As a Platinum Winner of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, and with customers like Tim Hortons and Loblaws, Marsan Foods is used to managing the high expectations of its customer base, and understands the importance of staying ahead of shifting consumer demands.
That’s why Marsan partnered with Provision Coalition and GO Productivity when it came time to refresh their strategic plan and enhance the company’s commitment to sustainability, productivity, and innovation. Marsan received hands-on support in developing a strategic plan through Provision’s Mentoring and Coaching Support Program and GO Productivity’s Assessment, Roadmap and Coaching Process, while utilizing both organizations tools; Provision’s award winning online Sustainability Management System (SMS) and GO Productivity’s Productivity Assessment Tool.
Project Highlights
Together, the Marsan, Provision and GO Productivity Team developed a sustainable business strategy that once implemented, resulted in:
- a 30 per cent increase in the throughput of the food service tray line
- a re-engineered process that reduced wait-time waste by 25 shifts
- 20 new process methods implemented across the organization
- new line efficiency reporting and supervisor accountability implemented and
- an increase in employee engagement.
“This process has been a real eye-opener for Marsan in terms of the importance of sustainability in our company’s longterm growth plan. We have engaged an HR professional to improve our employee culture and connected with production system expertise to find production efficiencies. These changes are already proven beneficial.” - Kristoffer Soderlind Director of Operations
The Strategic Planning Process
The Provision and GO Productivity team met with Marsan’s senior leadership team and initiated a process of identifying the company’s purpose and vision, the strategic pillars critical to their business success, and the related key performance indicators (KPIs). Goals were then set for each KPI and a plan established to achieve those goals. From the strategic planning sessions, Marsan defined their purpose as “Safe, Wholesome, Consistent… The Marsan Promise” and vision as “Innovating Products Through People”. Their three strategic pillars were identified as innovation, people and continuous improvement. With Provision’s assistance, Marsan formalized systems to support them in achieving their goals in each of these pillars.
Innovating Products through People
Employee Engagement Marsan agreed there was opportunity to drive innovation by better engaging employees and improving company culture, and Provision and Go Productivity provided the tools and resources to facilitate this objective. After engaging a Human Resource professional, Marsan implemented a ‘skills matrix’ for employees, identifying opportunities to offer cross-training and professional development. They began hosting weekly town halls and introduced whiteboards in each department to foster better communication across the company.
Marsan integrated supervisors into the reporting structure and tied skills growth to remuneration. These initiatives aim to engage staff and encourage them to share observations, expertise and innovative solutions across every aspect of the company.
Since engaging with Provision and GO Productivity, Marsan’s workforce has grown by almost 50 per cent increasing from approximately 100 employees to 140. Having a plan in place to support employee transition and development has been critical to the company’s continued success.
How Marsan Drove an Employee Mindset Shift
- Executed a change management program
- Hired a human resource professional
- Integrated supervisors into reporting structure
- Introduced whiteboards in each department
- Initiated weekly huddles
Process Innovation
When a customer requested an increase of units, Marsan needed to improve the efficiency and throughput of their lines, and do so quickly. Using a lean manufacturing approach, they reduced wait-time waste by 25 shifts and were able to increase throughput by 30 per cent. Marsan identified the right solution to customer request through improved employee engagement and their newly established reporting structure and processes.
Engagement with Provision Coalition and GO Productivity helped Marsan identify the importance of managing change and ensuring accountability. As a result, Marsan incorporated a change management consulting company into the strategic plan implementation process. Since that time, 20 new process methods coupled with daily progress meetings that focus on productivity, quality, food safety, and health and safety has helped Marsan to apply sustainability to their business decisions and meet new customer demands.
How Marsan Met Customer Demand
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