Blendex: One of the Country’s Preeminent Blending Companies

Blendex batters, breadings, seasonings and marinades are used by food companies throughout the U.S. Blendex’s primary business is to blend dry ingredients for the food industry and is one of the fastest-growing custom blenders, with a product line of nearly 300 food products. Blendex is firmly committed to Total Quality Management (TQM) and has been rated Superior by AIB for over a decade. Their obsession for excellence is evidenced by the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) accreditation and being the recipient of numerous awards. Meeting and exceeding customer expectations is their number one goal. This means the company must continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. In the interest of enhancing their performance, Blendex recently hired the McConnell Technology and Training Center (MTTC) to provide supervisory development and lean-sigma process improvement consulting. Ron Pottinger, CEO of Blendex, said that his organization is very  impressed with the MTTC team of professionals: Andy Meyer, Ph.D., Director of the Business Solutions Group; Angel Jones, Organizational Consultant and Galvin Jones, Senior Consultant.

Tony Jessee, Executive Vice President, is very pleased with the assistance provided by MTTC. “We have had four supervisory development sessions and MTTC was able to customize the training based on our needs,” Jessee said. “During the period of these initial supervisory development sessions, we have found that our productivity has already increased and based upon the comments and activities of our supervisors, I don’t feel that this is just a coincidence.”

An added value that MTTC provided was assistance in preparing a grant application for funding assistance from the Bluegrass State Skills Corporation. “MTTC helped us get a grant for 50% of the cost of the training and development they are providing,” Pottinger said. MTTC staff identifies each week what topics will be covered and management input is welcomed. At the end of each session, they debrief management regarding what has been accomplished.

In addition to supervisory development, applying lean manufacturing principals is a key goal of this initiative. The initial lean focus was on the production line of Blendex’s top selling product. Value stream mapping was used to determine which areas needed improvement. After looking at the results of the value stream mapping exercise, management reviewed recommendations to determine what “could” and “could not” be changed. After these decisions are made, process changes will be implemented and their impact will be measured.

“Our expected outcome is a 25% increase in productivity and I think we will meet or exceed that goal,” Jessee said. “We are also pleased with the MTTC approach. Galvin Jones is teaching us how to do this so we can do it ourselves in the future,” Pottinger said. Blendex management believes that the supervisory development training and the changes resulting from applying lean-sigma manufacturing principles will also lead to increased employee morale and reduction of turnover.

For more information about Blendex call 800-BLENDEX or visit www.blendex.com and for more information about MTTC’s services call (502) 638-4467 or email BusinessSolutions@mttc.org.