faces of the frontline: manufacturing’s all stars

At HP Hood’s Sacramento facility, when you talk about quality and operational excellence wins, one name keeps coming up: Daniel “Danny” Cavazos, the site’s quality assurance specialist, has emerged as a driving force behind many of the plant’s most impactful improvement initiatives.

Embracing Continuous Learning

Danny joined HP Hood straight out of college as a lab technician, and it quickly became clear that his talents extended far beyond technical lab skills. He credits his promotion to lab foreman after two years with helping him develop critical abilities like working cross-functionally, building trust with teams, and bridging gaps between workers and management.  

When the quality assurance specialist position opened up two years ago, Danny saw it as an opportunity to embrace a new challenge. Little did he know, it would unlock his passion for continuous improvement.

«I fell in love with the tools and methodologies when we adopted Redzone’s Connected Workforce Solution around the same time I started this role,» Danny recalls. «Learning the Kaizen process and lean principles was eye-opening. I was immediately hooked on finding ways to apply them to drive improvements.»

Perseverance Delivers Measurable Results 

One of Danny’s biggest achievements has been spearheading a weight control improvement project. By leveraging statistical process control (SPC) and engaging operators through training, he managed to significantly reduce product giveaway on a key 96 oz filler line.

When a report showed that the 96 oz filler line was giving away $20,000 per month in overweight product, team members looked for the cause but came away stumped. That didn’t deter Dannyl, who dug deeper and meticulously gathered data from Redzone and the Shibuya filling machines. After running the data through the company’s statistical software, he went over the results with a fine-toothed comb. 

He found the missing puzzle piece when he noticed the tare on one filler was way off. It turned out that the P-12 filler wasn’t properly accounting for residual rinse water weight, leading to overfilling every single bottle.

«Danny is the one who broke through on that,» says FSQ Assistant Manager Carolyn Woods. «When we had stalled out for two months, he just kept digging until he uncovered that missing tare component. His perseverance and ownership over solving problems is truly impressive.»

Building Lasting Cultural Transformation

While delivering impactful cost savings, Danny’s efforts have also driven a bigger cultural shift around quality ownership among operators. Through hands-on training, he was able to demystify statistical process control (SPC) principles in a way that clicked. 

Danny views data as facts that don’t lie and can tell a powerful story to understand what’s really going on. To share that story with others, he’s put significant effort into training operators and supervisors on SPC principles using relatable examples. Danny helps them truly understand SPC charts, control limits, and differentiated process variations across equipment. This up-skilled the team’s ability to self-monitor and stay in control.

«Seeing that light bulb moment when the concepts make sense for the operators is really rewarding,» Danny says. «They understand why monitoring statistics and control limits matters, and they take pride in keeping their lines in control.»

By enabling operators to truly own quality processes, the facility has seen a 50% reduction in product holds, improved breakdown response times, and even some healthy competition between shifts around compliance metrics. This shift in mindset has paid huge dividends. 

«Operators used to see quality as ‘not my job.’ Now, they’re the ones coming to us, asking for quality checks to be added,” says James Hernan, Continuous Improvement Specialist. «That’s been a remarkable turnaround, and Danny’s training and passion have been at the heart of making that happen.»

Fostering Collaboration

Recognizing the importance of operator buy-in when implementing new processes like paperless quality checks, Danny learned from initial attempts that just building the checks without involving operators led to a lack of adoption. To address this, he directly involved operators in re-engineering and redesigning the quality checks to ensure they would work well for the people actually executing them on the floor. This collaborative, inclusive approach built ownership among operators.

Danny’s willingness to learn from initial missteps, adapt the approach by involving end-users, and foster a sense of shared ownership over the processes is highlighted as a key factor in the team’s eventual success.

Championing Knowledge-Sharing 

Danny’s continuous improvement mindset and training allow him to see opportunities beyond just adjusting targets. Danny promotes collaboration throughout the facility, reaching out to subject matter experts across teams when he needs support or lacks specific knowledge in certain areas, and recognizes the need for operator training and buy-in to truly own the weight control process. 

Beyond his achievements in Sacramento, Danny’s improvement efforts are gaining wider recognition and influence. His tare weight findings have already prompted interest from other HP Hood facilities looking to replicate his solutions.

«Danny is incredibly generous in sharing his knowledge and process details,» Carolyn notes. «At our monthly quality meetings, we make sure to not just celebrate the wins, but specifically highlight Danny as the expert others can learn from.»

Managers at HP Hood think so much of Danny and his accomplishments that they nominated him for the 2023 Frontline MVP award — and now he’s been chosen as our April Frontline MVP Spotlight. When asked what this recognition means to him, Danny’s response is characteristically team-oriented: «I’m very grateful and excited, but it would be a huge win for our entire team here. You need great support around you to achieve success. This would just be the beginning — I hope it inspires others to take on specialist roles and achieve ten times more than I have.»

With his achievements delivering transformative improvements, his passion for continuous learning, and his team-centric mindset, it’s clear that Danny Cavasos epitomizes the best of what a continuous improvement culture can enable. 

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