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QAD Redzone Community Awards Recognize Manufacturing’s Innovators

October was a busy month for QAD Redzone as we celebrated our annual Community Awards in Las Vegas. This event recognizes companies, teams, and individuals who have succeeded with the QAD Redzone Connected Workforce Solution. The awards also align with our corporate values to win the day and celebrate together, which we seek to instill in our customers.

Some winners are brand-new to QAD Redzone. Others continue to unlock value by deploying new modules, extending QAD Redzone to new plants, or driving ongoing incremental gains by creating a culture of continuous improvement.

Read Factory Miracles Community Awards 2023

Plants Still Notching Growth Amidst the Downturn

Manufacturing is emerging from a contraction in the U.S. Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.0 in September from 47.6 in August as orders improved. However, leaders know that a recession could still occur.

“The soft landing narrative still holds as we enter the final quarter of 2023,” said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, quoted in a Reuters article about manufacturing performance.

Despite economic uncertainty, Redzoners are notching growth and operational gains. At our annual Community Awards, we celebrated Redzoners who are winning the day by using our tools to improve outcomes.

• Taffy Town, Plant of the Year, drove production output by 33%, achieving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) uplift of 48%.
• Claremont Foods, Plant of the Year Runner-up, increased production capacity by 250% and achieved a productivity uplift of 74%, gaining $2M in savings for wage increases.
• Multiple 90-Day Productivity Award Winners! We recognized Nature’s Bakery, which boosted productivity by 16% and improved its customer fill rate by 25%. We applauded Diamond Wipes, which increased productivity by 58%, unlocking 2.5 million units of new capacity annually. We celebrated Deep Ellum Brewing Company, which reduced downtime by 20% and increased productivity by 35%. And we heralded Oregon Freeze Dry, whose interactive learning has improved customer service to 98.9% and reduced staff turnover from 10% to 4%.
• Nissin Foods USA, Productivity Team of the Year, boosted OEE to 95% and increased production capacity by 30% without new CapEx investments.
• Palermo’s Pizza, Quality Team of the Year, reduced cheese waste for the entire plant to 2.66%, unlocking $400K in new savings.
• Our MVPs, Jason Hetcher of ASR Group, Jessica Hernandez of Dot’s Pretzels, and Digna Cedillo of Empire Bakery, all found creative ways to add value to their companies’ businesses.

What Links Our Community Award Winners

Our award winners span different industries, manufacturing models, and levels of operational maturity. So, what links these dynamic teams and individuals?

• Teams are driven to succeed: When plants deploy QAD Redzone, they notch an average overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) uplift of 14 points and productivity gain of 29% in just 90 days. They create the organizational will to keep winning, deploying the Compliance, Reliability, and Learning modules to improve results further.
• Plants have a collaborative culture: Production teams collaborate to solve problems and boost productivity and OEE. Workers can provide ideas in daily Huddles or videos and chats via the QAD Redzone app.
  
  Nature’s Bakery has logged 14,000 chats, while its frontline workforces focus on production, positivity, and pallets, say supervisors.
• Every idea counts: Even simple ideas add value, speeding changeovers, eliminating defects, and decreasing downtime.
  
  At Diamond Wipes, production operator Karina found a seal issue that mechanic Peter addressed, boosting production by ten units per minute.
• Everyone can contribute: QAD Redzone automatically translates content – chats, work instructions, data sheets, training materials, and more into workers’ native languages.
  
  MVP Digna Cedillo of Empire Bakery has used QAD Redzone to become a continuous improvement powerhouse. A native Spanish speaker, Digna has used QAD Redzone capabilities to begin mastering English, holding Huddles in her new language.
  
  She has also participated in a 5 Whys assessment to troubleshoot cake design issues, trained unskilled workers to decorate cakes, and mastered the checks and duties of a quality technician.
• Creating a sustainable culture: QAD Redzone provides the data, metrics, tools, and processes any manufacturer needs to build a culture of continuous improvement. Workers are trained to question status-quo processes, find new ways to accomplish goals and celebrate victories.

Get Ready for Community Awards in 2024!

Our coaches are always looking for operational standouts. So, if your company is new to QAD Redzone and driving significant results, don’t hesitate to apply to the Community Awards next year. We also encourage past winners to apply as well. It’s not uncommon for companies and individuals that outperform to be recognized for new successes again.

It’s easy to get inspired by what’s possible with QAD Redzone.

Read the Factory Miracles Community Awards Edition.