Values

Approximately 90% of companies have values, and they are often displayed proudly on conference room walls and throughout corporate literature. They are self-identified and aspirational but much less often do they become operational. In fact, a recent study by Gallup indicated that only 27% of employees strongly believe in their company’s core values and less than half strongly agree that they know what their company stands for or what makes them different.

At Douglas, our mission and values guide all of the things that we do. Meetings are opened with recognition tied to our company values. Annual employee awards are based on our company values. They are talked about, but much more importantly, they are lived out.

Maintaining a strong connection to values starts at the very beginning. During the recruitment process at Douglas, a significant amount of time and energy is dedicated to the alignment of values. Targeted, behavioral-based interview questions are used to identify specific examples of how a candidate has handled situations that are connected to our values. For example, we ask questions that demonstrate how they respond when in a difficult ethical situation to better understand how they align with our value of Unwavering Integrity or how they have reached out to support others in alignment with Servant’s Heart. The objective is to not only find candidates who have the technical skills needed to perform necessary job responsibilities, but to also find those who align to the greater mission and values of the company.

In a tight labor market, where unemployment is at an all-time low, it could be tempting for companies to relax their hiring process in order to fill open positions more quickly. This is not an option at Douglas. We understand the impact of hiring based on values and performance. The impact is seen in our work performance, our customer interactions, our internal interactions and the overall company success. We also know that hiring people without a values fit can come at a high cost. When individual values do not match with company values, an employee is less likely to be at a company very long. While difficult to fully understand the impact, the cost of replacing an employee is estimated anywhere between 20% and 50% (and sometimes higher) of an individual’s annual wage. Replacement costs come from such things as recruiting, training, loss of productivity and institutional knowledge.

We continually strive to hire applicants who are the right fit for Douglas, and this starts with our values. Hiring to values helps us maintain our positive company culture, it aligns to our corporate identity with our customers and builds a better work force that is 100% committed to our customers.

Enriching Lives with Packaging Solutions and Services

Anyone working in the packaging industry knows that there are often challenging projects. At Douglas, our employee owners take pride in working through challenges that arise to ensure our customers are happy and successful.

 

In October 2017, a popular craft brewer purchased its first Douglas machine. The machine was a hand load variety pack infeed on our Vantra^TM platform. Since the purchase of this first machine, this valuable customer has purchased six additional pieces of equipment to meet their production needs. After the install and start-up of the first machine, market demand continued to be strong for the variety pack product. In order to further automate their lines, the craft brewer purchased a Prisma^TM Variety Pack System with Automatic Unloader solution which fed a Spectrum® Multipacker. The successful completion of this project in March of 2019 proved to be very significant, resulting in the purchase of a second line to do the same.

Douglas was challenged on the first Vantra project to meet our customer’s target speeds, resulting in delayed shipment and negotiation on speed requirements. There were also issues with changeovers on the first split pitch Spectrum. Through these challenges, Douglas team members displayed Servant’s Heart and Ownership Spirit values which resulted in a strengthening of the customer-supplier relationship.

 

Due to the changeover challenges, the customer required multiple changeovers to be tested to ensure performance. To our customer’s delight, the team performed the changeovers flawlessly.

 

After the check-out, the Douglas Project Manager sent the following e-mail to the team:

 

I wanted to pass along my sincere thanks to the team that worked on this project. This valued customer has been a great partner in the beverage packaging business the past few years. Due to their experience with changeover on the Split Pitch Spectrum, they had reservations about another Spectrum for this set of unloaders as they don’t change their current variety pack line over.

 

During the testing, we changed the machine over nine times without issue. To say the least, our customer was very impressed and appreciative of the support displayed during this trip. When we discuss enriching lives with packaging solutions and services, this equipment delivers on that promise.

 

In 6 months, this craft brewer has run 5.6 million cases (11.2 million cartons) through our equipment which in turn is saving them the additional cost of packaging outside of their brewery.

 

Thanks again!

 

At Douglas, it’s not just what we do. It’s who we are. We would be proud to partner with you. Contact us for all of your secondary packaging needs at 320.763.6587.

Patriot Awards

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) is a Department of Defense program that develops and promotes supportive work environments for service members in the National Guard and Reserve. ESGR was established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve Component Service members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee’s military commitment.

 

Staff Sergeant Jeremy Jasmer, Minnesota Army National Guard service member and Mechanical Designer at Douglas, has a demanding and often-changing schedule with the National Guard and has attended multiple one month training exercises during his four year employment at Douglas. “Douglas leadership helps by planning projects around my schedule.” Jasmer stated. “Upon returning from every training, they welcome me back and support me in my transition back to Douglas.”

 

Service members are able to nominate supervisors for a Patriot Award recognizing their support contributing to employee participation in the National Guard and Reserve. Staff Sergeant Jasmer nominated and then presented Ron Moore, Director of Corrugate, Paperboard & Top Load Products and Derek Bolland, Engineering Manager, with Patriot Awards. Douglas is honored to congratulate Ron Moore and Derek Bolland, and sincerely thanks Staff Sargent Jasmer for his service.

The importance of utilizing packaging automation solutions to streamline packaging processes is paramount. While Douglas looks to continuously improve our machines and provide our customers with a meaningful experience, we also look to improve our internal processes as well. Automating internal processes provides our employee owners more time to provide value-add services to our customers.

One of the values of Douglas is “Continuous Innovation & Improvement.” To us, this value means we challenge the status quo and strive for excellence in all our work. Behaviors associated with this value include:

• We proactively initiate improvements in our know-how, products, services, safety and processes
• We innovate through technology and process development to create unique value.
• We engage in constant learning to improve our skills and understanding of our business.

Over the last five years, Douglas has leveraged technologies available to us through systems and software to streamline day-to-day operations.

For example, entering one record into a project history database initiates 50+ downstream activities to occur without any user intervention. In the past, this would require data entry tasks performed by Douglas Accounting, Engineering, Production Control and Sales teams over the course of weeks. Today these activities are automatically completed within minutes!

Another example of internal automation is data transfer. When Douglas engineering team members release a new drawing or updates an existing drawing, the Bill of Materials (BOM) data is automatically updated. This process allows users to access the new drawing within minutes after release. Previously, a “Check-in” program was manually run three times a day to process this information.

Having mobility to leverage data in the cloud provides our field service technicians with real time information and allows us to support our customers more effectively.

These are just a few examples of how Douglas strives to continuously improve not only our products, but our processes and services.

Contact us today to learn more about our company, our solutions and our efforts to continuously improve. Our mission is to enrich lives by providing differentiated packaging automation and services. We look forward to partnering with you to create a meaningful customer experience and provide you with the best packaging solution to fit your application.

Welcome to the seventh, and final installment of Women in the Workplace Series. If you’d like to read the previous articles, check out the links below!

Interview with Pat Thoen

Interview with Becky Iverson

Interview with Therese Jakes

Interview with Jackie Caron

Interview with Brenda Larson

Interview with Kylie Harer

Did you know that just over 11% of all Douglas Machine employees are female?

In order to get a credible perspective on the women who have been employed at Douglas since the company was first established in 1964, seven women were interviewed, including one retiree and six current employees. Their work spans every decade of Douglas’ existence and therefore provides insight into the experiences of women in the workplace over time, the variety of work that women have contributed to Douglas, and their advice for women who are interested in working in a similar industry.

Interview with Candy Eschbach

1. How long have you worked at Douglas, and in what position/s?

CANDY: I have been employed here since April 2018. Currently I work in Mechanical Assembly, specifically with guarding, but I’ve also been helping with mechanical build, and I would like to also help in electrical for opportunities to branch out.

2. What drew you to this line of work? What specifically brought you to Douglas?

CANDY: I was looking to change careers and was encouraged to apply. I’m a hands-on person and a fast learner. I like to keep busy. I knew Douglas was a good company with good people, and that there were opportunities to grow and develop new skills. Coming to Douglas was a big shock, mostly because of the completely different atmosphere from other places of employment. At my previous job, it was hard to get time off if I needed to take care of my family. At Douglas family is a priority, not just work. In addition, everybody knows what to do, so there’s no need to micromanage or to be micromanaged. There is a family atmosphere here. We share meals, and most people say hi and are in a cheery disposition. People seem to like coming to work.

3. In a nutshell, what do you do?

CANDY: I put on the machine guards to protect people from getting injured when they operate our machines.

4. Were you married and/or were you raising a family when you started working at Douglas?

CANDY: I was raising a family.

5. Was it usual for women to be working at the time when you started? Did many of your friends and female peers work?

CANDY: At Douglas specifically, not many women work on the assembly floor. I managed a restaurant previously and there are lots of female managers and employees in that line of work. Coming here there were a lot more males, which took some adjustment. It would be nice to see more women work on the floor.

6. How many of the people on your team are also female? What is that like?

CANDY: I’m the only female. My teammates are good. They are friendly, helpful and team-orientated.

7. In your opinion, how has the role of women in the workplace changed over time?Why do you think those changes have occurred?

CANDY: Women today don’t rely as much on men to handle all the money and finances. Instead, women get to make their own way, put their stamp on the world, and have skills for themselves. Now more women are fighting for equal wages, for their worth. There is more progress toward equality. I think these changes have occurred because more women want to be independent and have their own paychecks.

8. If you were to guess, what percentage of Douglas employees today do you think are women?

CANDY: 25%.

9. What advice would you give women who are considering working in this industry?

CANDY: Even if you doubt your skills, try it! Try something simple first: using a drill or a tool, and go from there. You might not have the specific skills required, or you might doubt the skills you already have, but once you say “I can do this” or “I could teach this” it opens up opportunities.

10. Do you have any other comments you would like to share?

CANDY: In considering why more women aren’t employed in this line of work, I wonder if women question if they have the skills to be in this kind of environment. I also think a lot of women gravitate to office jobs because being pregnant when working on the production floor or in a job that is more physically demanding is a lot more difficult. Trying to balance family life and work life, especially in a leadership role, can be challenging. Also, I wish there were more job shadows for women and girls, especially in high schools. I would like to see schools encouraging women to do more mechanical classes.

Connect With Douglas Machine

Reach out to us today to learn more about Douglas Machine and our family! You can also connect with us for more details on our powerful secondary packaging solutions.