Meat + Poultry - May 2008 - 92

Supplying solutions
As part of FPSA's annual conference, MISA
held its executive conference, featuring a
keynote from WLF's Ed Garrett

uring this year's Food Processing Suppliers Association's
2008 Conference, held this
past March in Bonita Springs, Fla., the
Meat Industry Suppliers Alliance, an
industry council of the FPSA, held its
executive conference, which included
four hours of workshops dedicated
to addressing issues relevant to MISA
members. MISA consists of more than
100 supplier companies serving the
meat, poultry and seafood processing
industries worldwide.
Ed Garrett, president and CEO of
West Liberty Foods, was the keynote
speaker for MISA's opening session
and spelled out some recommendations suppliers should consider when
forging partnerships with customers. Garrett revealed the keys to the
growth that has characterized West
Liberty Foods over the past decade.
These include: determining what customers want before they want it; allowing suppliers to get to know WLF's
business through cooperation and collaboration and knowing the abilities
of the fi rm's workforce.
West Liberty wants to build partnerships with their suppliers, said Garrett. To build a true partnership, he
recommended: Know your equipment;
guarantee maintenance costs; guarantee 'up time"; guarantee throughputs"; guarantee yields and guarantee efficiencies.
"I guarantee performance to my customers", said Garrett. "Why would I expect any less from my suppliers?" To do
business with WLF, suppliers must:
* Guarantee promises
98

MEAT&POULTRY

May 2008

* Be a true partner;
* Know WLF's business as you
know yours;
* Bring something new to the
industry that impacts consumers;
* Offer something that helps
control costs; and
* Remember food safety is always
first.
Additional sessions at the MISA
breakout sessions featured Tim Best,
vice president, Bradley-Morris, the nation's largest recruiting firm focusing
on recruiting military veterans, and
Hendrik Eyselee of Kraft Foods.
Best told MISA members they should
not overlook considering military veterans when they are seeking to fi ll
positions in their companies. MISA
has launched an initiative to assist
members in finding candidates to fill
key positions, especially field service
technicians.

www.MEATPOULTRY.com

Eyselee, from Kraft, stressed the importance of sustainability at Kraft Foods
and enlisted the support of suppliers to
Kraft to help find better ways to package
and process the company's products.
MISA also held its banquet and auction during the FPSA event and elected
its officers and directors for 2008-2009.
They include:
Scott Gregory (Chairman),
Bettcher Industries Inc.
Shawn Nicholas (Vice Chairman),
Baader North America Corporation
Janet Bergeron (Past Chairperson),
Stork Townsend
Scott Scriven (Board Liaison),
Weber Inc.
Tony Bayat, CFS North America
Tony Carter, Packaging Technologies
Einar Einarsson, Marel Food
Systems Inc.
Craig Hess, Speco, Incorporated
Dennis Hicks, Pemberton &
Associates Inc.
Tom Hoffman, MEPACO
Mark Koopman, Tipper Tie
Jan Kuhlmann, Multivac Inc.
Chris Mason, Wolf-Tec Inc.
Jarrod McCarroll, Marlen
George Reed, F.R. Drake Company
Keith Wietharn, Cozzini Inc.
Gil Williams, Poly-clip System Corp.
The Meat Industry Suppliers Association is an industry council of the Food Processing Suppliers Association. FPSA also sponsors of PROCESS EXPO,
Nov. 9-13, 2008, at McCormick Place West, Chicago (co-located with PACK EXPO). For more information about MISA, FPSA, or PROCESS EXPO contact
Rebecca Herman, rherman@fpsa.org
We would like to hear from you - to comment
on this story or to request reprints, contact us by
e-mail at: meatpoultry@sosland.com.

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Meat + Poultry - May 2008

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