David Duncan presents service award to Shelton Williams

A lot can happen in 35 years. Over the course of 35 years, the Imperial Sugar Company (ISC) has evolved with the times by integrating automated equipment in their packaging facilities, by capitalizing on internet-based media as a way to increase brand recognition, and by diversifying their product base. Some ISC employees have been with the company through all of these changes; Grayland Allen, Haywood Batiste, Dennis Roper, and Shelton Williams of ISC’s Gramercy, La. packaging facility are among such employees.

For these four ISC employees, this year marks a milestone few may ever expect to achieve: 35 years of service with a single company. To express their gratitude, ISC recently presented these employees with awards commemorating the anniversary.

ISC has long been committed to recognizing employee achievements and to finding ways to show their appreciation. The practice of presenting personnel with awards for years of service has been in place at ISC’s Sugarland, Texas. facility for at least 32 years now. ISC’s Gramercy, La. and Port Wentworth, Ga. locations adopted this tradition more recently in 2007. The awards are given for every five years of service, so employees celebrating their first five years with ISC, as well as those as those celebrating 35 years, are all given an opportunity to be acknowledged and thanked.

Grayland Allen with his plaque that recognizes his 35 years of service with Imperial Sugar Company

As tokens of the company’s gratitude, ISC presents each employee—from office staff to line operators—with an honorary plaque and a keychain featuring the Imperial Sugar insignia. On this occasion, employees receiving awards are also able select items from a catalogue which suit their personal interests and hobbies. The catalogue offers several fine goods including upscale ladies handbags, to portable navigational systems, to smokers for the culinary-inclined. Haywood Batiste, a shipping forklift operator at Gramercy, selected a navigational system for his truck; Grayland Allen, a Bosch line operator and mechanic, chose a digital camera.

David Duncan, Gramercy’s plant manager, personally presented each of these individuals with their awards.

One of this year’s recipients of the 35 years of service award, Dennis Roper, a bin operator at the Gramercy plant however, points out that ISC is very conscientious to “recognize their employees and the different steps people make, not only at these events but continuously and throughout their careers.”

David Duncan congratulates Dennis Roper with a plaque honoring his 35 years of service.

In addition to Grayland, Haywood, Dennis, and Shelton, several other members of the Gramercy team were also honored this year for their service; these employees included Marcia Tolito (5 years), Shannon Dumas (10 years), Lorrane Washington (10 years), David Keller (10 years), Darrell Hidalgo (15 years), Douglas Oubre (15 years), Christine Becnel (25 years), Karen Howard (30 years), and Lazin Grow (30 years).

If 35 years of service were not impressive enough, Keith Griffin, the human resources manager for Gramercy notes that when considered together, all of these employees’ years with ISC amounts to an astounding 290 years of service.

With so many other companies experiencing high employee turnover, some might wonder how ISC retains such dedicated employees. One way is as Dennis Roper previously stated: by continuously recognizing employee achievement through programs like the years of service awards.

On November 20, 2011, The Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship invited John Sheptor, President and CEO for the Imperial Sugar Company (ISC) to share his experiences with students and members of the greater Houston community. In his presentation, Sheptor offered his perspective on topics such as unlocking the value of a unique idea, extracting results from vision, building a capable team, finding the optimum pathway and preparing adequate resources for the journey. Sheptor’s talk testified to the criticality of students’ studies in finance-related fields, and it further provided them with an occasion to take knowledge obtained in the classroom and translate it in terms of “real world” situations.

Sheptor’s address, which was titled, “Entrepreneurial Success – A Roadmap For The Journey,” conveyed to the event’s attendees that his talk would likely inspire intrigue and questions for their professors to wrestle with in the coming weeks. Sheptor stressed that cash planning, management of the company’s culture and competitor scenario analysis were equally as important as the core business plan. He encouraged entrepreneurs to pursue ideas that had broad targets rather than narrowly defined customers requiring perfect execution. Sheptor emphasized that the entrepreneur will spend as much time with their financial sponsors and stakeholders as they will in pursuing their idea demanding finance and social skills. He concluded his remarks giving Imperial Sugar Company examples of entrepreneurial actions related to business transformation.

The lecture was featured as part of the college’s Distinguished Entrepreneur Speaker Series. In the past the series has headlined several other notable business leaders such as Michael C. Linn, Chairperson and CEO for Linn Energy who served as the keynote speaker in 2009, and more recently in 2010, Dr. Bernard Harris, a former astronaut and successful entrepreneur. Following the format several previous speakers have adopted, Sheptor spoke candidly and openly on both the challenges and successes of entrepreneurship. As Ken Jones, Director of the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston notes, “Mr. Sheptor utilized the Imperial Sugar Company as a great case study for facing challenges and how one can respond to them.”

With a turn-out of over 150 attendees, the presentation proved to be relevant to a diverse audience and applicable to a variety of entrepreneurial enterprises. Jones remarks on the ability for audience members to relate to Sheptor’s talk commenting, “Although Imperial Sugar is a large company, Mr. Sheptor is still faced with many of the same entrepreneurial challenges as someone who is managing a much smaller company or just starting out.”

Audience members were able to ask Sheptor questions specific to their own interests during his talk and in the question and answer session following which in turn, created a more conversational atmosphere. Not only did Sheptor make himself available on a more personal level throughout his presentation, he also attended the reception held prior to the speaking engagement and stayed following the event to talk with interested students. In one-on-one interactions with students and business-interested individuals, Sheptor allowed for his experiences to serve as learning resources for future entrepreneurs.

Jim Flynn

According to Jim Flynn, Business Unit Leader at ISC’s Port Wentworth refinery, the first classes offered to the lead operators provided a basic introduction to Microsoft’s Outlook application.

Flynn pointed out that previously these employees had limited access to computers during their work day. As a result, the lead operators did not provide regular production updates after each shift due to lack of an efficient method to deliver information. ISC decided to make computers available to the lead operators, presenting them with an effective means of regularly communicating with their supervisors about conditions in their areas of the refinery. Therefore, it was critical that these employees be taught basic computer skills.

Flynn disclosed that many of the lead operators took advantage of the classes. In fact, the response was so positive that ISC decided to also offer these same workers the opportunity to take classes in Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program which allows an individual to enter numerical values or data into the rows or columns of a spreadsheet, and to use these numerical entries for such things as calculations, graphs and statistical analysis.

Previously, only the process engineers delivered reports in Excel.

Since the classes were offered, Flynn notes that many of the lead operators are generating their own reports and graphs which track the process in their area.

The refinery has two 12 hour shifts that begin at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Now, after each shift change, Flynn receives summaries from the lead operators of the four different areas of the refinery; reports he was not receiving prior to the inception of the computer training classes. Flynn boasts that he can view the summaries remotely from his Blackberry and review the details on what happened during the shift and address any outstanding issues on a timely basis.

“It’s truly a sign of dedication to their jobs that many of the lead operators took the initiative to prepare reports on their own,” said Flynn. “These reports are important to production management and provide me with a much better flow of information, allowing me to look more closely at how certain units in the refinery are operating.”

Billy McGrath

Billy McGrath and Kerry Menaeche are two lead operators who have begun preparing Excel reports since completing the class. Flynn adds that the graphs and charts in the reports provided by the lead operators are remarkable considering they only recently learned how to use Excel.

The computer training classes were offered through Savannah Technical College. The lead operators weren’t required to take the classes, but were strongly encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity. Many of them quickly realized that strong computer skills would position them for success and future advancement in their careers.

Due to the popularity of the classes, the company has been asked to offer additional computer training classes, which it plans to do. Flynn shares that ISC will offer the lead operators who completed the introductory Excel class the chance to take a more advanced class.

Jeff Fell, Manager HRMS and eBusiness Applications

Jeff Fell, Manager HRMS and eBusiness Applications at ISC, is the person responsible for developing the “rapid entry” application for entering orders. According to Fell, the company receives orders via fax and email from numerous industrial customers that many times call for multiple shipments of the same product. He provides an example of one food manufacturer who emailed the Customer Service Department to order ten loads of Blackstrap Molasses, requesting the delivery of two loads per day. Fell points out that prior to this application the Customer Service Representative, or CSR, would need to key in ten individual orders, each one taking about 45-60 seconds. This may not seem like much time but it does add up and takes away precious time that the CSR can devote to numerous other necessary tasks and projects.

“Prior to the new application, the tedious part of the process was the CSR inputting the same information over and over since the only components that would change from order to order were the customer purchase order (PO) information and the order delivery date,” said Fell. “It was because of this issue that Customer Service came to MIS seeking a better way to perform this process and ‘build a better mousetrap’.”

Fell explains that ISC receives similar orders from customers via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). With EDI, the customer’s financial system sends the Customer Service Department orders electronically. ISC’s system receives the electronic information and converts it into orders, performing the majority of the work.

“My idea was to leverage this same technology and create an application where the CSR keys in just the basic information and then converts that into an EDI transaction for our system to ‘receive and process into an order,” Fell states. “It was more effective to leverage the server’s horsepower instead of bogging down the CSR.”

Fell goes on to add that industrial customers normally order the same product on an ongoing basis which required inputting repetitive customer information each time. Now, thanks to the application, when the CSR keys in the customer’s number, the application retrieves all the pertinent information from the last order and pre-populates the transaction, saving precious time and resources.

Cindy Trejo, Senior Customer Service Manager

According to Cindy Trejo, Senior Customer Service Manager for ISC, in the first couple hours of using the new application, her team of CSRs keyed in 165 orders. She estimates that using the Rapid Entry application shaved approximately 60 minutes off the process.

“It has helped tremendously with the order entry portion of the job and allows us to devote the time to performing other critical tasks,” says Trejo. “I’m ecstatic with what Jeff has created. The best part is that the program is so easy to use that I could teach my ten year-old grandson how to do it. He minimized the key strokes that were required making it easy to copy information.”

Fell concludes by saying, “Helping people do their job more effectively is the best part of being an application developer.”

5S Team (l-r) Brian Crowley, Louis Shackleford, Darren Pevey, Thierry Radar, Carl Smith, Candler Seckinger, and Coty Mock

This team is comprised of a diverse group of individuals who bring with them a variety of skills and talents; Rick Berry, Brian Crowley, Tony Holmes, Donald Hudson, Coty Mock, Darren Pevey, Robert Seagraves, Candler Seckinger, Louis Shackleford, Carl Smith, Al Stuart, and Thierry Radar, along with the site continuous improvement manager Oliver Raffray, are among the ISC personnel directly involved in the 5S initiative.

The char house serves as a “middle step” in the sugar refining process, in between the melting stage and the crystallization stage. The char house was selected for the 5S intervention due to the difficulty in maintaining the stringent housekeeping standards the company demanded. ISC’s decision to institute the 5S program was motivated by an unwavering commitment to promoting safety and productivity in the workplace, and to meeting and exceeding consumer expectations through efficient production practices.

The term “5S” refers to a Japanese system for achieving and maintaining order, particularly in the workplace. The idea behind this methodology is that standard processes and standard measures of organization can help workers develop a workplace of order and efficiency. Each of the ‘S’s of the 5S directive represents a step for employees take to collectively improve the quality of their working environment. The first ‘S’ or step stands for “set” where employees continuously take care to place tools and equipment in designated areas after use. The established homes for each item—from shovels to garbage cans—are clearly demarcated by yellow paint making it easier for employees to determine what goes where.

The “set” or “setting in place” function is arguably the most vital aspect of the 5S initiative. It reduces downtime resulting from time spent trying to locate materials, and it moreover prevents employees from injuring themselves on misplaced articles.

Thierry Radar, an operator working in the char house, comments on the importance of the first S of the 5S approach remarking that, “The visual aid of the yellow paint is ideal because when you’re working hard and focused on a task you’re not always aware of your surroundings. Now, the designated areas not only help improve safety but increase productivity.”

The remaining steps indicate “sort” to discard unused items and eliminate excess clutter, “shine” to regularly clean and polish tools, “standardize” to make sure all employees are following agreed-upon protocols, and lastly, “sustain” to encourage utilizing the 5S principles daily at every shift change.

Rick Berry, a char house operator and the official training leader for the 5S program, emphasizes that the last S of the 5S initiative, “sustain,” is the hardest to maintain since it depends upon constant cooperation on behalf of all char house personnel.

So far the 5S efforts have been directed exclusively towards the north end of the third story of the char house. The competency of the project as demonstrated in this preliminary phase however, is prompting future applications of the 5S program to other areas in the char house. In fact, Raylene Carter, Vice President of Manufacturing for ISC’s Port Wentworth location, was so impressed by the progress made in these initial stages and by the enthusiasm employees expressed towards the project, that she invited former and retired Vice President, Ralph Clements to come and witness firsthand, the improvements in the char house.

For Louis Shackleford in particular, a process one operator working in the char house, the 5S program has had a significant impact on not only his work life, but on his home life as well. As a father of three, he knows well the difficulties of maintaining a household. Louis has recently taught his children the importance of the “set” function, allowing them to easily find their favorite toys and articles of clothing. Clearly, as evinced by Louis’s story, the success of the 5S is resonating with employees at work and beyond.

Project leaders Darren Pevey and Brian Crowley are confident that the 5S will greatly benefit consumers in addition to employees. The 5S orientation is a lean manufacturing methodology, meaning that one of its primary focuses is to signifcantly reduce waste. Waste in the char house assumes the form of both waste in time, also known as “waste in waiting” wherein employees spend time “waiting” to locate misplaced items, and “waste in defects” in which product and tools have to be discarded due to improper or insufficient care. With the advent of the 5S however, and the motto it promotes of “A place for everything and everything in its place,” both types of waste will be drastically reduced and overall refinery capacity and sugar quality will benefit.

With less time and materials being wasted and quality improved, the 5S program assists ISC to be able to provide consumers with their products quicker and with better quality than before. Moreover, consumers can be even more assured that they will receive products of the caliber that the Imperial Sugar Company has come to be known for. The 5S is credited with increasing employee morale in the char house and for continuously encouraging personnel to take pride in their work and that which they produce.

Like ISC, Accredo is based in Sugar Land, Texas and is believed to be the first flexible packaging manufacturing facility in the U.S. granted LEED® Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

LEED® promotes a whole building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health:
1. Sustainable site development
2. Water savings
3. Energy efficiency
4. Material selection
5. Indoor environmental quality

According to Rex Varn, executive vice president of Accredo Packaging, its state-of-the-art flexible packaging converting plant uses 100 percent wind-generated electrical power as well as processes designed to eliminate waste and minimize carbon emissions during the production process. Building materials were sourced locally, and recycled materials were used whenever possible. As a result, everything produced at the facility has a greatly reduced carbon footprint, even when manufactured to the same specifications as at conventional plants.

Furthermore, Varn points out that Accredo Packaging runs exclusively extended color gamut process printing. The proprietary ink delivery system supplies ink directly to the ten-color, 2,000 feet-per-minute printing presses, which reduces ink consumption by up to 35 percent and ink waste by up to 95 percent. Similarly, solvent usage is also significantly reduced.

“We are excited that Imperial Sugar Company has partnered with us to further its goal of lowering the environmental impact of its packaging while producing competitively priced offerings,” said Varn. He added, “Our sustainability efforts feed directly into our customer’s Corporate Social Responsibility objectives.”

Accredo will produce packaging for any ISC product that requires a pouch or poly bag. This will include the new 2-pound pouch for Steviacane® that is set to launch later this year, which will provide consumers with more ease of use.

ISC worked with the National Safety Council based in South Carolina to develop a safety leadership training course specifically for the company. The Safety Leadership Training Class was broken down into three parts: safety leadership; communications; and evaluating and coaching employee safety behavior. Joel Zeringue, Safety Supervisor at Gramercy, was a member of the ISC team that helped with the development of the training class.

During the interactive training course, participants set goals, completed tasks, and earned bonus points based on team performance. According to Zeringue, hands-on exercises conducted during the class were useful in identifying the individual communication styles of the participating supervisors and managers.

David Duncan observes while Anthony Mitchell creates a tower out of paper cups.

One of the exercises performed during the communications portion of the class involved blindfolding one of the students. For this exercise, the class was broken down into three teams. In each team, two of the participants were designated as mangers and the third as a worker. The worker was blindfolded and given 50 paper cups that he would use to build a tower under the direction of the two managers. Each team had to state a goal before beginning the exercise. For instance, to build a tower five cups high. The worker had to rely on the communications from the two managers to accomplish this task.

“The training was not only educational but was really fun,” said Zeringue. “The class better equips our leaders to enhance the culture of safety and help take Imperial Sugar to the next level of performance.”

There were a total of ten supervisors and managers from the Gramercy Packaging Facility that participated in the one-day training class. Along with Zeringue, employees receiving certificates of completion from the National Safety Council included: Packaging/Shipping Shift Leaders Butch Bell, Keith Marengo, Jay Matherne, and Anthony Mitchell; Planner/Maintenance Supervisor Todd Chabaud; Plant Manager David Duncan; Human Resources Manager Keith Griffin; E&I Manager Keith Sharp; and Operations/Maintenance Manager Jerry Tolito.

Supervisors and managers at ISC’s Port Wentworth plant have already completed the training.

The certification is significant because it enhances the company’s position as a leader in safety and quality in the sugar industry and provides a reassurance for retailers and food manufacturers of the standards met by ISC as a supplier.

“Imperial Sugar recognizes and appreciates the growing public concern surrounding food and the security of the food supply chain and so we are continually expanding and refining our own internal quality assurance programs to further guarantee our customers receive only the safest and highest quality sugars and sweeteners available in the marketplace,” said John Sheptor, President and CEO of Imperial Sugar Company. “

The SQF Standard enables ISC to certify to its customers that its products are processed, handled and packaged according to the highest possible standards, at all levels of the supply chain. SQF is designed as a food safety program, but it also covers product quality, a feature that is unique to a certification program of this type.

Tom Wilson, Director of Quality, Food Safety and Technical Services

According to Tom Wilson, Director of Director of Quality, Food Safety and Technical Services in order to attain this certification ISC underwent a rigorous internal audit encompassing vendor compliance verification, review of food safety programs such as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), Food Security and Traceability, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Standard Sanitation Operating Procedures (SSOPs), employee hygiene and a site audit. The SQF 2000 code is benchmarked according to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) as compliant with the latest internationally approved standards for food safety and other regulatory requirements.

Wilson goes on to explain that there are three levels of SQF and the Port Wentworth plant has achieved the second level. He adds that SQF is the certification recognized by most customers in the U.S. both on the retail and industrial side and means that ISC has identified the food safety risks in its processes and has a protocol in place to address those risks.

“By having an outside firm do the audit, we save the customer the time and expense of doing their own audit,” says Wilson. “We have the information from the SQF audit and we can release this information to our customers upon request. It makes us more attractive as a supplier and adds value in the eyes of many manufacturers.”

Sheptor also remarked, “This certification highlights the level of achievement we strive for every day in our business and it clearly verifies that we have comprehensive safety control systems that have been effectively designed, implemented and maintained.”

Robert Burch and Chris Gordon attend the first CFA "Train the Trainer" class held by ISC

The training class was coordinated by Olivier Raffray, Continuous Improvement Manager for ISC. In the past, the company has done CFA training conducted by Hagen Co, but this was the first “Train the Trainer” class that ISC organized. According to Raffray, “The complete ownership of the CFA process by ISC will provide us with independence and autonomy. This effort will help us speak the same language, and will ensure that all ISC employees are trained to understand and implement good problem solving techniques. This effort will bring consistency and effectiveness to our problem solving abilities”. Raffray added, “By utilizing a single problem solving approach, regardless of the type of issue, we will be able to move to an efficient problem solving culture and make improvements to our business.”

Control Factor Analysis® and Line Control Optimization are improvement tools that fit perfectly in the Six Sigma philosophy. CFA™ is typically used in the “Analyze” phase of DMAIC, and allows us to identify the factors that control a particular parameter that is under evaluation.

A total of seven employees from both the Port Wentworth and Gramercy facilities were selected to attend the class. These employees represented a broad cross-section of the various departments and functions at the plants. They also represented a strong blend of long-time employees and several who recently joined the company as a way to ensure different perspectives. Now that the class is complete and the team has been certified as CFA trainers, they will be tasked with teaching the methodology to the entire facility, and will be responsible to maintain rigor to the process.

Sonja Jonas and Robyn Sevier

Robyn Sevier, Laboratory Supervisor at the Port Wentworth plant had this to say about the class. “I was very excited to be selected as one of the site trainers for this methodology. The ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions were very informative and allowed me to understand this methodology from a different viewpoint – the trainer’s viewpoint. I am looking forward to working with the other trainers in teaching this methodology.”

The training was done over a two week period. In addition to Raffray and Sevier, the first class of trainers who completed the class included: Sonja Jonas, Refinery Manager – Port Wentworth; Robert Burch, Process Engineer Team Leader – Port Wentworth; Chris Gordon, Senior Process Engineer – Port Wentworth; Mike Arnsdroff, Production Planner – Port Wentworth; and Joel Zeringue, Safety Supervisor – Gramercy.

Pictured (l-r) Ann Taylor, Kirsten Tucker, Chef Eddy Van Damme, Jeana Handley, Ron Handley, and Donna Butler

This September, several eager dessert enthusiasts and fans of Imperial Sugar had an opportunity to spend a day in the kitchen with award-winning pastry chef Eddy Van Damme and learn how to prepare a small number of select, gourmet pastries and confections.

A few of the attendees were the winners of the “Win a Day with Chef Eddy” sweepstakes held by Imperial Sugar Company (ISC). Chef Eddy, an instructor in the pastry program at Houston Community College, is recognized as the culinary voice of Imperial Sugar. In this role, he frequently engages with loyal customers during special events and promotions by demonstrating recipes for a range of desserts using a variety of sugars and sweeteners made by ISC. The chef also works closely with the company to test and promote recipes using new and innovate sweeteners developed by ISC, including Steviacane® and NatureWise™ Monk Fruit Sweetener.

“Imperial Sugar is proud of our ongoing relationship with Chef Eddy,” said Hyuna Lee, Senior Marketing Manager for ISC. “Because of his strong dedication to culinary excellence, he best represents the high level of quality products and customer service we provide our customers, which are hallmarks of the Imperial Sugar tradition.”

Jeana Handley, Ron Handley and Kirsten Tucker skillfully piping chocolate into small mounds for Belgian Truffles.

The full-day event took place in the instructional kitchen at Sur La Table in Houston. Through hands-on demonstrations, Chef Eddy taught the class how to prepare several epicurean treats, including Belgian Truffles, an almond tart filled with Mascarpone cream, and nougatine slivers dipped in home-made chocolate, all made with Imperial Sugar sweeteners.

“My partnership with Imperial Sugar continually provides me with an opportunity to share my knowledge of baking techniques and quality ingredients, like Imperial Sugar, with not just culinary students, but those home bakers that wish to serve their families the best desserts possible,” said Chef Eddy.

Chef Eddy began the day by teaching the class how to make invert sugar, a necessary ingredient for the Belgian Truffles. As the class prepared to begin making the truffles, Chef Eddy shared his knowledge of chocolates and how to select the best varieties for baking and confections. He admits that working and/ or tempering chocolate seems to be one of the harder tasks for his students to master so he finds it helpful to share his knowledge and techniques whenever he can.

The students had an opportunity to flaunt their technical abilities when it came time to pipe the chocolate into small mounds for the truffles. Ann Taylor from Houston, a winner of the sweepstakes, seemed concerned at first about piping the chocolate but her apprehension was unfounded as she produced a tray of well-formed chocolate balls.

Chef Eddy provides instruction on how to roll the dough for the almond tarts.

When it came time to roll the dough for the almond tart shells, Chef Eddy shared some useful tips and techniques, including the best surfaces on which to roll the dough – a wood cutting- board or a cool, marble surface. Kirsten Tucker, another winner of the “Win a Day with Chef Eddy” sweepstakes, proved to be a fast learner as she expertly rolled out several near-perfect tart shells.

Attendees to this special class also joined Chef Eddy for lunch and dinner at two popular Houston restaurants, providing an intimate forum to glean further instructive information from the chef.

The best part of the pastry class took place at the end of the day when the group had a chance to taste their own creations.

According to Chef Eddy, “It is always a pleasure when you can demonstrate first-hand how simple it is to create a number of delicious desserts following a few simple techniques and using Imperial Sugar.”

This supply agreement follows the launch earlier this summer of ISC’s NatureWise™ Sweeteners brand of products that were introduced to respond to the growing demand from food manufacturers and retailers for great tasting, all-natural, low caloric sweeteners to replace artificial ingredients currently being used. With the debut of NatureWise™ Monk Fruit Sweetener, it became imperative that ISC secure a reliable source of high-quality monk fruit.

“As we continue to create innovative new alternatives to high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, partnering with reputable suppliers of high quality ingredients becomes paramount to the company’s continued growth and success,” said John Sheptor, President and CEO of Imperial Sugar Company.

Oregon-based Amax NutraSource has been involved in the dietary supplement industry since 1995 and has gone on to achieve great success as a leading supplier of botanical extracts, including monk fruit. It has been a pioneer in the standardization of extracts and has led the way in bringing a scientific rigor to the extraction and formulation processes in the industry. Amax offers a full line of natural sweeteners, a complete line of certified organic vegetable concentrates and over 20 different varieties of tea extracts.

Imperial Sugar has partnered with Amax due to the suppliers exclusive contract with a Chinese manufacturer of FDA GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) approved monk fruit. Amax is one of only two distributors of FDA GRAS approved monk fruit in the U.S.

Larry Martinez, President of Amax NutraSource, Inc.

“It is a privilege to be selected as supplier for Imperial Sugar’s new Monk Fruit Sweetener,” stated Larry Martinez, President of Amax NutraSource, Inc. “With their patented compound crystallization process and the tremendous support and technology from our valued partnership in China, I believe Imperial Sugar will bring an exciting lower calorie sweetener to the market which consumers have been demanding.”

Monk Fruit is an intensely sweet fruit grown on steep mountainsides primarily in the Guangxi Province in the People’s Republic of China. Thomas Rathke, Senior Director Engineering and Specialty Sales for ISC, notes that monk fruit contains a sweetness and flavor profile similar to sugar and, therefore, has the potential to be much more widely accepted for its sweetening properties than other natural products currently available. “The market opportunities for monk fruit are tremendous as manufacturers of beverages and functional foods continue to seek alternatives to traditional, artificial sweeteners,” said Rathke.

The fruit has been used for centuries in Asia but in the 1990’s Procter & Gamble patented a process for the extraction of Mogrosides, specifically Mogroside V, which is the compound in the fruit which is intensely sweet. At that time, Amax NutraSource was selected as the exclusive distributor of P & G’s patented monk fruit product and well as their patented green tea extract.

For regulatory reasons, the patented monk fruit extraction was produced in a concentrated liquid form which contained a content of 2-4 percent Mogroside V. Over the past ten years, Amax NutraSource’s partner in China has developed technology to produce a dry extract concentrate containing significantly higher levels of Mogroside V content , including a 55 percent Mogroside V Monk Fruit Extract which was submitted to the FDA in its GRAS application. This extract is approximately 220 times sweeter than sugar, is much more user friendly as a sweetener than earlier versions of the extract, and contains the highest Mogroside V content of the two FDA GRAS approved monk fruit extracts on the market.

Steve Light, Business Development Manager for Amax NutraSource, notes that GRAS approval by the FDA was necessary for the powder to gain acceptance by the food industry. This recognition is critical to food and beverage manufacturers because it indicates the product is safe as a food additive.

Only two manufacturers in China, where monk fruit is grown, have received GRAS approval. Amax is aligned with one of these manufacturers and has worked with this company for the past 13 years.

Gail Lange, who oversees new business development for ISC, is currently working with food scientists and technologists with a wide variety of food and beverage manufacturers to test the Monk Fruit Sweetener in their products.

When asked about the possibility of working with Amax to develop new sweeteners for the market, Lange responds that the company brings another level to the partnership that goes beyond just a supplier. “Amax has established a core group of ingredients which ISC is interested in using like anti-oxidants and the company has the ability to demonstrate functionality of these ingredients and work with ISC to possibly bring new innovations to the market,” said Lange.

In addition to the agreement, ISC is working on several initiatives with Amax. They will be joining the company at its booth at the Supply Side West Expo in Las Vegas in early October. ISC will be demonstrating its monk fruit product at the booth and will feature food items made with the sweetener. There is also discussion about working together to do some promotional webinars and other promotions to show how monk fruit can be used in different applications.

All enterprises must transform their culture from time to time to sustain their competitive advantage. Whether the motivation is externally or internally initiated, the consequence for not changing is predictably negative. Emerging technologies, economic trends, new competitors, changing consumer interests, legislation, personnel losses, financial constraints and countless other stimulants demand a response. Acting quickly and decisively often makes the difference between sustained success and demise.

Culture, however, is not where the enterprise should begin its make-over. Change should always be driven by strategy. Thus, new direction must be defined by strategic analysis. The in-depth assessment of competitive alternatives will lead to fine tuning of the existing strategy or a radical rewrite. Once the strategy has been vetted and confirmed with key stakeholders, leadership must put in place an operational or execution plan to enable the enterprise to successfully create value in this new chapter of its journey.

A key component of the execution plan is molding a culture that enables optimal results. Often this shifting of norms is received with opposition within and outside of the organization. This must be measured and countered as part of the go-forward plan. All elements of the culture must be tested against the requirements of the new strategy and reformed, replaced or sustained based upon the future needs of the enterprise.

Culture is a byproduct of how employees interact with each other and how they work independently. This is strongly influenced by business processes, reward systems and communication mechanisms. Equally as important are previous employee experiences and the origin and length of life of the status quo.

Transforming a culture is a demanding and time-consuming responsibility of leadership. It requires regular presence, frequent dialogue with work teams and sustained resolve. The time required to reach the new culture state will almost always be correlated with the quality of the planning and how the plan is initiated with the organization more so than the depth of change. Poor execution will alienate employees from their leaders and fracture the most important organization dynamic during a period of change – trust. Regaining momentum can be exhausting once lost and derail the entire pursuit of new strategy.

Culture transformation begins with leadership defining the requirements to achieve success in the new strategy and benefits from that success that can be shared. Those requirements will in turn be used to define the personnel talents and experiences that must be present to succeed and how those individuals or groups must interact with each other and external stakeholders to be effective and efficient. Defining shared benefits will give rise to the critically important answer to the question, “why should I change?”

Leadership must assess its talent pool and experience base against these requirements and develop a recruiting plan to ensure the organization is prepared to be successful. New members of the team should if at all possible come from the culture that leadership aspires to create and have benefited previously from succeeding in it. This will become particularly important as the plan is executed.

The culture execution plan will consist of a timeline including milestones, recruiting plan, communication plan, organization structure changes, implementation of new delegations of authority and responsibilities, decision making mechanisms, policy and procedure changes, training plans and implementation of new rewards systems. Enterprise priorities, values and norms will be clearly articulated and illustrated in the plan. The change road map must be universally embraced by leadership prior to taking the first step. A united front is essential to achieve a successful culture transformation.

The change process must begin with the principle leader declaring to the organization that change is required for the enterprise to succeed. This communication must be in person to as many employees as possible simultaneously and clearly define the new vision and strategy for the enterprise. Consequences for not heeding this call to action must be illustrated but shadowed in comparison with the benefits for achieving this transformation. Employees must be congratulated for their previous success and invited to join the principle leader in embracing this new journey.

New employees will have already entered the organization prior to this declaration, prepped for this change process and grounded with their new teams. Their preparation is critical to successful execution as they will become the principle spokespersons in favor of change from within the organization as they will credibly be able to share their previous experiences. Equally as important, key employees who are the “keepers of the status quo” must be approached early on by leadership to invite them to be part of the change process.

The energy required to successfully transform a culture comes from individual employee choice to join the new journey. They cannot be forced to change because doing so extinguishes their creativity and innovation; both essential to execution of novel strategy leading to competitive advantage. Thus, leadership must “invite” and not push. The quality of the articulation of the vision and strategy and trust in the leader must inspire this individual choice. When change from the status quo is declared as being required, the initial response of the majority of employees will be to seek security. They will look to those who they trust and follow their lead.

Early adopters will join not even knowing or understanding the details or requirements of such a decision. They form an early cheering squad but rarely represent sufficient numbers to move the organization. The same is true for those who will never let go of the status quo. They will passionately oppose the change and make their own declarations for why change will bring peril and why staying the course will continue to result in repeated success. These employees can only be disempowered by the mass themselves by choosing to not listen to them. If leadership openly opposes them it will only give them more credibility.

Leadership must be ever-present during this period of choosing if they wish to be trusted. A choice to follow will only be made if leaders are seen to have already chosen to go forward, new employees are embellishing the positive attributes of the new culture and the perceived individual benefits outweigh the risk of trying something new. The new vision and strategy must be reinforced by all layers of management and supported with communication materials and visuals. Leadership actions must be persistently consistent with the vision, strategy and new culture norms and values. Deviations will be rewarded with hesitance by the mass and with attention given to those reinforcing the status quo.

Early change must be celebrated and recognized to catalyze organization confidence. Milestones must be frequent at first with lower horizons to facilitate change process success and strengthened with time as momentum builds. New behaviors must be practiced in exaggerated regularity for them to be adopted as new norms and heritage approaches must be saluted and laid to rest in honor.

Change will crescendo throughout the organization building to a majority of converts. Along this path choosing will empower ownership by the employees and leadership must relinquish its control of the change process and assume their higher role of oversight. Not doing so will slow the pace of change and potentially stop it completely. Directing must become coaching for complete transformation to be culminated. The new culture will only be sustainable, cohesive and optimized if it belongs to the employees as their new chosen “status quo”.

The importance of an aligned culture to the success of new strategy must not be underestimated. Attempting to launch the go-to-market enhancements ahead of the readiness and commitment of the organization can be disastrous even if the strategy is perfectly envisioned. The ultimate success of the enterprise will rise and fall based upon the choices of the employees to follow its leadership and to work together in the manner required. Culture is always authored by its members.

Brian Crowley

The BEC events are strategically designed in a way that promotes equipment reliability and accordingly, increased productivity. Prior to performing a BEC audit—which typically lasts 2-3 days—event leaders like Refinery Manager, Brian Crowley, compile a diverse team of operators, mechanics, supervisors, and other consultants. This team then reviews productivity data in order to determine which pieces of equipment are presenting a significant negative impact on desired output goals.

Once the team ascertains which piece of equipment is most in need of attention, they then inquire into whether or not it is a “bottleneck” part of the system—“bottleneck” meaning that its daily operation is integral to maintaining proper production rates.

In the event that ISC personnel conclude that they can afford to take this piece of equipment offline in order to perform preventive maintenance without negatively affecting production rates, they outline in advance, what supplies will be required; necessary supplies range from cleaning tools such as brooms, squeegees, and pressure washers, to replacement parts required for optimal functioning. From there, the entire team involved in the BEC event gathers in a classroom setting to prepare for the inspection and review the intended course of action.

Following the inspection, team members generate maintenance work orders based on their findings. The most recent BEC audit for example, performed on the J-Press No. 2 machine, resulted in 100 work orders. At the moment, nearly 70 percent of these work orders are complete with the remainder waiting on delivery of parts.

The BEC inspections and the subsequent fulfillment of work orders are not only crucial to the maintenance of a productive working environment, but a safe one as well. Routine inspections like the BEC audits provide an opportunity to preemptively identify any potential hazards to products and to employees.

Those who participated in the BEC events reported yet another benefit of the program: specifically, a feeling of camaraderie among employees. Brian attributes this sentiment to an “alignment of viewpoints and mutual understanding which is geared towards solving a common problem.”

Employee morale is further bolstered by the fact that ISC personnel can see a tangible, positive correlation between their efforts via the BEC events and improved productivity—especially with respect to increased sugar throughput per day.

Photo taken after a BEC audit

The BEC events allow for ISC personnel who may not come into contact with another on a daily basis to work side-by-side—from electricians, to operators, from mechanics to management. Structuring the BEC team in such a diverse fashion enables all members of the team to learn from one another.

It also serves as an occasion for management to hear firsthand the concerns of employees working in other areas of the refinery. With respect to his own participation in the BEC initiative, Brian says that “I think it demonstrates our shared commitment to ISC’s bottom line when others see that we actually deliver on their recommendations.”

The BEC events then promote not only productivity and safety, but also fellowship within the ISC community.

Ralph Quigley

Once again, an employee of Imperial Sugar Company (ISC) has received the impressive Director’s Award given by the Cane Sugar Refiners’ Institute. Ralph Quigley, a Senior Process Engineer at ISC’s Port Wentworth plant, was the recipient of this year’s award.

The Cane Sugar Refiners’ Institute met for two weeks this July at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. The prestigious Director’s Award goes to the student with the highest academic achievement. Quigley has been an engineer for 30 years and joined Imperial last August. It is a remarkable achievement for him to have received this award having been in the sugar industry for less than one year.

The Institute is administered by the Office of Continuing Education and directed by Dr. Robert Falgout, a retired professor in the Nicholls Department of Agriculture. The program is comprised of two weeks of intense, day long instruction sessions on the various and timely topics of each aspect of sugar production. An exam is given after each topic.

“One of the best topics presented during the program was that of Energy Economy, which is basically thermodynamics,” Quigley explains. “The professor for this course was excellent. He presented the difficult content of this class in a clear and concise format and then applied it to sugar refining. I found it to be outstanding.”

Each year, ISC identifies qualified employees at the plant who would benefit from the course and asks that they attend. This is part of the company’s commitment to better position the company and its employees for growth and success.

According to Quigley, there were 31 students who attended the course and 19 of the participants were from companies outside the U.S. The attendees are primarily engineers but there are operations, maintenance and sales professionals who attend the Institute as well.

Ralph Quigley with summer intern Daniel Delpino

The Process Engineering Group at the Port Wentworth plant has created a bit of a legacy around the Director’s Award. Three out of the four engineers currently in the group have won the coveted industry award. Last year, Robert Burch, Team Leader for the Process Engineering Group, brought back the award. In the 1994 class, Chris Gordon, another Senior Process Engineer, and who Quigley credits with helping him prepare for the program, also received the honor for academic excellence.

“With Burch and Gordon having previously won the honor, they jokingly told me not to come back without the award,” says Quigley. “I had to take the challenge seriously,” he laughs.

Along with Quigley, several other ISC employees attended the Institute including: Jim Flynn, Operations Manager; Bryan Crowley, Refinery Manager; Sonja Jonas, Refinery Manager; and Seena Mehrabanzad, Process Engineer.

“Dr. Falgout indicated that this was perhaps one of the best classes that has ever attended the program,” say Quigley. “Fifteen out of the 31 attendees made 90 percent or better. It was a very competitive class and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend.”