BACKGROUND
Opened in 1945 as a mom-and-pop butcher shop, the first Johnsonville sausages were made from an Austrian family recipe and named after their tiny Wisconsin hometown. Today, Johnsonville is still owned and managed by the Stayer family. Johnsonville takes pride in honoring its employees as important Team Members who strive for excellent product quality and share in the decision-making and accountability of the brand, deemed "the Johnsonville Way". The company produces over 70 types of sausage, bratwurst, breakfast links and patties out of 6 different production facilities.
CASE STUDY:
Johnsonville, LLC
INDUSTRY: Food & Beverage Manufacturing
EMPLOYEES: approx. 3000, a.k.a. "Team Members"
CORPORATE OFFICES: Sheboygan Falls, WI
ANNUAL SALES: approx. $1 billion
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THE CHALLENGE
With demand for Ready to Eat sausage products surging in 2020, Coleman Consulting Group was brought in to determine the best schedule to meet increased demand from the Meadowside and Banner Creek sites. At Meadowside, first shifts were working 30% full-time on the weekends, second and third shifts were working 50% full-time on weekends, and there was still a high reliance on temporary labor filling in to meet demand. Jphnsonville reached out to CCG with the intent of taking Lines 1 & 2 to a 24 x 7 schedule to meet demand and to mimimize the loss of productivity on the weekend shifts. Meadowside was also experiencing significant turnover as Team Members left seeking a more predicable schedule.
THE RESULTS
Team Members were reluctant to permanently embrace the new 24/7 schedule despite higher demand in 2020, and ultimately the Meadowside facility moved back to 5 days a week, with weekends off for most Team Members and temps filling the weekend shifts at a premium cost. One of the primary benefits of the project was high Team Member engagement throughout the process. Our consultants urged and motivated the conversation between management and employees regarding schedule preferences, and Johnsonville was provided with our recommendations and documentation of how to implement 24/7 operations should they require them in the future.
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"CCG designed great alternative schedules for Team Members, but due to labor shortages and increased headcount demands, our project was placed on hold. CCG has given us the resources to quickly be able to implement an alternative schedule when needed."
Chris Lund, Meadowside Member Services
THE SOLUTION
$1.5 million was identified in potential savings if Johnsonville could solve the absenteeism and fatigue of the shiftworking Team Members. Additional opportunities discussed to increase capacity were skill balancing, use of temporary labor, and implementing alternative sanitation schedules to reduce machinery downtime. The employee surveys were 80% positive and revealed a strong desire for either better days off or more predictability.
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"Our experience with CCG and their consultants was great. Coleman Consulting Group's 3 Circle approach to alternative schedules was very valuable to us to make sure we had all the stakeholders in mind."
Chris Lund, Member Services Business Partner at Meadowside
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