Noticed most of you are from the point of sales end of things.
I have recently noticed in my plant at least that management is driving the plant into the ground. I have only worked here for a couple years, but when I started we were running at 90% up time and now we are down to 70%ish on my line. We have 2 shift managers and a superintendent that sit in offices and never come down to the production floor (the lines can all go down and they call us on the radios and ask what is happening). At the moment we have a sanitation inspection coming up(June), but the management has no paperwork ready and things are not up to spec so we will probably fail it (according to sanitation people). We have unsafe conditions such as product falling off conveyors over people's heads that management has ignored when I brought it up. I have work orders in that are getting dusty by now no doubt (and the work orders are just to order parts so I can fix the machines!). We have exits blocked with pallets. We also have half @$$ed repairs on equipment because management wants the equipment running and does not want to invest the time to do proper repairs. No GM at the plant so I have gone up the food chain as high as I can - they hired one he just isn't here yet. We are stuck under a hiring freeze by corporate so even though I have been awarded a position I can't transfer to it. I have pretty much lost all faith that we will ever be back up to running good again. Currently I come in to poorly cleaned and out of calibration machines so the shift starts off by fixing things the last shift left me. Depending on which coworker I am working with that night one is really good and the other one comes in and passes out in his chair. I don't know what else to say maybe one of you with more experience with the company has an idea. We do not have a union at my plant. Giving any more information might show who I am and I am sure if HR sees this post or any of the management I could be fired, but this doesn't seem right or a good way to do bussiness.
It has been done before and yes they did fine the company, but this really changed nothing of the SOP at the plant. I have considered going to corporate's VP over manufacturing, but why would they care? Our numbers are in the toilet and really my only solution is to tell them to fire quite a few people and get people that want to work in here. I go around in circles in my head what it would look like if one guy stepped forward and called them out on the BS. Worst case they ignore me and do some investigating to figure out who I am. Middle ground they just ignore me nothing changes. Best case they pay attention and make some radical changes and get things back where they need to be. I do have a 4 year engineering degree and have tried to get into management before as this job was just to get my foot in the door so to speak, but it seems like a lot of hard working people are getting screwed(no raises this year due to bad numbers). I know what changes would help the lines and which wouldn't to me it is as plain as day maybe from management's perspective it isn't so clear cut?
are your solutions what's best for the bottom line? this is what they're looking at
^ This man speaks the truth. ^ When something is good for the bottom line, they'll do it. If murdering employees could somehow increase profits they'd find a way to make it happen.
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My views don't reflect those of anyone, not even me. I may not have even made this statement. It's all lies, all of it!
America's Beverage Company, 1331 E Airport Fwy, Irving, TX 75062
Water, Tea, Soda(cans and bottles 1L,2L,3L), apple juice, vitamin water. Surefine brand, Big K brand, best choice brand, ralph's brand.
If I give you all this info I might as well give you all of management
QA/QC Manager: Chris Hale
Production Manager: John Bodiford
Maintenance Manager: Greg Wells
HR Manager: Sharnet Arberry
1st shift supervisor: Ed Arnold
2nd Shift Supervisor: Cheremie Dunlap
3rd shift Supervisor/Sanitation Supervisor: Heidi Green
Superintendant: April Barrera
So hate to say it after my shift yesterday we had a recordable and a near miss.
One guy slipped and landed on his back on sugar syrup on the floor. (near miss)
One guy was in the water filler went to get out and sliced his arm open on the door. He got 7 stiches for that. (Recordable)
I am still waiting for a case to fall off the bottle line and hit someone in the head. 8x2Liter bottles of soda would probably hurt. All I asked for was netting(and the have it in other areas of the plant)
At this point if they fire me I keep getting job offers on career builder all the time anyhow.
what do you 'manufactor' and is it for Kroger? where is your plant located? i'm kinda curious....
glad to have you drop in
Oh ok. I'm not a huge Big K soda drinker. Much rather have a Coke personally. I remember when I was a kid going to baseball or soccer games and my parents would bring the sodas they would but Big K LOL.
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I am no longer part of the oppressed, evil workforce of Kroger! Can you say "Hallelujah"
Big Surprise- your higher ups in corporate are only concerned with the almighty bottom line dollars. Your new GM either better be Superman reincarnated or he'll take off after he assesses what a disaster the plant has become. Your desire to go into mgmt. there makes me question your sanity- more responsibility and a meager raise in salary is tantamount to a tobacco enema- it's all just smoke blowed up your ass. On one hand you portray yourself as a whistleblower that is really concerned about safety but on the other hand you want to join the group of good ol boys and gals that do all their supervision from an office on a computer. You can't be both! Sounds like you have (or did have until you posted this note with your location and superiors names) job security in your present position- you go into the black hole of Kroger mgmt. and you could be dismissed tomorrow with no recourse.
One thing to remember on your next job- when you blow that whistle- all your superiors get their butts chewed from the poor front line super to the Gm to the fancy boys and girls at corporate. If it's truly that bad there and unsafe then morally you should call OSHA, Board of Health, Union, Local Media troubleshooters just be prepared to be treated like the Pariah!
But if in retrospect it's not really that bad then sounds like you care too much- relax and as long as the paycheck comes in every week then be happy! It's just a job.....
I was going after IT management not production. I know computers and netowrking systems backwards and forwards. When I started we had a good supervisor she was always on the floor making sure everyone had what they needed and guess what we ran good all the lines did we didn't have 1/10 of the problems we have now. Our product isn't even moving off the shelves anymore so much for our peak demand time of year. Dr. Pepper execs came to the plant today maybe they are going to buy us out. As for just do my job and collect a paycheck I have every right to not want to worry about getting injured at work. They closed our other beverage plant just a year ago or so and a dairy that made ice cream I am starting to think we will be next in line. Oh just a side note when I applied for IT at the plant they told me I would have to move out of state to start the training so I wouldn't be working here if I got the position. Now a good supervisor/manager does not do their job from an office they walk the floor and help where help is needed. There is concern to worry when your bottom line drops low enough Kroger will just shut you down and throw you out on the street.
On another note TheDude - I drink coke as well over our stuff citrus drop isn't bad though. Don't drink any diet citrus drop that was recently sent out distribution pulled do not use labels off the pallets. I don't know why they were labeled as such, but I wouldn't risk it.
If Dr. Pepper was in there scouting around then you need to read the handwriting on the wall! Years ago Kroger starting a master plan of shedding themselves of distribution/trucking and hiring the cheapest bidder third party to actually operate the facility- lock, stock, and barrel. Even though Kroger still owns the ground, the facility, and the equipment some fly by night logistics company that will not have the skillset to intelligently or safely run the place will be hired. They'll even take down the old Kroger/KMP signage and put up Seat Of The Pants Logistics signs. You may think Kroger is slipshod and poorly supervised but just wait till the lowballing third party attempts to run it. You'll look back on the Kroger operated years and rue the day they handed over the keys to the plant to Seat Of The Pants Logistics. It'll be mind boggling how unprofessional and unknowing their mgmt staff is. The only good news for you in all this is that their supervision has extremely high turnover so if you reprogram yourself to be a company man and quit bringing bad(albeit real) news to their attention then you'll have the opportunity to enter the unrewarding world of third party supervision/mgmt. Remember you can't save the world there but you yourself can remedy unsafe situations without having to blab it to everyone in the plant- if you're non-union then no grievances could be filed if you spent some time improving safety. Loose Lips Sink Ships...food for thought....
If Dr. Pepper was in there scouting around then you need to read the handwriting on the wall! Years ago Kroger starting a master plan of shedding themselves of distribution/trucking and hiring the cheapest bidder third party to actually operate the facility- lock, stock, and barrel. Even though Kroger still owns the ground, the facility, and the equipment some fly by night logistics company that will not have the skillset to intelligently or safely run the place will be hired. They'll even take down the old Kroger/KMP signage and put up Seat Of The Pants Logistics signs. You may think Kroger is slipshod and poorly supervised but just wait till the lowballing third party attempts to run it. You'll look back on the Kroger operated years and rue the day they handed over the keys to the plant to Seat Of The Pants Logistics. It'll be mind boggling how unprofessional and unknowing their mgmt staff is. The only good news for you in all this is that their supervision has extremely high turnover so if you reprogram yourself to be a company man and quit bringing bad(albeit real) news to their attention then you'll have the opportunity to enter the unrewarding world of third party supervision/mgmt. Remember you can't save the world there but you yourself can remedy unsafe situations without having to blab it to everyone in the plant- if you're non-union then no grievances could be filed if you spent some time improving safety. Loose Lips Sink Ships...food for thought....
If they don't know about the problem they can't fix it. So yes you bring it to their attention.
Manufacturing End, I see problems in manufacturing might be company wide. I know they are rampant at Columbus Bakery, 457 Cleveland Ave., Columbus, Oh. I have been around long enough to remember when the DILLON BROTHERS came on board. They never did like manufacturing. We here at the bakery have had a visit from Flowers Baking a couple of times in the last year and I'm sure it is not a social call. I know when Kroger wanted to get rid of the headache bakery in Memphis, they sold it to Flowers. I'm sure Kroger would sell this bakery in a heartbeat if they could get a reasonable offer. I'm glad I have my time in.
RE: The Columbus bakery has been on a downward spiral ever since the corporate dumb asses started hiring DIVERSITY instead of knowledge. That's the way hourly EE'S are being hired also. I think G O is trying to run manufacturing like the POS POTUS is running our country. DIVERSITY ==== WEAKNESS
