What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? How most things were done by hand with the exception of the actual bartelt machines and we had no computer systems to find or record things. Connie Schumacher (Production A-Shift) Years at Crest: 40 What was your first job at Crest Foods? Stacker for Frank Zittle (boy the stories I could tell you..) What brought you to Crest Foods to work? I was going to go to school and needed money, so I thought I’d work for 1 year. Where did you go for your 10 year trip? Las Vegas – wish I could go again! What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? Co-op Gas Station across the street where I live. Wolf ’s- Standard Gas Station on the corner by the post office. Ron’s Supermarket on Main Street by Village Hall. Most memorable co-worker you’ve worked with over the years? There’s been a many. What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? Maybe 100 employees or less, and now we have about 600. I made $2.00/hour but yet we actually had a little money. Steve Meiners (VP Corporate Sales) Years at Crest: 40 What was your first job at Crest Foods? My very first job at Crest was painting when I was quite young. Buckskin Tan was the color of the buildings and I think I painted every one. My first REAL job at Crest was second/third shift production supervisor in contract packaging. What brought you to Crest Foods to work? I was working at Muller Pinehurst for two years after college when my father called me and said he had an opportunity with a job opening as a supervisor. What is your favorite work memory over the years? Oh my ... there are so many. One of the best moments was my first real sale. It was with Lipton. They owned Wyler Brand at the time. We ran unsweetened Wyler Drinks for about a year and a half. This was a really big deal back then! Where did you go for your 10 year trip? This is stretching my memory because I took my trip 10+ years after I actually earned it. I believe I used this on a family vacation to Grand Cayman. What do you remember about Ashton 40 years ago? Two bars. Two gas stations. Population sign at 1000. Lots of corn and soybeans. Really Ashton was about the same as it is today ... things do not change much here. Crest Foods was much much smaller in terms of both number of people and facilities. I am guessing about 25% the size of what we are today. Most memorable co-worker you’ve worked with over the years? It is very tough to single out one person since there have been hundreds of memorable people over the years ... memorable odd & strange, memorable dedi- cated & professional. Safer for me to go with the later and I picked Norbert Dunkel. Norbert was the man in charge of our stabilizer blending facility for years early in my career. His story of being separated from his family when the war broke out and being forced to fight for Hitler was an epic story. He had an amazing memory! He worked in the plant in an era where there were no written formulas. Hard to believe but he had them all in his head. And he knew where every bag of ingredient was stored and how much we had without weighing product or counting bags. Even when the auditors would challenge his memory he proved he was right on. Amazing. Norbert (and actually his wife Agnus who worked in the plant) were certainly not the only dedicated Crest employees but they do represent the work ethic that built Crest Foods and keeps us a leader in our industry today. What would surprise most people today about working at Crest 40 years ago? I had a hand in making the decision to purchase our first computer system from IBM. Actually went to IBM implementation training for a week in Chicago. Tammy Williams (Production A-Shift) Years at Crest: 40
4 Crest Ink July, August & September 2017
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