A Few Recent Testimonials From Key Decision Makers

Ed Vanyo, Factory Manager for Nestle had the following to say about Core Practice:

1. How well did Core Practice Partners work with your plant team?

Core Practice Partners work very well with the factory team. There was minimal interference as CPP was able to work with existing data and looked at it in new ways. We also found several gaps in our data that we would not have identified without CPP’s help.

2. Did you get what you expected from the project?

Yes. We eliminated several long standing assumptions about labor costs. Our shift overlap was seen as “free” previously, and now we seriously consider productivity during this ½ hour overlap period. Insight into contract language was also very important as we prepare for our contract negotiations later this year. Workforce to Workload analysis identified vacation relief and training as key areas for improvement. Also, the dialog regarding autonomous maintenance and Lead Line Tech Operator concepts fit in with our future strategies.

3. What would you tell a potential Core Practice Partners customer about our work?

CPP has a structured approach that identified several areas of labor savings. Most importantly, we evaluated areas of opportunity and were able to save more than double the cost of the study already, with more savings anticipated. The benefits from CPP’s efforts were worth the cost of the project.

Dan Crane of Dannon Yogurt had the following to say about his work with Core Practice:

The Minster plant was facing a 30% volume growth making us run most of our lines 7 days per week and, with most of our teams still scheduled Monday through Friday, we were simply not ready. The overtime levels were unmanageable and many employees were working several weeks in a row without a day off. We partnered with Core Practice to perform a complete analysis of our scheduling and staffing practices. The Core Practice team dug deep into all the data we could throw at them and their operational analysis revealed many opportunities based on mismatch between workload and staffing level in many departments.

Core Practice met all of our employees and conducted a very insightful survey. We learned a lot about the preferences of our workforce, this is knowledge that we still use in our decision making 2 years after the project.

Combining the needs of the business, the needs of our employees captured by the survey and the extensive knowledge of all the possible types of schedules out there, the Core Practice team was able to come up with schedules that satisfied the most people.

They did everything from explaining the project to the employees, getting their input, working with management to determine the appropriate types of schedules and presenting the results and the new schedules to all the employees. The Core Practice team was available at all hours of the day and the night to meet our employees on their shift.

The outcome of our work with Core Practice is that we implemented many scheduling and staffing changes that reduce our headcount, reduced our overtime levels and improved the employee’s work-life balance. And on top of that, as a Production Manager, I have learned a lot from working with guys like Ethan Franklin, John Frehse and the rest of the team. Today when I have a scheduling question I know I can give them a call and they are always available to help me out.