Golfing Fun on the MinnWest Campus

Nova-Tech Engineering held a golf event on the MinnWest campus on Thursday, August 30th.  The purpose of the golf event was to bring together the multiple engineering teams (6 total) to discuss and talk about work-life and the effort they’ve been putting into their different projects.  Nova-Tech practices SCRUM, which includes individual team retrospectives that talk about previous work.  The employees were split up in 2-person teams and competed in a scramble (best ball) format and the winning team (AJ and Jeff) won, with shooting a 4 under par (32). Jeff also won the “longest drive” contest on one of the holes.  The course was put together by NTE employees and consisted of a sign describing the tee-box and the “hole” was a flag marker inside of a hula hoop.  The players had to choose “1 club only” to use.  Golfers played with a yellow foam golf practice ball (to prevent injuries and breaking things).  Following golf, one of the engineers volunteered to smoke 15lbs of pulled pork for the group on the patio by WORKUP.

Overall, the 1st ever NTE campus golf event was a huge success! People who don’t usually have the opportunity to run into each other had a venue to do so.  In addition to the golf, they did add in a little work by asking employees to write down successes and failures they (or their team) have had at Nova-Tech.  This brought out good discussion and will be used going forward.  The employees had a great time and agreed they would like to make this an annual event.

Pie in the Face

The MinnWest Technology Campus held a Pie-in-the-Face Food Shelf Challenge in July with some of the campus tenants.  Two brave employees at each location faced off against each other to see who could raise the most money for the food shelf.  The person who got the MOST money in their jar got the pie in the face.

Rick Huisinga, Chairman and Beth Wosmek, CFO were the lucky participants for Life-Science Innovations.  As you can see below, Rick Huisinga came to the August 2nd event prepared to for the Pie-in-the-Face. The combined total raised by the campus and participating tenants during the challenge was just over $1,000.

103 Years

On August 14th, Select Genetics Willmar Hatchery employees celebrated the retirement of Lisa Bratsch who has been with the company for 20 years.  In attendance at the party were several other long term employees, Kim Skare (26 years), Jean Jeseritz (30 years), and Karen Carlson (27 years).  Between the 4 of them they have a combined 103 years of service working for the Willmar Hatchery!

Deepest Sympathies

Francisco (Frank) Rodriguez

December 9, 1953 – September 6, 2018

The Farm Service Elevator team lost a dear friend and co-worker. Francisco (Frank) Rodriguez passed away on the evening of Thursday, September 6, 2018.

Frank started July 18, 1994 as a maintenance person for Farm Service Elevator. This past July marked 24 years of service.

A fixture at FSE, Frank was often seen driving his skid steer around the yard giving a honk and a friendly wave when he saw us outside or joking around in the lunchroom with co-workers.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family during this difficult time.

TVF Plant Manager

Congratulations to Shawn Kaas, on accepting the offer to take on the position of Plant Manager for Turkey Valley Farms!

Shawn has been with the company since 2012, most recently leading the transportation department.  Prior to that, he spent five years on the floor as a Production Manager (Superintendent) which will compliment this latest transition. Shawn’s experience, dedication, and commitment to the people and business have prepared him to lead the production operations.

Pictured above: Shawn Kaas (l) and Les Goff (r)

New Additions

Congratulations to Krystal and Mark Wendinger on the birth of their son Jeremiah McCoy!  Jeremiah was born on July 20th weighing 6 lbs. 9 oz. and was 18 inches long.  He was welcomed home by his siblings Jayda and Ruby.  Krystal works for Nova-Tech in the machine shop and Mark is a driver for Select Genetics.

Robin Jenkins, SEL Transportation, is the proud Grandma of Enoch Jameson Reiman born on July 25th weighing 8lbs. 1oz. and measuring 20in. Congratulations Robin and family!

Highest Gain Per Day

Recorded at Prairie Ridge Farm

In the last update, the GPD stated was incorrectly. To avoid being labeled as “fake news” this article is being republished with the updated information.

On June 8th, 2018, Willmar Poultry Farms, Prairie Ridge Farm, recorded the highest GPD (gain per day) of .3221 on record in company history, giving WPF 46.38 lb. birds at 144 days.  Since 1990 this is something WPF has tracked on a regular basis to measure flock performance.  The typical gain is around .30.  The average daily gain is determined by taking the total weight divided by the number of days grown.  According to Ziggy Kotze, WPF General Manager, “It’s the little details that add up to big numbers at the end of the day.  Deron (Prairie Ridge farm manager) is really good at the little details.”  Flock health, external temperatures and conditions, and barn conditions are all factors that affect flock gains.

Deron Olson, WPF Prairie Ridge farm manager, has been with the company since 1986 and has a long-standing history of success with his farms.  Kotze states, “Deron’s success comes from taking on the ownership of the farm and ensuring everything is in proper working order.  We are very fortunate to have, Deron, who has been committed to a high level of performance and excellence over 30 years.”  Thank you Deron for demonstrating continued excellence and congratulations to all employees involved with this flock on this record achievement!

 

Openings

Current status of all organizational openings.

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Welcome New Employees

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Employee Count

As of 09/11/18 we have 1,915 employees

 

 

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The Human Resources Team specializes in benefits and payroll, compliance and policy, employee relations, legal compliance, and company & employee overall well-being. We are located on the first floor of Life-Science Innovations on the MinnWest campus at 1800 Technology Drive. We look forward to working with you!

Please message us via email at human.resources@life-scienceinnovations.com or give us a call at

320.222.9515 or 888.320.9750 extension 9515