fsm Spooners Magazine For
Silver Spoon Gets Ready to Party!! When two retailers approached us last summer to see if we were interested in supplying their cake decoration range, our immediate answer was “yes”! Then we had to think… where do we start?! With nearly 60 products in Phase One alone - many in areas that were new to us - we were faced with a daunting task.
Key Decisions to Make; • Should we buy in products or make them ourselves? • Which suppliers should we choose to work with? • How could we improve consumer benefits on the existing products? • What will the products look like? • What money can we make from the Project? The team spent several weeks sourcing suppliers, finding products, testing ingredients and assessing pricing until we were ready to present the range to Sainsbury’s in January. The PMP process got us through the Business Case and Launch gates. We then held our breath for a few weeks and then we got the magic “green light” which meant that we could move forward towards the launch of the products! PIM then helped us to manage the product information data and keep the project on track.
The Project team includes (left to right) Phil Mitchell, Andrew Wright, Rebecca Martin, Anna Millichamp, Beth Baker, Oluseyi Olawoyin, and Abs Khan and Bob Hemming on the video conference! Missing from the pic are Chris Wakefield, Sam Gallagher, Andrea Cosford, Doug Hall, Jasper Gregan, Neil English, Sue Lewis, Karl Gormley, Victoria Lawrence, Nele Okojie, and Helen Barker.
The result is a range of products across choc chips, cake coverings, sprinkle decorations, colours/ flavours/ extracts, designer and writing icing, as well as some premium baking ingredients such as vanilla pods, glycerine and liquid glucose.
Sprinkle Bags will help brighten up any cake!
In profit terms, around 60% of the range is manufactured and/or packed at the Aylesbury site. We are also using nearly 25 suppliers , all of which have had to be audited and managed by the Food Centre and Purchasing team. The design has been well received by both consumers and the trade and has been developed to work together as one
range. The more premium products for ‘grown-up’ baking are in dark blue and then the more fun and colourful ranges are for kids baking. The strength of the Silver Spoon brand translates easily into this sector and the Cake Craft name helps to explain the range. We intend to use this to inspire consumers to create their own unique creations! Products start to go on shelf from mid June through to September, a task which is being carefully managed by the Planning and Customer Services team. In the meantime we shall be working on the next Phase of products and learning about candles and cake boards! Keep an eye out in your local Sainsburys and why not try your hand at baking this summer! Beth Baker, Project Leader
BREAKING NEWS Silver Spoon has been awarded Sainsbury’s Supplier of the Year award at its annual Supplier Conference! This shows how highly they regard us as a key supply partner and egory strategies i.e. recognises our strong cat oon brand, and Sp er British through Silv ’s own label. This sucFairtrade with Sainsbury through the contribued cess has been achiev s across various sites tion of many individual and well done to you and functions – thank ievement! everyone for this great ach oller ntr Doug Hall, Business Co
THIS ISSUE / HIGHLIGHTS: ‘ ‘
Hand Safety Business as usual
‘ Issue 62 Jun 2009
P2 P5
‘ ‘
Corporate Social Responsibility P3 Employee Survey P6
‘ ‘
Site Rationalisation Project P4 People Page P7
‘ Angelina Connolly, Editor - Ext. 22831 ‘ Email: angelina.connolly@thesilverspooncompany.co.uk
After it was identified that almost 50% of our injuries within all Silver Spoon sites involved the hands, we decided to make hand safety a major focus. In Period 7 we therefore launched the ‘where are you putting your hands?’ campaign across all sites. During the campaign we carried out regular tool-box talk discussions to try to find out areas and situations where people felt they could injure their hands, and what we could do to prevent accidents happening. We had an additional focus on gloves and tried to understand why people sometimes chose not to wear them. Some sites also undertook glove reviews with manufacturers to look for alternative glove types to better suit some of the tasks that
are undertaken, and therefore make it easier for people to use them. As part of the campaign, we also held a poster competition asking persons to design a poster to make people think about ‘where they are putting their hands?’ On most sites the competition was very popular and lead to some friendly rivalry between the entrants as to who could design the winning poster! The entries that were submitted were judged by a group on site and the winner for each received a £50 high street voucher. Look out for the winning posters which will be displayed around sites!
Allinson's winner Milka Plonska receiving her prize from Glenn Bate
Martin Boast rewards Adrian Bobrzynski at Billington's
Adrian's winning sore thumb!
BPC winner Lee Lovett receiving his prize from Les Blair
Newark winner Alistair Witham and his crocodile warning poster Lee Lovett's winning Think! poster
A vivid warning from Milka's winning poster!
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) The Silver Spoon Company CSR Policy was agreed and issued during 2008. CSR is designed to ensure company standards are maintained both internally and externally by our suppliers. The Policy is based on international standards such as the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base code, and best practice. It is essential that all of us in Silver Spoon share our commitment towards an equitable and fair work place in alignment with Company values. During customer audits of our sites, evidence is required that Silver Spoon operates a fair, safe, and healthy work place In order to help drive the understanding of some of the basic concepts covered within CSR, please see below explanations of the ETI and Sedex
Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) ETI is driven by a combination of corporate members such as retailers, trade unions, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), all working together to improve working conditions within supply chains world wide. It is a non-profit making organisation. Ethical trade simply means combining good ethics and good business with sourcing products without causing
harm to or exploiting humans, animals or the natural environment. ETI Base code has nine clauses for identifying and developing good practices. The clauses cover areas including working hours, freedom of association/collective bargaining, wages and regular employment, health & safety, management attitude, forced labour, bribery, discrimination, disciplinary practices, and environmental management.
Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex) Sedex was started in 2001 by a group of UK retailers and first tier suppliers. It is a not-for-profit membership-based organisation with members paying a subscription fee. The membership level reflects the different types of business within the global supply chain for example, Level A members include retailers, consumer brand owners, and Level AB includes manufacturers and agents, whilst level B members include farmers, growers and production sites. Sedex aims to reduce duplication of audits and information required by retailers by facilitating data sharing through collating the information in one database. It is designed to be a secure system with each supplier controlling
who has access to the information supplied. This web-based system is used for collecting, managing, analysing and reporting of information relating to ethical systems. UK retailers and brand owners have a commitment to Sedex, and all Silver Spoon sites including Sukpak are registered as Level B members. As Silver Spoon’s certificated social systems auditor, I have commenced a programme of verifying compliance to the CSR Policy. This has been helpful in getting an understanding of the ethical conditions of the sites or suppliers as well as assisting in putting corrective actions in place. By the end of 2008 Ipswich, Bardney, BPC and Sukpak (Mauritius) had been audited against the Policy and gap analysis of a number of key suppliers has been carried out. Plans for 2009 includes further audits and communication of results. You can access Silver Spoon CSR Policy on the Business Management System. Contact Jo Blood if you have any difficulty in finding the document. Feel free to contact me if you require more information on either Silver Spoon CSR policy, ETI or Sedex.
Nele Okojie, Development Manager
Site Rationalisation Project Update Bury warehouse in December
In October last year the company announced it was consulting with its Newark staff regarding the closure of our Newark Packaging Complex, and transfer of packing lines to Bury. Although the Newark site had made big improvements in recent years, the highly competitive sugar market forced the company to make this extremely tough decision. Here’s how we’ve progressed since: Once consultation was completed, the company created a team to manage the project. Chris Towers was appointed Principal Project Manager, and was joined by Steve Mead, Phil Hall and Graeme Evans as the full time Silver Spoon team. Professional engineering consultancy, Lorien Engineering Solutions, was engaged to provide specialist support and give the benefit of their experience managing similar projects. We cleared the old warehouse area at Bury so that the new plant could be created there, with Dave McDermott overseeing the work to remove the racking and other items from the area. During December we interviewed potential civil contractors for the building works. As part of the selection process we considered their tendered price for the job, approach to Health & Safety, experience of similar projects and their financial status. ISG Jackson were appointed and, after a few teething problems, were soon working to our high safety standards.
The warehouse is cleared in preparation for the silo delivery
At Newark, the team were tasked with increasing production to meet the stockbuild. This is so we have enough stock to cover the 6 week period when each line is being relocated and commissioned. The team responded magnificently, and we were soon well ahead of the plan. A bonus scheme was introduced to reward good production performance – so far the bonus targets have been hit every period! Construction at Bury continued, and we hit our first major milestone when the two 100tn silos were craned into place before Easter. The construction works
were completed on time at the end of May. We are endeavouring to find employment for as many of the Newark team as possible. Several jobs remain within Silver Spoon, and BSUK have stopped external recruitment in order to protect vacancies for our staff. We organised a trip to the Bury plant and are also providing a relocation package to those who transfer. We are also supporting those who are made redundant at Newark by helping with CV writing, engaging a professional outplacement supplier, and helping with interview techniques. Thank you to the teams at Newark and Bury for their continued support throughout this difficult change, and their commitment to the project. Chris Towers Principal Project Manager.
The silos arrive on site.
Business as usual at Newark Packaging Plant
1970 - Works council meeting and 29yrs service awards
The Company’s greening the workplace campaign is also up and running. Despite the drop in prices paid for recycled products, we still want to do our bit for the environment by recycling all of our cardboard and clear plastics, especially as we are so used to doing this it has become part of the job. We now look forward to the Outplacement Support that the Company is providing for us in which we all get training in CV writing and interview techniques. This will help us to get employment once the plant finally close.
charity truck drive 1990 - Children in Need's
When the announcement was made back in November that Newark Packaging Plant was going to close, it came as a massive shock to the workforce……especially as the plant had just achieved its best yearly performance in a decade. There was an air of panic and confusion in the camp which lasted around 4 weeks. Production did slump a little but this was very understandable considering the circumstances. People have been working in the Plant for between 5 and 30 years!
Kids ate for free in the 1kg Little Chef promotion!
The Company introduced a bonus scheme designed to encourage the workforce to keep up the production standards, which proved to be something for us to get our teeth into. For the last 3 periods we have hit the targets – through hardwork, overtime and a fantastic sense of teamwork from everyone. Plant Manager Steve Jones has tried
The new Brown Sugar line installed in 1990
to implement a “business as usual” mentality into us and this has worked well – not only on the production front but for quality and health and safety as well. We have had no major quality issues and we are striving to make continued health and safety improvements via the Safety Action Group (SAG) and the Safety Team whose core focus is the prevention of accidents. We have also continued to play in the site's Football Tournaments. It is always good for a laugh and a chance for people on the shop floor to kick the managers – who have become a decent team of late! change in 1980 Hesser operators during roll
A massive amount of credit has to go the people of Newark who have shown that through difficult circumstances they can still perform to an excellent standard - well done and thank you to everyone for the role they've played. Steve Hudson Newark Packaging Plant
Packing Sachets in the 1980s
Silver Spoon Employee Survey The results are in….! In April of this year we completed our 2009 employee survey. We had a great response rate this year, with 92% of you completing the questionnaire! We have now had time to analyse the results and wanted to give you an overview of the responses that you gave us. It goes without saying that the Board take these results very seriously and that we are committed to using the feedback to help make Silver Spoon a great place to work.
So what did you say…? _ Some of the top line company results are featured below. Your local site management team will be briefing out your site specific results shortly. Our 2009 survey results were pretty positive in a number of areas and overall they did not differ greatly from the 2008 feedback that you gave us. Employee Engagement and Health & Safety results were particularly good although clearly Accountability and Leadership categories are a concern for some of you. These will be areas that we look to improve on over the coming 12 months and we’ll seek your input again on how we can best achieve this.
Greatest Positive Changes from Silver Spoon 2008 to 2009
% Difference in favourable scores
% Favourable 46. Senior Management communicates a clear vision of the future direction of Silver Spoon 19. The culture at my site is one of anticipating and planning
13
18. My site does a good job of anticipating, rather than reacting to, customer requirements 30. Senior management at my site does a good job of making timely decisions
Silver Spoon 2009
12
Silver Spoon 2008
11 11
45c. The information provided by site briefings generally meets my needs
9
35. Employees at my site are treated with dignity and respect
8
36. I am willing to go beyond the requirements of my job to help the company succeed
8
25. I would recommend my workplace to others as a good place to work
7
40. I feel a strong sense of commitment to Silver Spoon
7
1. Communication at my site is honest and straightforward
6
4. There is sufficient contact between managers and employees at my place of work
6
The top 10 and bottom 10 questions are shown below: Category Results: Silver Spoon 2009 vs 2008 % Favourable Employee Engagement Customer Centred Communication Leadership Open Accountable Creative Health & Safety
given the overall level of positive responses, but none the less will be areas we consider further when making plans. We have also seen some positive changes in key areas which is good to see. Big improvements were made in ‘Employees at my site are treated with dignity and respect’ and ‘Senior management communicates a clear vision of the future direction of Silver Spoon’. Both of these areas are key to the growth of both the company and the individual. The survey also asked you all to highlight the key area that we should concentrate our efforts on this year. Your feedback is shown in the table below and will give us another good starting point for action.
Personal Development
Leadership
Accountability
Creativity
Openness
11%
11%
9%
16%
Silver Spoon 2009 Silver Spoon 2008
This year’s results did indicate some areas of improvement since we last ran the survey, and it’s good to see that we’re moving in the right direction - although more work is needed to reach a level that we are satisfied with. The only negative movements seen applied in a very limited number of areas, a 7% drop in positive responses to ‘in my team people share ideas and information’ (69% positive response in 2009 from 76% in 2008) and ‘I believe that my team is well managed’ fell by 3% from last year (64% positive response in 2009 from 67% in 2008). These are not unduly concerning
Customer Centred
Employee Engagement
Health & Safety
Communication
7%
13%
6%
26%
What happens now…?_ The full results for your site and the company will be briefed out to you shortly if this has not already happened. The results of the survey will be used to create meaningful action plans, both locally and company wide, to address your key concerns. You may well be asked for further feedback and input into this process and we really look forward to working with you to make these plans a reality.
Abi Asher-Relf, HR Manager
Customer C
the People Page Long Service
Awards
Eileen Lowson Askeys Thank you to Eileen Lowson and congratulations for completing 20 years service. Eileen has covered most areas of the factory and has been accommodating when she is needed to work on different shifts. We look forward to working with you for many years to come!
Linda Whittingham Askeys Congratulations for 10 years service to Linda who joined the company back in 1999. Her understanding has led to her becoming a trainer for new recruits and other staff. She is a valuable asset to the company and we hope she enjoys many more years within the company.
Zainab Esmail Central Office During her 30yrs service at Central Office, Zainab has gained the respect of many people and made many friends. She is a hard worker and has shown flexibility by changing roles and is an important member of the Customer Services team. Thank you for the last 30yrs!
Rod Seth Newark A big congratulations to Rod on his 40yrs service! Rod joined British Sugar in 1968 working in the lab during the campaigns. He then joined the packaging plant and now works in warehouse/despatch administration. Thank you for your support over the last 40yrs.
Julian Flint and Kevin Rose Billingtons Site planning Coordinator Julian reached his 15yrs service in January, with warehouse team member catching up with him in March! Congratulations to both – and here’s to the next 15yrs!
Julian Flint
Kevin Rose
Gary Ainsworth, Ray Short, Ian Chambers and Bernie Price - BPC Thank you to Gary, Ray, Ian, and Bernie for their contribution over the last 20yrs – the support has been excellent and we look forward to many more years to come.
Lynn Carter - Askeys Congratulations to Lynn for 20 years service! She has proved to be an excellent worker since joining the company in 1989 and has shown herself to be a true all rounder covering all areas of the factory. Lynn was promoted to team leader and is instrumental within the evening team We wish her many more happy years at Askeys.
Ian Lempkowski Askeys Ian has been with Askeys since 1999 and proved to be a valuable member of the wafer team. He is always keen to help and learn new skills. Thank you for your hard work and we look forward to working together in the future.
OTHER PEOPLE NEWS It was with great sadness that the Billingtons team learned that former colleague Sandra Cushnahan lost her fight against cancer days after her 45th birthday. In her memory, we raised £150 which was shared equally between Macmillan Nurses and the local hospice who supported her and her family through her illness.
Team Sugarlumps Congratulations to Team Sugarlumps who completed a 12 mile midnight walk in support of Sue Ryder Care. Thanks to many generous colleagues and Silver Spoon’s donation of £250, we raised £1500 for this great charity.
Retirements The team at BPC have said a fond farewell to Owen Gallagher and Ray Short after they celebrated their 65th birthdays, and to Steve Allan who left to start a new life in Greece. Filipa Lopez used her language skills in Africa and Portugal before retiring from Billingtons in April.
All smiles at the start of the walk… l-r Claire Jackson, Michelle Parrott, Amanda Gutteridge, Angelina Connolly (kneeling), Katie Boczko, and Helen Bateman.
Billingtons Celebrate 1500 days without Lost Time Incidents! In recognition of the fantastic achievement of 1500 days without a Lost Time Incident, staff at Billingtons were delighted to be given a surprise day off! Everyone used the day well with Ian Driver, a member of the form fill production team, going on a long bike ride, whilst Gavin Hardy, Andy McGill, Rob Wyatt, and Julian Flint from the warehouse celebrated together with a meal and drinks in town. Several other team members enjoyed the sun and went swimming, long distance walking and played in the park. Commitment to safety is clear from the site results and has also made people think about safety at home. When asked how the site focus on safety had affected them personally, Stuart Meade from the Industrial department told us that he now always turns off appliances before unplugging them. Agnieszka Zlamaniec from Form Fill is more aware of emergency exits in buildings and regularly checks her smoke detec-
tor. Ian Driver advised that he uses steps at home, rather than a chair, to reach high places like the tops of kitchen units, and is also extra-cautious at junctions when on his bike! Troy Game, also from Form Fill, said he takes great care with his back when lifting or moving things and is also very careful when using a ladder. Gavin Hardy recently took more care when working from a ladder painting his home’s eaves and changing light bulbs. After speaking to the staff, Site Safety advisor Martin Boast got the clear impression of a heightened awareness of risk, both at work and at home, with more care and thought taken before starting tasks.
Representatives from all departments at Billingtons watched the magic LTI number of 1500 go up onto the team board.
With an annual attendance of over 98%, it certainly seems that the focus on health and safety is having a great effect on maintaining a healthy and accident free work force - good for employees which means good for the business! Martin Boast, Site Services Manager
....The last word.......
I don’t know about you, but the last 6 months has been one of the most challenging periods I’ve spent at Silver Spoon. But it’s also been one marked by achievements across all areas of the business. Newark are ahead of the stock build plan and have responded rapidly to increased demands for 1kg Caster sugar. Work at Bury is progressing well - on time, on budget and with a perfect safety record to date. Health and safety continues to improve with Ipswich achieving a milestone of 1500 days without a long term injury. Well done Les
and the team! Commercially, whilst granulated sugar pricing continues to be very difficult, we have held market share. We are also making significant progress in developing our performance in other parts of the business. The Silver Spoon Cakecraft range (project Party) is about to launch in Sainsbury’s. The project team should be proud of their achievement to date – working on 59 new SKUs, various pack formats and with several new suppliers. This will be a major new profit stream for Silver Spoon long into the future. Our existing brands are performing well
Silver Spoon News, P.O. box 26, Oundle Road, Peterborough PE2 9QU.
Editor: Angelina Connolly.
with Allinson, Billington’s, Crusha, Askeys, Half Spoon and Silver Spoon low calorie all growing their market share. We have also managed to maintain an excellent service record during this period of growth. These are undeniably challenging times but we have an awful lot to be proud of. Thank you once again for your continuing hard work and enthusiasm. I hope you and your families have the opportunity to enjoy a happy and healthy summer holiday. Tony Lucas Director Marketing and Kids and Snacking
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