Sticking to It

At Tyson Foods, Inc., all management personnel, including CEO Donnie Smith, are birds of a uniform feather.

"We all wear khaki to show that we are working managers and not afraid to get our hands dirty," reports Russell Gayer, manager of Tyson Printing Services (TPS).

Tyson prides itself, not only on the work ethic of its employees, but also their ability to work cooperatively, both internally and with supplier partners and customers. Cooperation, communication and care help Tyson maintain its competitive edge as one of the world's largest processors of chicken, beef and pork.

The company counts on TPS as an integral part of the Tyson team. Operating out of a 45,000-square-foot shop right down the street from Tyson's corporate headquarters in Springdale, Ark., the in-plant consists of 54 employees led by Gayer.

TPS specializes in the production of pressure-sensitive labels, and prints approximately 35 percent of Tyson's labels. The rest are outsourced to suppliers (including Multi-Color and Omni Systems).

"From a risk management standpoint, we don't want all of our eggs in one basket," Gayer notes. Tyson outsources all other packaging.

Gayer categorizes the relationship between TPS and Tyson's other label providers as complementary rather than adversarial.

"Our niche is short-run, quick turnaround and they are better suited for longer runs, which would bottleneck our operation," he explains.

Well-appreciated In-plant

Gayer is confident that the in-plant is positioned properly and securely. "Our ability to manufacture labels at significantly less than market price due to low overhead—and drive those savings to the bottom line—has led to a greater appreciation of the in-plant by executive management and a willingness to invest in the business," says Gayer. "And, being in the label industry ourselves gives Tyson an advantage when negotiating with suppliers."

The in-plant's percentage still translates into a lot of labels. "We manufactured 782 million labels in a 12-month period throughout 2011," Gayer reports; he estimates average run lengths of about 48,000.

Gayer prioritizes the shop's constant need for speed, efficiency and productivity.

"The food business is very competitive, and time to market is critical, so we do everything we can to give the company an edge," he stresses. "Nobody remembers who came out with the second chicken nugget."

Going Lean, Increasing Volume

A couple of years ago, TPS consolidated from three to two shifts. Employing Lean manufacturing principles to minimize, the in-plant completed the entire changeover in less than six weeks with no staff reduction.

"There was some anxiety that we wouldn't be able to produce the same volume in two shifts, but we didn't lose any volume, and since that time we have actually increased throughput," Gayer states.

In April 2011, about a year after completing the consolidation, the in-plant installed a new eight-color 13˝ Mark Andy P5 flexographic web press, which replaced a 25-year-old six-color 10˝ Webtron.

"The upgrade in web width and technology allowed us to increase volume by 15 percent and reduced our waste significantly from about 10.5 percent to 8.5 percent," Gayer calculates. "We spend about $4 million to $5 million a year on label stock, so 2 percent of that is a pretty significant chunk of change."

Expansion Plans

Gayer plans to purchase another flexo press to replace an older unit within the next 12 months. Currently, the in-plant operates five flexo and four offset presses. It primarily uses inks and papers that meet FDA standards of compliance for incidental food contact.

(Tyson's Digital Print group, which utilizes Xerox high-speed color and monochrome equipment, used to be part of TPS, but recently moved back to corporate headquarters. "They still interact with us on a daily basis," Gayer says.)

He is also evaluating new platemaking options. "We're looking at high-definition dot technology, which can hold a much sharper dot and is hot in flexo," Gayer confides.

"The difference with the high-definition plate is that the dots are flat on top rather than rounded, which transfers ink better," he adds. "There's no halo effect, less dot gain, and a cleaner look. Plus, the plates last longer."

Gayer is hoping to integrate this new technology within six to 12 months.

Justifying the cost of new technology and equipment always requires some creativity, according to Gayer. "You can't really charge more for the label, so we have to look at the cost and speed factors of outsourcing high-definition versus having it in-house."

Using Data to Manage

The in-plant keeps plenty of data to measure productivity and uses software from Multi-Color to manage job scheduling and workflow. "We try to share as much information as possible with team members so they are knowledgeable about the entire process," Gayer affirms. Operations Manager Brian Tiller monitors production methods and generates a PowerPoint every month to report to corporate.

For example, TPS evaluates on-time delivery. "We average 1,400 orders a month, which we count in two buckets: one for regularly scheduled orders and the other for rush orders," Gayer states. For a typical job, if a customer orders by noon on Wednesday, the order will ship by the following Wednesday. Three-day turnaround is classified as rush.

"In November 2012, which was a five-week month, the in-plant received 1,582 orders," Gayer reports. "Our on-time delivery target is 95 percent on regularly scheduled jobs and 99 percent on rush jobs.

Fast and Thorough

"One of the things we are the proudest of is our ability to turn rush jobs quickly and cost effectively," he declares. TPS has also put into action the Lean 5S workplace organization program, which has resulted in "basically having everything you need handy."

For that month, 132 of 1,582 or 8.3 percent of jobs were rush. "Below 10 percent is good," Gayer says, explaining that regular jobs can be scheduled more easily to optimize workflow efficiency, minimize downtime and increase throughput.

"Many labels have the same color scheme, so we can group jobs in combination runs by color and size," he relates. "Then, maybe we only have to change one plate between orders which takes only a couple of minutes, whereas a dye change would require 15 minutes."

The in-plant has to be nimble as well as quick. "A lot of labels list ingredients and cooking instructions, and those items change a lot, so we have to change the copy that comes from regulatory," Gayer points out. "For example, a couple of years ago, there was a big move from regular salt to sea salt, which is considered to be healthier."

The TPS team stays well-versed, not only in label lingo, but about the entire food line. Gayer enthuses about Tyson's Discovery Center, which has 17 different test kitchens, some modeled after the restaurants of the company's biggest customers, such as Wendy's.

"A few years ago, all the restaurants wanted 99-cent menus, so customers reached out to Tyson to develop products that would work at this price point, but would still be delicious and nutritious," he recalls.

A Technical Resource

TPS is also glad to contribute by providing field support beyond label printing. "If there are adhesion issues with labels, such as with heat-resistant labels, we work with the folks on the application side," Gayer relates. "And we're a technical resource for project managers."

Through the years, the in-plant, which currently has an annual operating budget of approximately $10 million, also evolved along with the company in order to maintain quality and capabilities comparable to that of its labeling partners.

"Acquisitions such as those of Holly Farms and IBP widened the scope of label applications we needed to produce," he recalls. "We went through a learning curve mastering scale labels for tray-pack poultry, and again when we began producing labels for hams and private-label lunch meat products."

Gayer is grateful for the industry tools, resources, and advances that continue to fuel that evolution. When he joined the in-plant in 1986, the shop "had about 12 employees producing a lot of cut-sheet labels on a sheetfed press and one little 7˝ flexo press," he reminisces. "Thank the Good Lord for technology."