Just Ask...

Most managers do well in terms of communicating ‘down’ from management to employees. What we are often missing, are mechanisms for employees to communicate ‘up’ on a regular basis. Employees with first-hand knowledge of processes or problems are some of our most valuable resource. They are willing to engage in problem solving rather than accepting legacy answers.

Since I have been at the Lehigh facility, I have been amazed at the employees’ willingness to engage and contribute. Our first successful engagement was when a Logistics employee decided he wanted to move our clamping area to a new employee friendly area.

We defined and implemented this change which had a far reaching effect on productivity, quality and safety.  The employees saw that we were committed to listening and now they offer suggestions all the time.

Now, instead of having formalized meetings, we focus on communicating through day to day conversations with our front line employees.

By Dan Dougherty

IF THEY DON'T FILL IT, WE WILL

Part of ABARTA Beverage East plan for 2013 was an emphasis on growing our very profitable IC (immediate consumption) business.  This volume is not affected by competitive pricing but rather is affected more by increasing space, improving distribution and correct product and brand mix.  It brings consistent dividends and always pays us back for our efforts.

Our tactic to improve our IC business was somewhat basic.  We wanted to increase our space within existing accounts which we called our Plus +1 program (increasing our space by 1 more door to whatever we have) and get new outlets to sell our brands.

A success story we have to tell was with our OPAM (On Premise Account Manager) representative, Jeremy Neill.   While Jeremy was prospecting in Kennett Square, PA, he walked into an account called Enzo’s Pizza and made a discovery. This particular account has been with “Brand X” for over 21 years and has 3 locations.   Two of them are in CCR’s territory and the other in ours. On his call, he discovered the “Brand X” cooler was empty.  As many of you can imagine, for a Sales rep, this is a beautiful situation to walk into if handled correctly!

Jeremy immediately went into “discover mode” with the account, and during his conversations with the manager, realized this was an on going problem.

Jeremy was then given the number to the owner who was at another store. Jeremy explained that he would be happy to fill up the cooler for him if “Brand X” was not. The owner gave the ok and we sent product in the next day for cash. This went on for about 3 weeks until the owner finally agreed to switch.

Estimated sales for the account will be roughly 500 to 600 cases with over 3k in gross profit.

If you’re on the street sourcing new accounts, good things happen even with “Brand X’s” help. See pictures, it tells the full story.

John Iafolla,

Sales Director
Chester County

Continuous Improvement

Lehigh Valley Continuous Improvement
Written by: Brian Horwath

The Coca Cola Bottling Company of the Lehigh Valley has been building on strengthening our continual improvement program by instituting formalized corrective and preventative action processes.  Continuing efforts to improve is the basis of our weekly interdepartmental Total Management Meeting.  Each department brings examples of continual improvement that is occurring in their departments.

Operations have increased efforts to utilize inventive ideas when confronted with an issue to resolve and or a task to improve while minimizing financial investments.  Improvements have been made to continue line breakage reductions and address operational concerns to add value.

Continuing efforts have been made in the training of our employees.  The aligning of training requirements have continued to eliminate training gaps, reduce potential inaccuracies, and provide the necessary tools to employees to be prepared for their everyday.  Ambassador training was completed to assist with the challenges present in our society and their questions.  This will aid our employees and maintain the message that our company provides many different choices of beverages for our customers to meet their needs and continue to quench their thirst.

PIT CREW CUP AWARD 2012

In 2012, ABARTA Beverage East was bestowed the PIT CREW AWARD (Performance Improvement Team). 

The award was based on 12 objectives of Continuous Improvement for our Company.  

So, how did we get here? In order to answer that, we need to tell the story on how our Friday morning meetings got started and where we are presently.  
Five years ago, it was recognized that we needed to meet as a group to discuss rotation issues inside our warehouse.  We took that meeting and used our QMS skill sets to address expectations, goals and objectives.   From there, Safety, and Continuous Improvement were incorporated.  

During the last few years, Scott Ellmaker was given the responsibility to oversee and direct the meetings.  A year later, ABARTA created an Innovation/Continuous Improvement Team. Scott was asked to be our representative for ABARTA Beverage East. 

 

In 2011, we changed our name to Total Product Management team  (TPM). This meeting incorporated all departments and unified us in discussing process improvements, operational efficiencies, rotation, and food safety. That year we also initiated the Safe Start Program.

The culmination of the past several years has led to all employee's understanding of why their work is worthwhile, and that each employee is able to experiment, anticipate, and respond to change.  The steps we have taken help all of us reach our departmental goals, as well as our revenue growth goal.

Continuous Improvement is not just what we do inside our four walls; it is also what we do outside of those walls that are instrumental in our success.

Our dedicated team got together at SteelStacks in Bethlehem to celebrate this award on June 6^th, 2013. Congratulations ABE!