Innovation and Excellence in preparation of HPAI

      by Ben Wileman

Two of our company values are Innovation and Excellence.  The pictures you see are of several of our employees being led by Mark Anderson and Craig Frederick that are part of an elite response team called SIAT that exemplify these two values perfectly.  If I tell you what SIAT stands for I will have to kill you so that is all the info you get!  This was a project related to our company’s HPAI preparedness plan that these two guys took on themselves and absolutely ran with and it turned out better than if I was involved!  Truly!  It has been one of the most fun things I have seen out of our company as they were given a goal, or at least a concept, and then they took off with it and championed it and designed it and built it and recruited others to be on the team of it and set up a trial run for it.  The system is designed to give us another option to use for the depopulation of HPAI infected flocks, if needed, so that we don’t get as far behind in depopulation as we did earlier this spring.  As you can see by the pictures this system is designed for depopulation of turkeys which means we also must also pay close attention to worker safety in the process and you can see Ryan Gonnerman and Craig Frederick doing their best SCUBA Steve impressions when they entered the barn to clear the barn of the CO2 gas to ensure it was safe to remove the equipment.  This was a dry run, meaning no birds were involved but the system worked excellent and will be a great asset.  We also included Brian Ziemer from the MPTL and some Jeannie-O employees as observers in our exercise further demonstrating our excellence and innovation here in Minnesota.  This crew deserves a thanks or high five next time you see them as they are our own, in-house, special forces group that will do more training on other depopulation methods and be tasked to carry out those not-so-fun duties in the event of an HPAI outbreak for our company.  God bless SIAT and God bless the USA!

Virginia Breakroom

We have a message from Susan Mathias (Ag Forte HR Generalist) of the Virginia Hatchery:

We are working one less day of production due to the egg shortages, but our employees are working hard to help do some overdue building updates. Currently we’ve painted our break room and the changes are drastic and cool!  We researched colors that inspire and energize employees for work break rooms, and the pics will show the outcome! It has over all been enthusiastically accepted and one employee even commented that he feels “energized” now when he’s on his break which was the precise response we were going for!!!

So here are the pics from our break room. It went from a cream based neutral to a gray with a bright yellow stripe and bright orange accent walls… It’s still a work in progress with touching up the door paint and cleaning the ceiling tiles. But WOW what a difference, huh?

We are also on our second photo contest. We are having a photo contest near the end of each season that depicts that season. For example, we are accepting entries till next week for “Summer” themed photos.  The theory is that when you have a room that has no windows or outside natural light, pictures of nature will boost people’s morale.

The employees vote on a winner and the winning photo gets blown up into a poster and framed and hung in the break room as well as a gift card of some sort.  We already had a “Spring” winner but just need to rehang it after the painting is complete (see attached photo). The first winner was Patsy Baughman and she won a $25 gift card to WoodGrill. The “Summer” winner will win a $25 gift card to a locally owned hardware store.

The employees seem to enjoy the voting and participation has increased since the first one and I’m already receiving photos for Fall and Winter!

Farewell Benny

Below are the pics from Benny Armstrong’s (Ag Forte East Service Room supervisor) farewell lunch on Thursday 9/17/2015. His team ordered pizza for everyone and had cake as well.  The chocolate iced brownie has “You Are Dead To Us Now” on it and decorated with little plastic figures’ body parts for a “Walking Dead” theme of which Benny is a die-hard fan!  He also received some Walking Dead figures and bobble-heads from some co-workers.

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Employee Announcements

 

Congratulations

to John Beckman for 35 years with Willmar Logistics.

 Congratulations

to Pablo Ossa and Fernanda Letelier on the birth of their daughter Victoria. Victoria was born on September 29th. Pablo is a Research Scientist for LSI R&D.

 

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HR/Employee Services

The Human Resources/Employee Services Team specializes in benefits and payroll, compliance and policy, employee relations, ag-recruiting, 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 employee.services@life-scienceinnovations.com or give us a call at

320.222.9515 or 888.320.9750 extension 2515

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Recruiting Corner

Hello from Michelle Falling, MN Affiliates Recruiting Specialist

The best way to apply or inquire about opportunities is through the Employment Page on our website.  It’s updated at least once a week!

You are welcome to contact me with any questions you have regarding the new opportunities posted or if you want to talk through your career goals here at michelle.falling@life-scienceinnovations.com | or just give me a call at O: (320) 222-9790  M: (320) 441-8596.  Thanks for trusting me to help you through the process!

 

Openings

Current status of all organizational openings.

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Welcome New Employees

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Turkey Recipes & Tips!

Grilled Lasagna Turkey Burger

If you have any home brew turkey recipes please send them over and we’ll include them in an upcoming update!

 

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Employee Count

As of 10/06/15 we have 1613 employees