From Idea to Reality | FSE Feed App

Have you ever thought about the tasks you do each day and the process it takes to complete them? Have you considered if there was a way the process could be improved to make it more efficient for yourself or the customer?   

In July of 2021, Katie Ley, Shipping and Receiving Specialist for Farm Service Elevator, did this. She submitted an idea for the 75th anniversary Innovation Challenge for an interactive feed and management app that would give customers a convenient way to order feed and provide critical data about their flocks in real-time without having to make several phone calls. This winning idea was pursued by a team consisting of Bob Poe, Katie Ley, Brant Beckman, Peggy Frederick, and Tom Scholten. Together they worked to determine how the app could best benefit the customer and then recruited Randy Marcus to combine the ideas the team had with the data available in the FSE system. The plan was to start with the basics and build from there.

Beginning in April of 2023, the app was ready to be rolled out to FSE customers.  They began with the WPF farms and 12 of Jennie-O’s farms.  To date 20 customers and counting have been set-up in the new feed app. As the orders come in Katie has taken the lead on verifying each order has the correct information and is pulling correctly from the data provided. This is a huge undertaking but it’s beneficial to ensure customers are receiving the proper mix. The hope is to continue to add more customers each week until all customers are set-up with the new feed app. The benefits of this new app include:

• Reducing the number of phone calls coming in.
• Providing customers with real time data so they can see what they’ve fed in the past, where they are currently, and what they should be ordering next.
• Potential discount opportunities for customers if they order feed between 7:30am-4:30pm or order with a 48-hour advance notice
• Additional discounts outside of the 7:30am-4:30pm window if they use the app as a means to incentivize customers to use the app.

So far, customers are pleased with the ease of use and the accessibility the app offers. The app has added automation to a process that at one time was much more manual. It is also giving the customer more control over what is being entered and ordered in the system.

Congratulations to Katie on reimagining the process of ordering feed and finding a solution that improved the value to customers as well as FSE staff!

Wings over Wayne

On May 19-21, the Select Genetics team in Goldsboro participated in the Wings Over Wayne air show which included a STEM hangar.  Wings over Wayne is the largest free air show event in North Carolina held on the Seymore Johnson air force base in Goldsboro, NC (in Wayne County).  It’s a popular local event in which the team was excited participate and help get the Select Genetics name out in the community.  This was the first year the airshow included a STEM hangar that featured exhibitors in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.  Students from many local schools were in attendance on Friday, and Saturday the exhibits were open to the general public to walk through.

Select Genetics partnered with MGH company to provide an interactive and working demonstration of automated turkey nests highlighting the intersection of mechanical engineering, computer programming and biology and animal husbandry for STEM students. The booth also featured pencil cases with crayons and turkey coloring pages and turkey sticker tattoos, designed by the daughter of a Select Genetics employee.  The tattoos were quite a hit with both kids and adults!

Thank you to all team members who helped out with the great event!  They include: HR Team – Katie Steinhaus, HR Director; Alma Rivera, HR Manager; Tori Herring, HR Generalist; Ana Branham, Payroll-Accounting Coordinator; Ligia Ovalle, Office Clerk.  Breeder Team – Tyler Hall, Service Tech; Eddie Murray, Service Tech; Mark Freeman, Goldsboro Division Breeder Manager. Hatchery Team – Myles Russell, Hatchery Manager.  Vet Services – Ben Wileman, Director Veterinary & Avian Science.

COE Tours Osceola

Students participating in the Midwest Poultry Consortium Center of Excellence (COE) Scholarship and Internship program were able to tour the Osceola, IA Hatchery on Tuesday, June 13th.  The tour was part of the Breeder Flock and Hatchery Management course the students are enrolled in through Iowa State University.  The group consisted of 16 ISU students and 2 instructors.  Jeff Bonner, Hatchery Manager and Sierra Obermeier, Assistant Hatchery Manager, provided the students with a thorough tour of the hatchery, inside and out.  Chelsea Russell, Student Director, for the Midwest Poultry Consortium stated, “When surveying past COE students many of them state getting to do tours of the commercial setting operations is one of the valuable aspects of COE.  It gives them a real-life view of the industry and helps them connect the dots within the line of production.”

Retirements

Margie Haust | FSE/WPF

Congratulations to Margie Haust, Controller, on her retirement from Farm Service Elevator and Willmar Poultry Farms after almost 17 Years of Service!  Margie’s last day with FSE/WPF was Wednesday, June 7th.  We wish Margie all the best on this new adventure!

Kevin Lynch | Select Genetics

After over 37 years in the poultry industry, Kevin Lynch, COO for Select Genetics, has decided to retire at the end of June.  The Missouri office held a retirement party for him on June 8th.  Several past co-workers, along with his family were able to attend this event to honor Kevin for his achievements and the contributions he has made over the years.  Congratulations Kevin!

Health & Wellness Information

Did you know you can now access health and wellness information from your UKG Pro landing page under Company Info?  If you do not have the company info short cut link, click the three dots on the right to edit your shortcuts, then toggle to add My Company – Company Info to your home page.  This month the Benefit Spotlight is TrueRX!  You can click on the YouTube link to view a helpful video that shows you how to access your TrueRX account.

OR from your menu bar click on My Company – Company Info.

Both options will take you to the Benefit landing page with valuable health and wellness information!

Wellbeing Webinars

Financial Wellbeing

Marsh McLennan Agency hosts a monthly Financial Wellbeing webinars. The upcoming topic for June is:

• June 20th | Health Savings Accounts 101: How to optimize this savings strategy: A Health Savings Account is a type of savings account that lets you set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for qualified medical expenses. By using untaxed dollars in a Health Savings Account (HSA) to pay for deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and other expenses, you may be able to lower your overall health care costs. But there is so much more to this underutilized benefit.
  • Register Now! June 20th, 2:00 pm EST

Personal Wellbeing

Telus Health (formerly LifeWorks) offers bi-weekly Wellbeing Webinars on Fridays from 2:00-2:30PM EST. They are excellent resources to dive further into the topic of personal wellbeing. Below is the upcoming webinar for June, click on the date to register.

• June 23rd: Clean Living | Clean living is all about cleaning out the toxins in your life. This is a mind/body approach to living a clean and healthy lifestyle. We will discuss what adds toxins to your mind and body and how to eliminate them for good. Some aspects of this seminar will discuss how we can establish a healthier way of eating through whole, real, nutrient-rich food. We’ll also look at how eliminating the processed food, that is a normal part of most people’s diets, can help support a clean living lifestyle. We will discuss toxic products we use in the home, vitamins and supplements and many more areas during this seminar.

Years of Service Anniversaries

Congratulations to the following team members who are celebrating Years of Service milestones in the month of June!

5 YEARS

Kyle Snyder | Nova-Tech Engineering

Wayne Knott | PALS

Guadalupe Arroyo | Select Genetics

Jesus Diaz | Select Genetics

SanJuanita Mayen | Select Genetics

Candis Ruiz | Select Genetics

Donald VanSickle | Select Genetics

Juan Espinoza Moreira | Select Genetics

Juan Enrique Renteria | Select Genetics

Marleny Gomez | Select Genetics

Bradley Facile | Turkey Valley Farms

Kyle Kaas | Turkey Valley Farms

Angel De Jesus Cruz | Turkey Valley Farms

Arnold Cruz | Turkey Valley Farms

Josefina Escobar Ramos | Turkey Valley Farms

10 YEARS

Michael Sondrol | Nova-Tech Engineering

Thomas Ost | Nova-Tech Engineering

Keith Cook | Select Genetics

Joey Sedillo | Select Genetics

Roberto Soria Avila | Select Genetics

15 YEARS

Ruth Ann Holthouse | Life-Science Innovations

Orville Maldonado Morales | Select Genetics

Daniel Acosta Garcia | Select Genetics

Felimon Pineda Vega | Select Genetics

20 YEARS

Kevin Haugen | Farm Service Elevator

Openings

Current status of all organizational openings.

Position	Company	Phase	Current Status	Contact

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Welcome New Employees

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Employee Count

As of 6/16/23 we have 2,105 employees

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Human Resources is a 360 degree business partner with our family of affiliates to attract, engage, retain and develop our most valuable resource: our people.  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

320.222.9750 and select Human Resources, option 1