The Crest Ink is a quarterly newsletter that celebrates the success of Crest Foods and our employees.
Crest Ink
Volume 28 • Number 04 October, November & December 2016 Ashton, IL 61006
Picnic Time at Crest Foods 2016 Year End Celebration by Cheri Kemp
Group shot of A-Shift lunch under the tent, where we just barely fit about 500 guests!
In This Issue Getting to Know Scheduling page 4 2016 Supplier of the Year page 8 Raising Money for the Benevolence Fund page 18 The picnic was held in a new place this year at our West Facility location. This proved to be a great spot to set up the very large tent and grills, and made it convenient for all 3 shifts to eat outside. We had suppliers who took the time to come for the picnic and some even lent a hand at the grills along with other Crest Foods managers. The delicious steaks, chicken and side dishes were from Headon’s in Creston and ice cream from Culvers in Dixon. No one went away hungry! We would again like to thank all employees for their hard work this past fiscal year that made this celebration pos- sible. We are looking forward to celebrating under the tent again next year! If it is hot and humid, it must be picnic time. After a one year hiatus, the Crest Foods Year End Celebration picnic was held on August 9th. This is a time for Crest Foods to reward all the hardworking employees for making the fis- cal year, which ended on July 31st, a success. Extra time is taken from the work day for each shift to have a deli- cious meal under the tent complete with door prizes, give aways from Karlin Foods and Culvers sundaes. Also recognized were the annual C.I.P. winners who were presented with a check for their prize winning suggestions (See seperate article for the list of C.I.P. winners).
Thank You to our generous suppliers:
A & B Freight Abbott Plastics
Accurate Business A-L-L Equipment AmPak Arch Vending Area Mechanical Batory Foods Bruns Construction CDW CIFII, Inc. (Food Ingredients) Covington of Illinois Cream City Scale Dayton Freight
Brandon Dodrill (left) and Zane Day (above) were door prize winners.
Abby Lahman won a bucket of goodies and a hat!
Englewood Electric Equipment Depot Food Ingredients Grainger Holland Transport Illinois Valley Container Ingredient Solutions Ingredion Jaz Industries JM Swank Lindsten Brokerage Lonza Motion Industries Olam Dairiy Ingredients P.B. Leiner Quality Transport R.K. Dixon Ryder Transportation Silva St. Charles Trading Steiner Electric Supply Works Team Eagle Packaging Twin City Energy XPO Logistics
Vickie Monsarratt won a very large toolbox at the C-Shift dinner.
Juana Knopp, Tanya Guz- man and Rosa Hernandez strike a pose while waiting in the heat for their cool ice cream treat!
Chris Mooney received a Home Depot gift card.
Mike, Steve and Jeff Meiners taking a break after gilling up lunch for A-Shift. These three helped to grill about 1000 steaks throughout the day for employees!
Eddie Escatel (left) walked away with a toaster oven, and Jesse Densmore was the winner of a TV!
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2016 CIP Annual Winners Announced!
The Crest Foods Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) successfully completed its 24th year on July 31, 2016. With 95 suggestions to choose from, the Suggestion Com- mittee had a tough task of choosing this year’s annual winners. Many suggestions have been implemented throughout the year, and some proved to be great suggestions and i- deas from our employees. Thank you to everyone who participated in the program this year! At the Year End Celebreation, we were happy to announce that this year’s Grand Prize Winner was Kenny Blomberg from the Machine Shop! His suggestion was to use a 1/2” UHMW (plastic) sheet under totes on the new NBE tipper conveyor to release drag when totes are pushed into the tipper. This suggestion was implemented as a short-term fix while we waited for the long-term fix to arrive. It turns out that we like Kenny’s sug- gestion much better, and it is still in use and keeps totes from bowing between the rollers. It was a great idea that kept our new production lines at the West Facility up and running! He received $1000.00 for his suggestion. Congratulations, and thank you!
Keith Smith, Maintenance A-Shift 1st Runner Up • $500.00
On final checkweighers cut the drive shaft in half and add a split collar to hold the shaft together. This will make it much easier to disassemble when a belt needs to be replaced and allow for it to be changed in 10-15 minutes versus taking 30 minutes or longer. This will reduce downtime and will make it more likely that these belts will be changed before a failure due to them being easier to change. Our plan for this fiscal year is for the main-
tenance department and machine shop to work together and do a trial of this concept and then working through getting other similar checkweighers modified. Denton Yocum is going to connect with Keith and thinks that we should have a prototype out in the plant by the end of October. Justin Miller, Maintenance C-Shift 2nd Runner Up • $250.00
On auger fillers we have a number of cone hoppers and agitators that cannot be paired together when we install tooling. As a result, there are times when tooling is put together and these two things are not a good fit. This ends up leading to taking the tooling back down and finding ones that match. More importantly though, if someone does not notice that they are not matching this could lead to a food safety issue if the agitator is making
contact with the cone hopper. Justin suggests taking inventory and evaluating all of our tooling for auger fillers and then labeling them so that you always know that you have a cone and agitator that match. This will save time during the set-up and possibly prevent a food safety incident. This should also help to ensure the correct agitator size which can improve weight control issues. Jared Stumpenhorst is working on identifying a resource that can go out and begin working on this suggestion. We expect for this to be able to be completed this fiscal year and will provide updates as we make progress. For most people this change will be relatively invisible but those people installing tooling it will make it very obvious whether we have the correct tooling paired together.
October, November & December 2016 Crest Ink 3
Getting to Know the Contract Packaging Scheduling Department
Morine Snodgrass, Pam Kelley, Shelley Schopp, Jenny Drew, Jon Bakener, Judy Barrett, Dave Bushman & Jeff Roop
There are eight individuals that make up the scheduling department of the contract packaging division. They are truly the aircraft controllers of the Crest Foods. Anything that comes in or goes out, other than something going to the landfill, is done so with involvement from this group. Once an extended schedule has been established, orders for customers’ finished cases are quickly broken down into orders for all the components that go into making those products from ingredients to packaging supplies. It is not unusual for over 1000 different orders to be open at any given time. The real fun part of this whole process is that our extended schedule is far from chiseled in stone, in fact it changes every day and sometimes hourly… leaving the scheduling department with the task of adjusting their incoming supplies well enough not to overfill the nearly 500,000 square feet of fully utilized storage space that is available in our warehouse. Of course, the flip side of that is they must make sure there are enough supplies here not to shut any production lines down at any time. Actual run time is supported by production related paperwork provided by the scheduling department. Once pro- duction has been completed raw materials are converted to finish product in the computer system, inventories are adjusted and customers are notified of product available to them to be shipped out to their distribution network. Upon shipment, orders are billed by the scheduling group and the process is complete.
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This group serves many masters, all of which are pretty adamant about their needs. Unfortunately for them, the needs of all their many masters are not the same. Customers need product – the warehouse needs space – produc- tion needs supplies to run – quality control needs specs to be met – allergens, kosher, gluten free and organic impact scheduling order – run sizes challenge order patterns – language barriers and time differences challenge some sourc- es of supply – some folks are just tough to work with…life ain’t easy in the control tower at Crest manned by our scheduling group. They are the people easiest to blame when we can’t run, but the reality is that they are the people that do an incred- ible juggling job every day that allows everything else to happen at Crest. Our scheduling department does a great job of keeping all the “planes in the air without running into each other”. Common sense and hard work have made this group indispensable at Crest…if you happen to see them in the hallways doing refills on coffee, give them a well deserved pat on the back.
Judy Barrett (Scheduling Clerk) Years at Crest: 29 Interests: reading & sewing Most people wouldn’t know: I am a cancer survivor. Jon Bakener (Logistics Planner) Years at Crest: 4 Interests: golf, fantasy football, binge-watching shows with my wife, Christmas Most people wouldn’t know: I once successfully high jumped my own height of 6’3”. Pam Kelley (Logistics Operations Manager) Years at Crest: 39 Interests: camping, boating & riding horses Most people wouldn’t know: We have 2 English Mastiffs that we love to show and travel all throughout the year going to dog shows. Jenny Drew (Logistics Planner) Years at Crest: 11 Interests: Watching my boys play sports (football, bas- ketball & baseball). Most people wouldn’t know: 2 of my co-workers are my aunts: Morine & Pam. Dave Bushman (Logistics Planner) Years at Crest: 27 Interests: Spending time with my kids! Also, music - I’ve been playing in bands for over 30 years. And
cheering on the Chicago Cubs & New England Patriots. Most people wouldn’t know: I lived in a van on the streets of California for about 4 months when I was 19. I had to move back home when the brakes went out and we crashed it off the side of a mountain, but that’s a whole different story! Morine Snodgrass (Scheduling Clerk) Years at Crest: 43 Interests: I like to knit, do quilting and go camping most weekends. Most people wouldn’t know: I lived in Germany for 1 and 1/2 years. Shelley Schopp (Scheduling Clerk) Years at Crest: 17 Interests: Spending time with my husband, family and friends, being on the river, relaxing by a fire, and bird watching. Most people wouldn’t know: I represented the Ash- ton Fire Department as Miss Flame in 1983. Jeff Roop (Logistics Planner) Years at Crest: 24 Interests: Spending time with grandkids, spending time with my dog Murray, referee high school basketball, Cubs & Blackhawks Most people wouldn’t know: In high school I was not called by my name (Jeff), but rather by my nick name...and I’m not telling the nickname.
October, November & December 2016 Crest Ink 5
My Ten Year Trip to Florida by Felecia Mon
(Above) Aunt Edna, Felecia, Ethan, Mychal, Kaden, Wanda and Billy. (Right) Felecia and her son, Mychal
On June 5th my family (mom Wanda, Billy, my son Mychal, and two of my nephews Ethan and Kaden and I) went to The Villages, Florida. We stayed at my great Aunt Edna and Uncle Curt’s house. You could say my aunt was our tour guide the whole time while we were there. She pretty much did all the driving. Every day after breakfast we packed our lunches and were on the road. To name off some places where we had gone, we went to Honeymoon Island Beach (first time I have ever been to a beach before). This beach was beauti- ful - white sand, sea shells and just seeing everyone having fun as a family just made it all the more enjoyable. An- other place we went to was Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. Here we got to see the largest hippo and the kids were amazed to see the alligators so close up. Then these next two places were the main event for me. It was more like a dream come true. The first place was to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. That’s when I was able to see Winter and Hope from my favorite movies A Dol- phins Tale 1 and 2. I had planned on getting a picture with Winter but she wasn’t feeling the greatest and preferred to stay away from all the excitement. We did get to see her, (Winter) just not how we wanted, but I was ok with that. Hope the dolphin was active and swimming and playing everywhere. I will admit though when I saw the dolphins I had tears in my eyes because I never thought I would be able to see one of my most favorite mammals ever. The second favorite place was going on two different dolphin cruises. Riding on a pontoon and cruising the ocean looking for and seeing the dolphins just swim was a beautiful thing. I was just in awe the whole time. This part of the trip was by far the best thing I have ever got to do in my entire life thus far. When we got home in the evenings, we either stayed home or played games, arts and crafts, or we drove around sightseeing in The Villages in golf carts. Let me tell ya, I have never in my life see so many golf carts. There are so many golf courses and a lot of the golf carts I had seen, the people had put money into them to make them look like classic cars, NASCARS or whatever they wanted. The Villages is like a bunch of small subdivisions that make up The Villages.
I will have to say I had a great time and I know my family did too. With that being said I would like to thank Crest Foods for giving me the opportunity to be able to make this trip happen!
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My Ten Year Trip by Daniel Estrella
Our trip to Puerto Vallarta was one of our favorite family vacations. We appreciate everything Crest Foods has done to have made our vacation a memo- rable one. My family and I were able to enjoy one another with family dinners, sightseeing and some- thing as simple as swimming in the ocean. We got to experience the everyday culture of one of Mexi- co’s most popular tourist location. The atmosphere throughout Puerto Vallarta was incredible. We spent most of the time in our resort which was un- believably beautiful. We stayed as the RIU Vallarta located in Nuevo Vallarta. The service, food and functions at the resort really impressed our family. The city of Puerto Vallarta has a lot to offer and it was possible with the help of Crest Foods. My fam- ily would like to thank you for assisting us with our best family vacation.
Daniel, his wife and children joined him in his 10 year trip. Pictured are daughters Betty & Susy, son Danny Jr, wife Angelica and daughter Kassandra.
Crest Mourns David Fike Eight year employee, David Fike, first shift Production, passed away in July following a brief illness. David knew his job well and did it alongside many friends here at Crest Foods. His co-workers will miss his quiet ways and talk of time spent with his children. Taking his kids fishing at old creeks or out-of- the-way parks was one of his favorite pastimes. David was an avid pro-football fan. He did not have any specific team he rooted for but enjoyed watching all pro-football games he could. Crest Foods extends their sympathy to his family, especially his 3 young children, who will mourn this loss.
In 2015, Crest Foods lost a young man much too soon. Andrew Ruiz, second shift production, was very outgo- ing and no one was a stranger once they met Andrew. After his sudden death, his family, who knew how much Andrew liked working at Crest Foods and working with his fellow employees, wanted to do something special for Crest. The bench pictured was purchased and donated to Crest Foods. We wish to thank the family for think- ing of the Crest Foods employees with the donation of this bench in Andrew’s memory and our thoughts are still with the family as they continue forward without Andrew in their lives.
The bench says: Andrew J. Ruiz Friend to All 1992 -2015
October, November & December 2016 Crest Ink 7
2016 Supplier of the Year SupplyWorks (Gary Wilhem) by Matt Richardson Crest Foods held its 27th annual Supplier of The Year Banquet on September 9th at Prairie View Golf Course. To date this is one of the biggest Supplier of the Year events with close to 90 people in attendance including vendors and Crest employees. This year Gary Whilhem with SupplyWorks was announced as the winner of the Supplier of the Year award. He supplies us with cleaning chemicals, jani- torial supplies and HVAC filters just to name a few items. Gary has been a salesman to Crest for over 20 years under 4 different company names! He started out with Total Line who then sold to Vonachen, then to AmSan and now SupplyWorks. This is just a testament to how valuable of a salesman Gary is to Crest Foods. To this day Gary continues to bring new ideas and solutions to Crest Foods. After 20 years not only can you call Gary but you can even send a text and expect a same or next day visit! Most times you don’t even have to get ahold of him because Gary will jump on an issue even before it becomes an issue.
Matt Richardson & Gary Wilhem
Gary is still very active in his hometown community of Amboy, IL. His activities include the Knights of Columbus, Amboy Park Board and Depot Days committee. Did you know Gary won this award almost exacty 6 years ago to the day under AmSan? We challenge Gary to win this award in another 6 years under a new company name! Congratulations Chuck Reynolds & Terry Anderson!
On June 28, Bench Technician Chuck Reynolds retired following a 27 year career at Crest Foods. Chuck worked in a variety of departments during his time with Crest, most recently in the Dairy Ingredient Lab. Chuck was well-known for his dependability, at- tention to detail and his love of NASCAR. He is greatly missed by his Crest Foods family, but we wish him a long and happy retirement! On July 29, District Sales Manager Terry Anderson retired following a 16 year sales career at Crest Foods. Dedicated to his company and to his customers, Terry was a knowledgeable and well-respected partner to all. He will always be a part of the Crest Foods family, and we wish him the best in his retirement!
Chuck Reynolds
Terry Anderson
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2016 Crest Culture Award Silva International by Ed Baylor Beginning at our yearly Supplier Appreciation Day in 2014, Crest in- troduced a new award called the Crest Culture Award. Crest Culture is a statement that defines us as a company and represents the way we do business. These statements can be found in most every office of Crest Foods and throughout the plant. Upon an initial visit to Crest Foods, a new supplier is introduced to the Crest Culture statement, and formal- ly reviewed bi-annually, thus forming a good understanding of exactly who we are. The Culture statement includes the following:
Kevin O’Dell, Rick Balkema & Ed Baylor
• Maintain Customer Focus In All We Do Through Conviction to Quality and Flexibiliity • Be Ethical and Fair
• Recognize Employees As Our Greatest Asset And Treat Them Accordingly • Remain Family Run and Oriented, and Committed To Long Term Stability • Allow Rural Surroundings And Values To Be A Positive Part Of Our Corporate Image While Operating With High Levels Of Professionalism • Create Ownership For Customer Satisfaction At All Levels By Soliciting Ideas And Input From All Employees • Innovative, Innovative, Innovative • Have Some Fun This year’s Crest Culture Award was presented to Silva International of Momence, Illinois and was accepted by Rick Balkema – Silva Territory Sales Representative. Silvas’ style of doing business reflects Crest Culture in a way that made selecting them a clear winner. Over the last 20 plus years the Silva / Crest Foods Company relationship has grown to the point that our companies discuss more than just buying and selling of a few pounds of powder. Silva International is an international company that makes you feel like they are just the guys next door. In reality Silva U.S. base of operation is as rural as Ashton, located almost on the Illinois/Indiana border in Momence IL, home to 3000 residents. While you can’t quite toss a baseball from one side of town to the other, or blink to miss it like Ashton, they pretty much walk down the street to waves and hellos from many towns people, with farming be- ing the area’s largest industry. Ethical and Fair: One of the most Ethical and Fair companies we work with, straight forward and open. Innovative : Supplies Crest with many innovative sizes/cuts of products and always providing top notch services others are unable to attain. Maintain Customer Focus : Silva is focused on making the customer #1. Silva pretty much punches every Crest Culture statement item, including Having Some Fun. There is no better way of building a relationship and getting to know Crest Culture than Having Some Fun which we have over the last 2 decades. As winner of this award, Crest will be making a donation of $2500 to the charity of Silva’s choice.
October, November & December 2016 Crest Ink 9
Crest Happenings
10 Crest Ink October, November & December 2016 Crest Foods employees: Thank you very much for sending me the wonderful plant while I was hospital- ized. It is very much appreciated. Terry Jacobs (Karlin Whse B) Our Sympathy To Trisha Carter (A QA) on the passing of her mother, Vickie Barnes. To Phyllis Ott (MIS PC Coordinator) on the death of her father, George Ginn, Sr. To Mike Spencer (A Mix) on the death of his father, Jack Spencer. To Eric Wear (B Production) on the passing of his mother, Barb Wear. To Danny Fuller (B Warehouse) on the passing of his aunt, Barb Wear. Congratulations! Troy Arreguin, son of Shawneen Arreguin (B Produc- tion) and brother to Kyle Arreguin (B Sanitation) received his Honorable Discharge from the Marines and returned home safely on August 21, 2016. Congratulations to Heidi McGlown (Crest Foods Nurse) on the birth of her granddaughter, Breea Marie McGlown. She was born August 25, 2016 and weighed in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. Her parents are Xavier McGlown and Tesla. Con- gratulations to all! Thank You Dear Crest Foods and employees: thank you for all the prayers and well wishes during my recovery from my surgery. The nurses and CNA’s loved my plant I re- ceived from Crest as much as I did. Thank you so much. Liz Rapp (B QA) Dear Crest Foods: Thank you for the beautiful plant you sent. It certainly brightened my days. Peggy Messer (HR)
Thank you to the Employees of Crest Foods for the plant sent to me. See you soon at work! Nikki Ramos (B Production) To Our Crest Foods Family: Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers, cards and visits during the last 4 ½ years for Neil Miller, my husband and Dan’s father, with his battle with brain cancer. We appreci- ate all that our Crest Foods family has done for us throughout his battle and recent passing. The outpour- ing of support has been incredible. Our Crest family has meant so much to us. A special thank you to Steve, Jeff, and Mike Meiners for the support given us throughout this journey. Susie Miller (Customer Ser- vice) and Dan Miller (B Production) To Crest Foods: I am truly thankful for working for a great company like you guys. I want to thank you for the plant. Really meant a lot. Sara Snow (B Production) Our Charity Garage Sale Was a Huge Success! I want to thank everyone who donated items, worked the sale or made a monetary donation to our charity garage sale. This sale is held the first weekend in August in conjunction with the Franklin Grove Harvest Festival. This festival draws hundreds of visitors which helps with attendance at our sale. We were able to raise $4,300.00 this year which was donated to Hospice of the Rock River Valley to help build the Hospice house. I have already started collecting items for next year’s sale. Next year we will be donating to Home of Hope Cancer Wellness in Dixon. If you have donations or questions about the garage sale, please feel free to reach out to me, Janet Sutton at extension 203. Team Crest Foods: Thanks so much for joining us in the 2nd Annual Day of Caring Event. We hope you enjoyed your time while giving back to our great com- munity. -Jenny Koch, UWLC Exec. Director Crest Foods: We are grateful to you for your support of the Miles in Memory Run. Thanks for your generosity and suppport to Serenity Hospice & Home. We are grateful for your gift. -Lynn Knodle, Executive Director
Crest Happenings
Thank You Crest Foods: Brindy (age 7) and I just wanted to say thank you for sponsoring us for the 2016 racing year. So far I am sitting 4th in points and I’m
is still learning and working on her skills. She will be racing in a couple national events with me later this year. When the year is over we will have raced at 9 tracks in 5 states. We used our sponsorship to upgrade our safety equipment. We purchased Hans devices which keeps us a lot safe in the dragsters Thank you again for sponsor ing us. From BreeAnn Covell (age 11). BreeAnn and Brindy are the granddaughters of Guy Covell, A Ware- house Truck Driver.
hoping to finish 2nd in the super junior class. This is my first year and I am the youngest in the class! Brindy
Crest Foods: Thank you for your support of the Com- munity Walk. Through your donation, the fund will assist families in our community. Your continued sup- port is greatly appreciated. -Ashton Community Fund A Walk for Down Syndrome Awareness by Jerry Lawrence
Pictured to the left: 4 Generations of Lawrences! Jerry Lawrence hold- ing grandson Kaden, Jim Lawrence, (great grandfather), Joshua Lawrence (Jerry’s son & Kaden’s father) holding his son, Karter and Payton Lawrence (another of Jerry’s grandsons)
Lynette, Kaden & Jerry Lawrence
On August 28th my wife (Lynnette) and I had the privilege of attending a Down Syndrome awareness walk with our grandson Kaden Lawrence. The walk this year was held in Green Bay Wisconsin and was attended by 642 peo- ple. Our son Joshua and his wife Kristen have been involved with this association for the last 3 years and have built friendships and a bond with many of the other families. Lynnette and I have 5 grandsons who we love and support, but Kaden is a special young man and will have many challenges to overcome in his life. Kaden has a great support group from both sides of his family and is blessed to have parents that love him and see him only as their son and not a boy with a disability. Kaden had 4 generations of Lawrence’s at the event along with other family and friends. I challenge people to have a greater awareness and appreciation for families that have made a commitment to loving and raising any child with any type of disability. Kaden has given me a gift I could never buy and that is to love unconditionally and accept people for who they are. I thank the Lord every night in my prayers for giving us Kaden, who I’m proud to call grandson.
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Congratulations! Congratulations to the following employees for obtaining new jobs at Crest over the past few months!
Becca Dodd Level 6 Production C-Shift
Katrina Berogan QA Line Tech A-Shift
Alfonzo Alvarado Maintenance A-Shift
Jennifer Stevenson Sanitation A-Shift
Jennifer Pittman Consumer Products Lab Technician
CIP 2016 4th Quarter Winners The Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) is a program where employees may submit suggestions on ways they think can improve Crest Foods. These suggestions may help improve overall efficiency, employee safety, sani- tation, record keeping, maintenance and various other areas around Crest Foods. We received 14 suggestions from employees for the 4th quarter. Thank you to everyone for participating! Ben Esgar, Maintenance B-Shift 4th Quarter 1st Place • $250
Ben’s idea was to add a “No Gap Rejection” test for individual checkweighers to QA’s list of checks. QA is going to get their paperwork and SOP to include this check and they are setting up training for Line Techs. Great idea!
Tom Saunders, Ingredient Division Warehouse 4th Quarter Runner Up • $150
Tom’s suggestion was to improve the signage at the West Warehouse and the Ingredient Division Warehouse. What we currently have is confusing to drivers because we have 2 shipping areas and 2 receiving areas. It would help with congestion and could help trucks get to where they need to go without confusion. Connie Schumacher, Production A-Shift 4th Quarter Runner Up • $150 Connie suggested we dip the legs of tri-pod packing tables in a rubber liquid to prevent them from sliding and moving all the time, which is not only frustrating, but also a safety concern.
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Welcome to the two newest members of our Emergency Response Team – Cat Larson and Jesse Morris. Cat and Jesse completed the eight week course to become Certified First Responders through the Illinois Department of Public Health this summer. We asked them each a few questions about their careers here at Crest and about becoming First Responders. Crest Welcomes New First Responders by Karen Yardley, Safety & Sanitation Manager
Cat Larson
Jesse Morris
Cat Larson first came to Crest back in June of 2009. After a brief absence, she returned in January of 2015. She has worked both A and B shift in Production and B and C shift in Maintenance. Cat decided to volunteer as a First Responder when it was realized that we were lacking responders here at the Main Plant on B shift. ( Since then Stina Kanaris has changed shifts/departments and is also here at the Main Plant on B shift. ) Cat wanted to help Crest if we did have an emergency, so she volunteered. She feels that she learned a lot through the course – knowledge that she could also use at home. She found it very interesting and easier than she expected. Jesse Morris has been with Crest since June of 2013. He’s worked as a packer and is now a line operator on B Shift Production. He’s also had some training in QA and Warehouse functions. Jesse is a volunteer member of the Franklin Grove Fire Department and wanted to be a First Responder. In fact, in high school, Jesse considered becoming a paramedic. Jesse said getting up early for the certification course was tough but well worth it. He is very excited about being a First Responder and helping others. He thought the course was challenging and was surprised that they teach “It is YOUR safety before anyone else.” Both Cat and Jesse hope they never have to perform CPR but it’s great to know that we have employees who are willing to give of themselves to make sure others get the medical attention they need in an emergency.
Thank You, Sharkey Transportation!
For the last 23 years, Sharkey Transportation has been hosting a bus trip to a White Sox game. Each year, they graciously invite a few Crest Foods employees to join the fun. This year Shelley Schopp, Jenny Drew, Kyle O’Dell and Ray O’Dell were picked up at Crest and taken into the game where they were treated to quite a spread of food and beverages. Jack Sharkey started his company in 1971. Today, Sharkey Transportation averages 6-12 loads daily, in and out of Crest Foods. It is a true pleasure to do business with the Sharkey team, who we can count on to always go above and beyond to get the job done!
Front: Butch Pinney, Jack Maines, Hank Power, Steve Gleisner Back: Ray O’Dell, Shelley Schopp, Kyle O’Dell, Jenny Drew, Alvin Hall, Jack Sharkey
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Give Back Program Update by Cheri Kemp
In our last issue we featured an article on students from area schools who prepared and presented information on their favorite local non-profit organizations to a group of Crest Foods employees. The end goal was multi-faceted: To give these students the opportunity to work as a group for a common goal; to give these students the experience of developing and presenting a convincing case for their chosen organization; and to see how it felt to take the funds received from participating in this program, and present the money to that organization. In the case of the students from Rochelle Township High School, their favored organization was the Rochelle VFW roof restoration project. On August 19, Anthony Chavez and Mark Pearson presented a check for $1,500 to the VFW. Here is their story: August 19 2016: We rode an ancient elevator to the upper level of the 111 year old Rochelle VFW building which Commander Bill Bumgarner said he believes was originally a furniture factory or furniture store. The trusses are water-stained. Guy Bays said 4 layers of roofing right down to the trusses will have to be replaced. When we got to the flag storage room, we all grew quiet at the site of 550 American flags rolled up for safe keeping. Guy explained every time a flag is donated, the top of the flag pole is labeled. Bill’s middle school-aged granddaughter is in the processes of re-cataloging all of the flags on a spreadsheet. Bill explained some of the flags date before Alaska and Hawaii became states, so they bear only 48 stars!! The idea of the roof leaking into that flag room was the impetus for the Braille Bar crew entering the Crest Foods Give Back program. Mark said his family has a long, long tradition of military service and were it not for his impair- ment, he would enlist in the USMC. Mark modestly told the veterans they completed orders for 250 Braille bars last year, but Mrs. Connors later corrected him--the number is hovering at 500 due to the generosity of Crest Foods staff, the community and the colleagues of Mark and bar-making assistant/classmate Katie Dummer’s mothers. Something I heard for the first time today is that the boys have found holiday molds and plan to launch new variet- ies of Braille bars in time for holiday gift-giving. As the boys exited the post in the bright sunlight, they immediately began fingering the treasures presented them by Mr. Chisamore and Mr. Bays—lanyards and empty shell casings from bullets used at a veteran funeral. Mr. Chisa- more gave Mark the US Marine pin presented to his son when he became a marine. Mark was really blown away by that! Bill said the VFW is a self-perpetuating organization that gets no federal, state or local assistance. Gifting to the VFW must stay on our radar as the Floyd J. Tilton post is at the heart of the Rochelle community. Pictured Left: Virgil Ewald, Mike Johnson, Anthony Chavez, VFW Commander Bill Bumgarner, Mark Pearson, Guy Bays and John Chisamore Pictured Right: Guy Bays, Bill Bumgarner, Mark Pearson & Anthony Chavez and 550 American Flags.
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United Way of Lee County 2nd Annual Day of Caring by Cheri Kemp & Steve Starke June 25th happened to be a very hot day and the early morning hours were no exception. Early on that Sat- urday, a group of 8 Crest Foods employees, including Kristy & Steve Starke (Ingredient Division Technical Ser- vice) from Kentucky, volunteered their time for the One Day of Caring for Lee County. This group, as well as other local groups, was assigned to Teen Turf in Amboy, IL. Our work was cut out for us there. Literally, in one case! When we arrived at Teen Turf on the edge of
June Danekas, Erika Meiners, Sonny Baratta, Kristy & Steve Starke, Tyler Halfacre, Dean Rhodes, Cheri Kemp
Amboy, we were greeted by all the volunteers who man this wonderful place for teens to gather. Just a few days prior to our work day, a very strong storm moved through the area and the trees at the back of the grounds where Teen Turf was located, had taken quite a beating. Chain saws, rakes and other equipment were provided and part of our group went to work with other volunteers and the Teen Turf staff helping direct our efforts. The sound of chain saws buzzed all morning long despite the heat and humidity. By the time this group was done, the pile of logs, limbs and brush was pretty impressive! Other volunteers were divided up to accomplish other tasks like painting several picnic tables; stenciling the Teen Turf logo on many chairs and tables; organizing and cleaning inside the building; working on city landscaping in and around Amboy; and in general lending a hand in many small ways. By noon everyone was hot, thirsty and tired. We were treated to a lunch by the Teen Turf staff along with their many thanks for all that was accomplished. In all, 220 people representing 16 employers, from all over Lee County volunteered for this day and were sent to 15 different locations or agencies to work including landscaping for elderly in Dixon, Amboy & Sublette and installa- tion of smoke detectors in homes in Ashton and Franklin Grove. It was a gratifying feeling to see what many hands could do in a few short hours at just our Teen Turf location. Thanks to the many volunteers, donations of money and goods from local businesses and great planning for this day by the United Way committee, much was accomplished in Lee County. - Cheri Kemp On a sunny Saturday in June, my wife, Kristy and I traveled 400 miles from Walton, KY to Ashton, IL to spend some quality time volunteering for Crest Foods. We had the pleasure of working withTeen Turf, a group who of- fers a safe and wholesome environment for Amboy youth, providing mentoring, role models, and after-school tutor- ing. Focusing on positive values, Teen Turf teaches youth to be community volunteers and responsible citizens. We enjoyed spending the day with several other Crest employees painting and stenciling chairs, stenciling trash cans and painting picnic tables. We trimmed weeds, cut down trees, picked up and disposed of lots of debris, and were able to provide a fresh, clean, fun look to their facility. The Teen Turf volunteers were very pleased and appreciative of our work and they rewarded us with a wonderful lunch that they prepared themselves. If you want to feel a nice sense of satisfaction and accomplishment for something you have done, take some time out of your busy life to volunteer and assist others. Hook up with a youth group, or another group of your choice who provides assistance to those who are less fortunate than we are. You will truly count your blessings a little more often. - Steve Starke
October, November & December 2016 Crest Ink 15
Junior College Program Where are they Now? by Cheri Kemp
Ben Kinn - 1998
Ben Kinn - 2016
Amy (Schutte) Wilcox - 1998 Amy Wilcox - 2016
If you think about 1998 – it was 18 years ago. For some, that is not that long ago. For others, well, it is really just the beginning! Crest Foods originally started our Junior College program in 1998. Most of our current employees taking advantage of this program were just infants then! In the October 1998 issue of the Crest Ink we wrote about the beginning of this program and featured the 28 young people who were part of that inaugural group. Not a lot has changed in the parameters for enrolling in the Crest Foods Junior College Program. In 1998 anyone wishing to have their tuition paid at Sauk Valley Community College (SVCC) had to work 3 nights per week on our second shift. Not only did they earn a wage, but they also received prorated vacation and holiday pay as well as bonuses. Over the last several years we have added tuition to Kishwaukee Community College, Rock Valley Community Col- lege and tuition to Northern Illinois University, based on a comparable rate to SVCC, to our list of schools. Currently we have 18 employees in our Junior College Program scattered among several schools. Our goal is not necessarily to have all these employees remain Crest employees, but to give us a steady base of young people willing to work on our second shift where they are an important part of our production area. From our inaugural ‘class’ of 1998, two are still Crest employees and now in management positions. Amy (Schutte) Wilcox is a first shift Production Floor Supervisor and Ben Kinn is the first shift Warehouse Floor Supervisor. Ben remembers when he first started working here 18 years ago on second shift, his supervisors were Steve Crook and Lisa Winkler. At that point Ben spent most of his time stacking on lines 1,2 & 3. Eventually he was experi- enced enough to train most of the new employees who came to work on those lines. From there he progressed to dumping for various lines and then transitioned to first shift where his supervisors were Gina Smith and Jeff Roop. Ben said “one day I asked Gina if I could learn to drive a forklift. The next day she threw me in the production warehouse with Dan Yates, Adam Drew and Jeff Capes!” For the next several years Ben transferred from first shift, to second shift and back to first in a variety of jobs due to his versatility. During this time he acted as a warehouse expeditor for first shift warehouse then a level 6 supervisor for the production area. This position, where he learned supervisory skills, eventually lead him to being Warehouse Floor Supervisor when Neil Henert retired as Warehouse Manager and Jerry Lawrence moved from Warehouse Floor Supervisor to Warehouse Manag- er. It was a winding journey from starting as a Junior College Program employee to being the Floor Supervisor but a journey that Ben has enjoyed. “I have met a lot of good people throughout the years. That would be one of the biggest reasons why I stayed at Crest Foods” said Ben. From Amy Wilcox: “I can’t believe I’ve worked here for 18 years! I started out in the Junior College program that many years ago, part time, on second shift. The first line I worked on was line 21, (back then, it was called line 12) a 3 pouch hamburger helper line. That was a year after I had graduated from high school. I had studied at Western Illinois for a semester, then came back to attend Sauk Valley Community College to save money. That summer I got
16 Crest Ink October, November & December 2016
a letter from Crest Foods telling me they would pay my tuition if I worked 3 days a week and went to school full time. Perfect! “Lisa Winkler and Steve Crook were my supervisors at that time and my first trainer’s name was Es- sie Brewer. After three or four days with Essie, I trained with Maria Guerrero. I must have been really bad because they trained me for a week, if not longer. Less than a year later, I started running a line and after a couple of se- mesters, I worked full time on first shift and went to school on nights. So, I was a pretty busy lady and still didn’t know ‘what I wanted to be when I grew up.’ “I ended up getting my Associates in Computer Science and a Certification from Sauk Valley Community College in Computer Networking. Back then I had applied for work at several places, but no one local was hiring in IT. I was getting married and accumulating bills. Fortunately, I liked my hours at Crest and I liked the people I worked with. “So, 18 years later, I still don’t know ‘what I want to be when I grow up’. Maybe I’ll decide someday. Right now, I am the first shift Production Supervisor; I have been married to the same guy for 13 years; have two crazy beautiful girls and couldn’t be happier with where my life has ended up!” Just to give you an idea of how big this program is, over the last 18 years approximately 293 employees have partici- pated in the Junior College Program. Thirty-Four of these are still employed at Crest either in the current Junior College Program group or as full time employees. Tuition alone has cost Crest Foods about $565,000 and if you add the cost of employee benefits to this, that number goes up to $715,000! So this is no small potatoes program. It is a win-win for Crest Foods and these students.
Live Long & Prosper Safety Contest Winners by WAVE Safety Team Congratulations to all of the safety contest winners for the 4th Quarter and thank you to all employees who participated this year!
FY 2016 Year End Winner Louis Shinabarger (Production A) Phyllis Ott, Kevin O’Dell
August Winner Austin Tornow (Production A) Karen Yardley, Denton Yocum
June Winner Jason Rudkin (Ing. Div. Prod. A) Karen Yardley, Phyllis Ott
July Winner Steven Osborne (QA Lab B) Denton Yocum, Phyllis Ott, Kevin O’Dell
October, November & December 2016 Crest Ink 17
Many years ago it became a Crest practice to have a fund that would help support employees in times of need. That fund was supported largely through a payment of a percentage of the proceeds from all vending machine sales…it was known as the pop fund. The pop fund has evolved into the benevolence fund today. That benevolence fund still helps out employees in times of need when circumstances beyond their control put them in a difficult financial position. That help is always done in a private way through an outright gifting of cash or an interest free loan depending on circum- stances. This fund, in a very quiet and discreet manner, has helped many people through trying times and will con- tinue to do so for the foreseeable future. The benevolence fund of today is very active at Crest – over 25 employees benefited from the proceeds of this fund last year. The really great thing is that much of this money is raised by the employees of Crest. A percentage of all vending machine sales are still allocated to this fund…so every Snickers bar helps. Proceeds from our Christmas raffle/auction are also donated and matched by Crest and this proves to be our biggest money generator each year. Some employees have even generously elected to donate directly to this fund as well. This Christmas we will once again be doing a raffle at our Christmas parties to raise cash…the raffle is quickly becoming a favorite versus the auction because everybody has a chance to win. Last year’s items included two cars, $1000 cash and a trip to Las Vegas. We raised over $11,000 which was turned into $22,000 with the match. Infor- mation will be posted as we get closer to December and don’t hesitate to buy lots of tickets. We are also going to try something new this year. Our very first auction was the result of an initiative started by the second shift and it featured mostly hand-made items by Crest employees. We would like to get back to that concept by having a Christmas store of hand-made items from Crest employees that would be available for purchase by any one at Crest. We’re thinking things like baked goods, sewn items, crafts or woodwork. We’re really open to almost anything. The person who makes the item will set the price – Marianne at the switchboard will run the store – a list of available items will be posted on a regular basis – purchases can be made through payroll deduct – the store will be open for business for a period of time in November and December – all proceeds will be donated to the benev- olence fund and Crest will match them 100%. Think about if you might be interested in participating and what items you might be able to donate. A posting will go up on further details soon. Generating Money for the Benevolence Fund by Jeff Meiners Deb Worley (QA Lab A) and Brian Dvorak (Karlin Warehouse) were on vacation in Wisconsin and visited the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame in Hayward. While looking at the many exhibits they saw this photo of Gary Roach. That name and picture rang a bell for the two of them. You see, for the past 26 years, Crest Foods has packaged a fish fry batter mix developed by Gary Roach. There are now two varieties, Original and Southern Style, so if you like fish, look for these in your local supermarkets! Gary became a member of the National Fishing Hall of Fame in 1988; the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame in 1990; and in 1991 was the Professional Walleye Trail Angler of the Year as well as many other PWT/Cabela’s Events. He is one of the leading all-time money winners in profes- sional fishing and is still involved in many events today. The information under the picture says “Gary is an out standing writer, promoter and lecturer in the sportfishing industry. Gary has made his mark by becoming a Walleye expert, who is known affectionately as ‘Mr. Walleye’ . Gary has always emphasized the teaching of proper fishing technique to thousands of enthusiasts.” Brian and Deb said they enjoyed touring this exhibit and were excited to see the information about Mr. Walleye!
18 Crest Ink October, November & December 2016
Kenny Blomberg, Engineering Apprentice by Denton Yocum
After 10,000+ documents scanned to PDF; 50+ designs; 800+ new and updated drawings; 3,500+ shop jobs pro- cessed; and many part and equipment audits, I must say “Kenny has left the building”. For the last 4 years Kenny Blomberg worked as an Engineering Intern in the Machine Shop but has moved on to finish his Industrial Engineering degree at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. Throughout his internship Kenny learned all about how ideas turn into reality from brainstorming with key personnel to engineering design, detail drawing creation, material and part sourcing, manufacturing, testing and finally (hopefully) acceptance of the final product. Kenny designed everything from the flap tuckers used on horizontal cartoners to vertical cartoner rails and countless brackets. Kenny left Crest Foods with a new set of skills and valuable knowledge he will use the rest of his career. He also left us
Rob Osborne, Steve Zellers, Bob Pittman, Denton Yocum and Kenny Blomberg (wearing a pork bone necklace that the Machine Shop crew made for him on his last day)
with a lot of valuable work completed and many fond memories of his time here. The enthusiasm that Kenny threw into every task was inspiring and if he is an example of the people who will follow in our footsteps, then we are in good hands. We wish Kenny the best as he finishes school and starts his engineering career. 2016 Magic Waters Outting On July 16, the weather finally cooperated for this year’s Crest Foods Night at Magic Waters! A whopping 911 tick- ets were sold for this event so everywhere you looked, you saw someone you knew! By the sounds of laughing and squealing of children and adults alike, it was a successful night. Thanks to Crest employees, family and friends who attended this year!
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