Customer Success Spotlight: Companion Baking

September 12, 2022

It comes as no surprise that the CPG and manufacturing industries have seen major implications over the last two years as a result of the global pandemic, but even more so within the recent months with supply chain issues hitting all-time highs. Here at Redzone, we pride ourselves on being the #1 connected workforce solutions for manufacturers of all sizes, specifically within the CPG industry – and thriving customers drive us every day. One such example is Companion Baking, based in St. Louis.

Founded in 1993, Companion Baking has been focusing on its four Cs – Companions, Customers, Community and Company – to help develop its small batch baking business with a strong reputation for doing things right. To grow at the desired rate and keep up with consumer needs, they were on the hunt for the appropriate tools to help their frontline workers – those working on the manufacturing floor – get motivated and on the same page.

Companion Baking purchased Redzone in 2017, first focusing on Productivity and Compliance; they implemented the Reliability Module in 2021 and the Learning Module in 2022. The release of the Redzone Learning Module couldn’t have come at a more perfect time as it aligned with Companion’s business direction, focused on cross-training, knowledge sharing, and the standardization and documentation of best practices. At the time they had greater than 80% turnover of entry-level positions, which crippled their growth. Since implementing the Reliability and Learning Modules, Companion has seen a 35% uplift in 18 months of consistent coaching.

The plant completed a total rehaul of its onboarding and compliance training upon implementing Redzone and has taken full advantage of the technology’s benefits. Companion’s old onboarding process consisted of handing the new hire a book of policies and sending them straight onto the floor, with little help, other than what was in the policy manual. Today, the team deploys a buddy program to walk new hires through the onboarding process so they feel confident and prepared. All policies are now captured in videos that walk the employee through the policies and quiz their comprehension before they walk onto the factory floor. This approach has worked so well for onboarding that the company plans to use it to overhaul their annual compliance training. Rather than scrambling before their annual audit, Companion is now leveraging Redzone to manage their compliance training to stay audit ready.

What did Companion gain from implementing Redzone into their operations?