Enhancing employee comfort, safety and efficiency

Rich Palzewic

Staff

April 1, 2024

ROTHSCHILD – Wanting to enhance its food safety and employee welfare spaces – while also improving comfort, safety and efficiency – Kerry, a public food company in the sustainable food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets, recently upgraded its Rothschild facility.

Employees held an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the plant (10202 Foremost Drive) last month – celebrating the completion of the 3,000-square-foot expansion.

As part of the project, Rothschild Site Director Brynn Holmes said 3,700 square feet of existing space inside the facility was also renovated.

“The expansion/renovation has been well received,” Holmes said. “Kerry’s motto is ‘safety first, quality always.’ Our people are at the heart of what we do every day. When we did this transition, it was about quality and our people.”

Holmes, who spent 13 years in England before returning to the U.S. and starting at the Rothschild plant in January 2023, oversees the entire facility and its approximately 130 employees.

“The plant in Rothschild has always been there, but it was previously owned by Foremost Foods,” she said. “Kerry acquired the factory in 2018.” 

More on Kerry

Holmes said Kerry’s reach goes far beyond its Rothschild plant, as indicated by its 150 manufacturing plants across the globe.

“Kerry is in more than 50 countries globally,” she said. “We are all about creating a world of sustainable nutrition. We are in many facets of the food and beverage industry and pharmaceutical, along with nutritional.”

Though Kerry has many different arms, Holmes said the Rothschild factory works specifically in the pharmaceutical industry.

“The product we make for our customers is an edible lactose used in making pharmaceutical drugs,” she said. “If you look at the back of a pill packet, the product is the non-active ingredient. You’ll see it listed on some of your packets at home, and it’ll say ‘lactose.’ For right now, we are going to keep (the Rothschild plant) in the pharmaceutical world.”

In addition to its sustainable focus, Holmes said Kerry is also “extremely innovative and entrepreneurial.”

“What that means is, if there was something in the pharmaceutical industry that would suit this factory, Kerry would look at it,” she said. “We do some new products, but it’s a pretty niche market.” 

The expansion

Holmes said the long-standing, global standards of the company’s mission served as inspiration for the expansion – with a great deal of focus placed on people and food safety.

“The standards are standardized across all of Kerry’s factories,” she said. “In the Rothschild plant, we identified a need for hygienic zoning. In layman’s terms, (this means) sanitary design. We needed a place where when our operators come into work, they transition from the street to a higher care clean manufacturing environment.”

Holmes said the biggest need was around the sanitary design of the site and enabling future growth for the company within the pharmaceutical industry.

“Then we said, ‘there is an opportunity here – our locker rooms are aged, our break room facilities are aged and our offices do not suit the number of people we need at this site to make it run properly every day,’” she said.

In partnering with the likes of Miron Construction and Excel, Holmes said Kerry looked at the current factory layout and said, “how do we add on?”

“We added/renovated about 6,700 square feet total,” she said.

When the project started, Holmes said Kerry anticipated a “12-14 month journey.”

“But our contractors and our internal project management and engineers did a great job,” she said. “We broke ground (last) June and moved into our offices in November – it was remarkable.”

Holmes did point out, though, that some preliminary work had been done in the few months leading up to the groundbreaking.

“That set us up for success – it was fast,” she said. 

The benefits of the expansion

There are many benefits to the expansion, Holmes said.

“When we did the groundbreaking, we had operators who had been with the company for 15-25 years – they were pre-Kerry before the acquisition,” she said. “They were emotional when we did the groundbreaking – that shows Kerry’s commitment.”

Employee pride in regard to the new space, Holmes said, is evident.

“When we moved into the new area, (employees) were in (the breakroom) wiping tables down after their break,” she said. “They understand that this is all brand new and how amazing it is.”

Another benefit, Holmes said, is the new open floor plan.

“When you talk about the office-based staff – we are in an open floor plan… I don’t even have an office,” she said. “No one at the site has an office. Because of the open floor plan, my emails have dropped – 30-40 less – because we are having those quick conversations instead of being in an email chain or a meeting. It’s been hugely positive. There are no cubicles.”

Holmes said the expansion/renovation also helps with the plant’s manufacturing flow.

“We didn’t have proper manufacturing flow before,” she said. “When you look at food manufacturing flow, you have to think about operators in the door to the finished product leaving. It should all flow in what you almost consider a straight line.”

Holmes said before project completion, it was a “bumpy” experience when customers, external visitors or other Kerry employees/leadership would stop by the plant for a visit – “you’re trying to explain the flow.”

“Now, we’re starting to be that straight line,” she said. “When we had the grand opening, you were proud to accept visitors. It looks more like how Kerry is when you pull up.”

Finally, Holmes said the expansion/renovation project has helped find and retain quality employees.

“When you look at what happened globally with COVID-19, there was a crisis with employment – it was hard to get operators who wanted to work nights and weekends,” she said. “We are a 24/7, 365-day-a-year factory. We don’t shut down for Christmas or Thanksgiving – we run this factory 24/7.”

Holmes said coming out of the pandemic, in the plant’s manufacturing space, it wasn’t uncommon to see 20 operator openings.

“Now we’re down to three,” she said. “I think we are presenting better in our community. When people come for a job interview, it looks professional… It’s clean, tidy and brand new. Employees want to take breaks in a nice space. I think we’ve provided a space people can enjoy.”

For more information on Kerry, visit Kerry.com.