Dairy manufacturer names winner of their waste reduction innovation challenge
by CM Staff
The winning project focuses on a fully digitized reporting system for Quality Assurance to facilitate greater efficiencies in collecting and analyzing quality and food safety information.
Dairy manufacturer names winner of their waste reduction innovation challenge
TORONTO — Lactalis Canada, a dairy manufacturer behind brands like Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond, Balderson, Astro and Lactantia and a subsidiary of France-based Lactalis Group, announces the inaugural winner of the company’s internal innovation program Lactalis Canada NEXT Ventures which received over 100 submissions focused around the theme of Waste Reduction in all its forms including, but not limited to time, abilities, financial resources, food, processing, packaging, energy and material resources in 2022.
The winning project focuses on a fully digitized reporting system for Quality Assurance to facilitate greater efficiencies in collecting and analyzing quality and food safety information. The idea was submitted by Nathalie Rey, a Quality Manager at Lactalis Canada’s St. Claude Manitoba plant as a solution to reduce significant paper, time, and resources allocated to the current reporting system and in turn, decrease product wastage. The winning project will now go into incubation with a dedicated project team, key resources, tools and external expertise to build and implement a new reporting system.
“We know that some of the best ideas can come from those who have the deepest knowledge of the business. The winning project is an example of just that – where a Quality Manager on the ground at one of our manufacturing facilities identified a way to make a process she routinely performed more efficient, effective and sustainable,” said Mark Taylor, President and CEO, Lactalis Canada.
“Lactalis Canada NEXT Ventures is a great opportunity for anyone across the organization to share, develop and potentially implement the next big idea for the company,” said Nathalie Rey, Quality Manager in St. Claude, Manitoba. “I am thrilled to have participated in this process, meet and collaborate with so many leaders, experts and peers across the company and most importantly, see my idea transform into reality.”
Launched in April 2022, Lactalis Canada NEXT Ventures is an annual program designed to accelerate future thinking, innovation, and creativity by empowering employees and leveraging internal crowdsourcing to explore ideas and bring to market new products, processes, technologies or business models.
Following an open call to all employees in April 2022, more than 100 waste-reduction related submissions were received from across the organization.
