NEW Wearable Devices HELP KEEP EMPLOYEES

INJURY-FREE AT OUR PLANTS

If the Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Department had a motto, it would be to send every employee home the same way they came to work: safe. To see this motto through, Larry Cuomo, vice president of EHS; Jeasy Justiniano, EHS manager; and David Miller, EHS manager; worked with their teams to find a way to reduce the number of sprains and strains, which are the most common types of injury in the workplace. The solution? Kinetic injury reduction wearable devices.

“It’s a similar concept to lane assist technology in new cars these days,” Jeasy says. “The Kinetic device vibrates when you do an at-risk posture and that notifies you to avoid an accident.”

The devices are about the size of a pager. They clip to employees’ belts when on the plant floor and monitor their movement throughout the workday. The devices detect when an employee performs a high-risk posture, such as overreaching, and will alert them they could possibly injure themselves.

To test the devices and their effectiveness, the EHS team performed a trial at the DFA plants in Huntington, Ind.; Orlando, Fla.; and Franklin, Mass.

“The devices don’t only prevent injuries, they also prevent people from moving incorrectly,” David says. “It’s a safety tool letting individuals know when they did something wrong, and it’s a learning process to change that behavior. The devices stop or discontinue these high-risk movements. Instead of bending over to pick up a case of milk, individuals will bend at the knees to pick it up properly.”

The devices don’t only benefit employees in the moment, they also log activity and provide a weekly report that monitors and evaluates trends. This allows the teams at the plants to address reoccurring issues and improve on them.

“We have about a 96% use rate, which is one of the highest participation rates Kinetic had ever trialed at a company,” Larry says. “In the reports, we could see the number of at-risk postures decrease over time, so we knew the devices were doing their job because employees were improving.”

Since the trial began in early July 2022, the three facilities have not had any participating employees sustain a serious injury.

“Not only does it help keep employees safe, but it also helps DFA reduce workers’ compensation costs by reducing accidents,” Larry says.

Earlier this year, the devices were rolled out to six additional plants. The EHS team hopes to make this implementation one part of a holistic ergonomics program to keep employees safe at work.

Innovating And Investing In Our Brands

Dairy Brands Introduces Smooth Cottage Cheese

Designed with both kids and parents in mind, Kemps® blended cottage cheese has no curds and a smooth, creamy texture. It’s made with real, blended fruit, probiotics, no artificial colors and no high-fructose corn syrup. This product is manufactured at our plant in Rockford, Ill., and sold in 3,000 stores across the country.

New Probiotic Milk

Launched earlier this year in partnership with Good Culture is the dairy category’s first-ever extended shelf-life (ESL) lactose-free probiotic milk. Good Culture probiotic whole and 2% milk are produced at our Cumberland Dairy plant in Bridgeton, N.J., and are available for purchase at retailers throughout the East Coast.

FRIENDLY’S® HAS A BOLD NEW LOOK

Iconic Disney Characters Make School Milk Fun

Disney Brings The Magic To School Milk

An exciting partnership to feature Disney characters on DFA’s school milk cartons kicks off in four test markets — Orlando, Fla.; Dallas, Texas; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Milwaukee, Wis. — through May. If the pilot is successful, we will expand to additional markets in the fall.

Our beloved ice cream brand relaunched this year with bright, more modern packaging. Products are available in stores throughout the Northeast and manufactured at our plant in Wilbraham, Mass.

Across

1. Beverage and ____ Division

5. A division of DFA that makes flavorful powders and more

7. Always doing the right thing; having strong moral principles

10. Sometimes it’s holey; sometimes it’s smelly; it’s always delicious

13. Where milk samples are tested