Previous Winners

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2014 Winner

vistalogoCompany: Vista Metals
Award Applied for: Innovation in Effectiveness

In 2012, Vista Metals Corp. joined the social world and has not looked back since. It began when the veteran company hired their new Marketing and Online Content Coordinator, who is responsible for the creation and management of online content, social media strategies, and marketing and public relations projects. Since then the company has lunged right into the social era with a new interactive and user friendly website, industry KnowlEDGE Center, and company social media pages.

Next, was the social media breakthrough. It has proven to be a great way for Vista Metals to connect with new and existing customers, share company updates, and keep the industry abreast on current trends, ideas on products, processes, applications, and current news. With the assistance of social media, Vista Metals is able to share its numerous milestones to a larger audience.

Below is a brief timeline of the company’s achievements, all highlighted through social media.

2012

2013

Additionally, Vista Metals uses social media as a platform to share and exchange information about its community partnerships and outreach with Shoes that Fit and other local organizations. The company is also able to share updates and photographs from company events and the YOU First Program, an internal employee program that consists of seven focus areas designed to show employee recognition, highlight achievements, provide health and fitness education and encourage team building and teamwork.

Becoming a social company has helped to place Vista Metals in front of a new audience, all located online and has proven to be a low cost and effective marketing tool. As a result, Vista Metals now has a dedicated online following that tunes in regularly to see what the company is up to. This is a great breakthrough for a local independent manufacturing company that specializes in specialty aluminum products.

2014 Winner

safariland
Company: the Safariland Group
Award Applied for: Innovation in Resource Efficiency

With rising energy costs and an air conditioned production facility, we were challenged to control energy costs with increased production and keep associates in a safe and comfortable environment during the months from June to September.  By participating in local programs made available by our electric company, The Safariland Group was able to minimize costs during these challenging times.

Energy conservation: During the 2013 year, The Safariland Group elected to participate in two programs offered by Southern California Edison;   The Summer Advantage Program (SAI) and the Time of Use Base Interruptible program (TOU-BIP).  As part of the SAI program, the site was called upon to reduce plant energy usage for 12 specific days when demand for energy was significantly increased due to hot weather.  During these 4-hour events (2 -6 p.m. weekdays, excluding holidays),  from June to September, we were able to gain credits and savings by voluntarily reducing energy consumption  through  practices such as; adjusting  shift hours for high energy  use equipment (ovens, presses) , turning off all non-essential indoor/outdoor lighting and signage and office equipment not in use, safely raising cooling thermostat settings, reducing  or rescheduling  production during events, unplugging  battery chargers and using only pre-charged equipment during peak hours and charging  battery-operated equipment prior to peak hours.

The Safariland Group Ontario associates were made aware of these events 24 hours in advance and trained the entire site to maintain conservation efforts, even during normal operations. The site was successful in implementing operational changes, reducing consumption and capturing $12,000 savings.

By participating in the Time-of-Use Base Interruptible Program (Schedule TOU-BIP), The Safariland Group was able to reduce energy use during So Cal Edison system reliability events. During these times, we were supplied with a monitor and dedicated a phone line to enable So Cal Edison to notify us when an event was to occur and a service interruption was coming.  Events were limited to one per day, 10 per calendar month, up to six hours each for a maximum of 180 hours a calendar year.  For our participation, The Safariland Group was rewarded with $2,952 in bill credits.

2014 Winner

freshandeasy
Company: Fresh & Easy
Award Applied for: Innovation in Workforce Development

Fresh&easy provides a selection of fresh produce, quality meat, and readymade meals across three manufacturing plants in Riverside, CA. In our effort to perform at the highest chilled food manufacturing level, we believe in creating a great place to work for all our employees so we can develop and promote within the organization. Since our inception, we have been challenged with sourcing and retention of individuals who can operate and manage the complexity of our fresh, short shelf life, high quality products. Due to this challenge, two years ago we embarked on a World Class Journey. This journey has led us to create an all-encompassing manufacturing training and development platform that is managed through our internally developed intranet website called the “Campus Hub”. The Campus Hub platform hosts our employee developmental program called “Options”. The Options Program includes monthly talent spotting sessions, recruitment of employees, and management of employee’s training, as well as coaching and personal development. Upon successful completion of Options, employees are developed to perform at a higher capacity ranging from operational positions to management. Review of manpower planning has led us to implement an internship program that introduces young adults to the manufacturing business. Our twelve week internship program sets forth on sourcing recent college graduates by providing them challenging projects in their subject area. Interns are assigned a mentor where routine reviews are conducted to ensure their success. At the end of the internship, successful interns are provided challenging and rewarding roles within the organization. As part of our retention efforts, we hold “Great Place to Work”, Viewpoint sessions, and have an Academy training facility to ensure an excellent working culture is sustained. Great Place to Work sessions are conducted monthly with Senior Staff members to review and implement Employee Communications, Superstar Awards, Quarterly Employee functions, Turnover, and Absenteeism. On a yearly basis, anonymous Viewpoint sessions are available to all employees at each campus site. The sessions generate Leadership and Culture feedback where action items and next steps are developed for recommendations and concerns. Lastly, we have built our state of the art “Campus Academy” to support our workforce development efforts. The Campus Academy is equipped with TV monitors, full wall projecting capabilities, training kitchen, two auxiliary training/meeting areas, and an employee library. All the programs we have are designed to promote our World Class Mission; to rank amongst the foremost in Chill Foods Manufacturing, to set the highest standard of excellence within each of our segments, to have the numbers to prove World Class achievement, and to obtain World Class distinction within the food manufacturing community.

2013 Winners

2013 Winner Marketing Brithinee Electric & Ventura Foods

2013 Winner Innovation in Workforce Development California Steel, Inc.

2013 Winner Resource Efficiency Nestle Waters North America (AKA Arrowhead Water)

2012 Winners

2012 Winner Marketing Nongshim America

2012 Winner Innovation in Workforce Development Safariland

2012 Winner Resource Efficiency Toyota’s North American Parts Center

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