's Sales'
Targeting and Value Creation Process links strategic analysis of customer
and market information and alignment with the organization's Core Values,
competencies, and Value Drivers to determine sales approaches and relationship
building methods with customers. These customer processes and varying
listening and learning methods, integrated with the New Product Development
and New Service Development Processes help SFF deliver value-added products
and services to customers. With several key customers, SFF uses
refined approaches in developing and deploying strategic partnerships,
leading to growth opportunities and preferred or sole supplier status.
- SFF uses systematic
and innovative approaches in addressing its work systems, employee learning
and development, and employee well-being and satisfaction. These include
a "ramp-in" schedule that limits the number of on-line hours
daily for new production stakeholders to condition muscles and reduce
injuries; a three-week program that partners new stakeholders with a
high-performing, experienced "buddy"; and a system where production
stakeholders rotate stations every 20 minutes.
- SFF is committed
to quality management leader Philip Crosby's "Four Absolutes of
Quality": Quality is defined as Conformance to Customer's
Requirements; The System for Improving Quality is Prevention; The Performance
Standard—Zero Defects; and The Measurement of Quality is the Price
of Non-conformance.
- Multiple preventative
and corrective action steps, numerous in-process checks, and use of
statistical process control methods help SFF achieve better performance,
reduce variability, improve products and services, and keep processes
current with business needs and directions.
Leadership/Social
Responsibility
- SFF's focus on
stakeholders, customers, and safety has allowed the organization to
experience rapid and continuing growth over the past decade while instilling
an atmosphere of pride and high performance. The Management Committee
and Business Leadership Team help bring SFF's Mission, Core Purpose,
and Core Values to life via ethical role modeling of behaviors.
Leaders are visible throughout the organization. An open door/open
floor atmosphere promotes two-way communication of expectations and
concerns between leaders at all levels and stakeholders.
- SFF senior management addresses the current and potential impacts on society of its products, services, facilities, and operations through the Strategic Planning Process and during Management Committee meetings. Key practices, such as reducing environmental impact, operating ethically, and measures and targets, are established and incorporated into the organization.
- SFF's
Management Committee allocates funding for SFF awareness teams, made
up of stakeholders at each facility, to organize activities and manage
SFF's charitable contributions to support and strengthen their local
communities. Examples of activities include Adopt-a-Highway, collections
for Toys for Tots, and fund-raisers for youth groups. SFF stakeholders
are involved in over 160 local organizations as members, contributors,
and volunteers.
- SFF's corporate
charitable giving in 2005 is slightly above the benchmark "Keystone
Club," which recognizes corporate support for communities, of 2
percent of before-tax profit. Furthermore, employee giving has
increased from $485 per employee in 2001 to over $700 per employee in
2004.
Back
to News ReleaseBaldrige Homepage
Created: 11/22/05
Updated:
April 2, 2007
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov
|
