early morning was to tap into the expertise of our QA Team. I met with Rick Rice of Engineering and secured a drawing of the warehouse. Next, Dawn Summers, Candy Koch, Kristina Stover of QA, and myself all sat down together and completed following: • Developed a “Heat Map” of the warehouse with designations for Hot, Warm, or Cold Zones based on facility damage and associated Food Safety Risk for all contents within the structure • Confirmed contents in each location (from our inventory system) for each zone of the warehouse • Based on our heat map, inspection criteria and supporting inspection, paperwork was quickly developed for all locations and inventory. The purpose being either product protection, recovery, or destruction. Inspection teams were identified and supplies (flashlights, clipboards, markers, etc) were gathered. On the floor guidance and support was provided to our employees by the QA Team for inspection and dispositioning of ingre- dients, packaging, and finished product. By this time Jerry Lawrence. Warehouse Manager and team had worked out the logistics plan for alternative storage. The next task was to develop a robust plan for Witnessed Destruction. This effort was supported by Jeff Friday, QA Compliance Manager, Dawn Summers, QA Lab Systems Manager and our IT Department and they did a great job. There were many long days that followed the tornado but even so, the commitment and energy level demonstrated by our employees was incredible. Regarding both human and food safety, everyone was on the same page. Every one of our employees did an outstanding job and I’m both apprecia- tive and proud to have worked beside them. Jerry Lawrence, Warehouse Manager : Once it all happened, I was amazed by all the things I DIDN’T have to worry about because the whole plant jumped in and did what was needed. This allowed me and my warehouse staff to do what we needed to do. I was also inspired by the trucking companies and any other service or suppliers we needed. The trucking companies had trucks, trailers and anything else we needed right there for us. I want to say this is not about me – it is about these guys in the warehouse who have been working long days ever since the tornado. They came in every morning to a full warehouse with 50 trucks on the receiving schedule, but we are getting it done. There are times you are not sure if you are doing the right thing; I was not always sure if I was doing what they wanted me to do because I was being pulled 15 different directions. There was a time when I won- dered if I pushed my drivers too hard. We have a great crew out here. They always came through for Crest Foods. When Ben Kinn was made the Floor Manager, he was the right choice. When I was dealing with the tornado dam- age, Ben ran the daily stuff in the warehouse and did a great job with that. There were a lot of good choices made with all the management changes in Brian Schafer, Steve Zera, Elton Turner and everyone else. It all just fell into place and it still is. Several times there were things that happened – you are trying to look out for the best interest of the company - but the most inspirational part were times when Jeff, Mike, Steve, Erika Meiners and all the other Meiners made them- selves visible to people. A few nights they kicked me out of there and told me to go home - they were going to take care of it. My warehouse people have even commented about it - that seeing the Meiners coming in and work- ing here was inspirational. The Meiners were our cheerleaders. Seeing the employees as a whole and all the depart- ments being willing to step up to help while they were under duress too. Employees from other departments are still stepping up and coming out here to help us get back in order and there is no way to say how much that is ap- preciated. Ben Kinn, Warehouse Floor Manager: The night of the tornado I received a call from Ray Van Drew that a tornado had hit and part of a wall came down. I was there by 7:30 that night, and when I pulled up I could see the docks were damaged and that it was more than part of the wall had come down - the west side was gone but I could not see the full scope of the damage until I walked inside and saw the roof missing.
16 Crest Ink October, November & December 2015
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