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Executive Profile: Ocean Nutrition Canada's Transition Manager
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 Share with us some of your successes with this company and in your career
- Helped in the design and commissioning of ONC's Arcadia, Wisconsin facility
- Assisted in the upgrading of personnel and equipment of ONC's original Dartmouth facility to a 24/7 operation
- Led the financial turnaround (+ $800,000 manufacturing variances) and implementation of a preventative maintenance program for Farmers Co-operative Dairy
- Part of the Trimac Transportation team that put approximately $1 million more towards the regional bottom line in one year
- Founded and managed an entrepreneurial company that created, marketed and distributed its' own line of products in three provinces and two countries
- While working for Coca-Cola, received the prestigious President's Award for quality from Coca-Cola Ltd. three years consecutively. Received the Gold Mug and Silver Mug awards for national quality from A&W
- Project championed an initiative that succeeded in increasing quality to the point where a franchise bottler was rated in the top eight in Canada (previously rated 52 out of 52)
- Returned to school later in my career to obtain an MBA and CMA
Tell me about some of your initiatives right now and what are the focus areas for 2006
ONC's primary objective remains providing wellness through innovation meaning that we help make people healthier when they consume our products. It is going to accomplish this by realizing significant sales growth this year and next.
To meet this expected demand, ONC is installing a new spray dryer and expanding our wet process capacity in Arcadia, Wisconsin and we are building a new plant in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia that will increase capacity by approximately eight times the current plant's ability.
My efforts have to be focused in activities that will help ONC accomplish this. These efforts will be critically applied to deliver expansion projects in Arcadia and Dartmouth on time and on budget.
By doing so, ONC will be able to meet its sales, financial and ultimately mission goals.
How do you motivate your people?
I find the best way to motivate the people I rely on and work with is to help make them successful at what they do.
The more that people recognize that their, or their department's needs are being considered, the higher the motivation is for them to help achieve the desired goals.
To best facilitate this occurrence, I explain upfront what the project is, what the goals are, and then actively learn from them what their concerns, objections or suggestions are.
Then we openly discuss how best to deal with their input. When people feel that they understand the benefits of the project and that their input has been heard, they will be much more motivated to assist.
What are your personal key objectives this year?
My personal key objectives for 2006 are:
- Deliver projects for ONC on time and on budget
- Balance work with family life by formally scheduling time
- Contribute time to a non-profit organization
Talking about the Food & Beverage (F&B) industry in general, what do you feel are the biggest challenges?
The biggest challenges for the Food & Beverage industry in general will be attracting and retaining skilled, committed people.
People have a wide range of career opportunities to pursue, so it will be essential for F&B companies to promote and market themselves as viable attractive employment choices. This will have to be supported by effective employee retention programs so that employees will want to be a part of the company for extended periods of time. This will allow companies to not only receive a return on their investment dollars, but have the knowledge base to create value-added processes and products.
What trends do you see in F&B in the near future and what opportunities are in store for your company?
I see that the major trend in F&B in the near future is in creating and supplying value-added goods.
Low cost entrants and discerning, educated customers will force the move to and support companies that can provide value-enhancing products. To compete on economies of scale alone will not be sustainable for many products.
Studies have shown that customers will, however, pay a premium for value-enhancing goods.
The division I work for in ONC is the Healthy Food Ingredients (HFI). We produce a microencapsulated purified fish oil powder. The fish oil used is rich in long chain fatty acids that supply Omega 3 acids. Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) and Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) are essential for brain development and maintenance and are shown to lower risk of stroke and heart attack.
ONC sells this powder to innovative bakeries, milk and yogourt operations and nutritional food manufactures to name a few. Our client list includes Muller, UK, Danone, CDN, Weston, AUS, and Tropicana, US, to name a few.
When our customers include our powder with their primary product their customer receives the benefits of consuming Omega 3 without having to prepare or cook fish. This provides a huge incentive and benefit to the final customer.
The opportunities to expand ONC's Healthy Food Ingredients division and the health of our customers are plentiful.
Do you believe the North American F&B industry plays a major role in the economy of the F&B industry of the world?
Yes, I believe that the North American F&B industry plays a major role in the F&B Global economy.
It does so on several levels. Firstly, North American consumers consume a large amount of the world's production of food. This not only drives production demand, but distribution, brokerage and retail sales activities as well.
Secondly, North American consumers are looking for and can afford to purchase value-adding foods. This, in turn, fuels research and development that is used in the North American and world markets.
Thirdly, some of the world's largest retailers and food companies call North America home. Therefore, the North American F&B industry has a huge span of influence in determining what products are produced and sold throughout the entire world.
Are new plant managers & engineers today keeping pace with new technologies in the industry?
I do feel that new plant managers & engineers are keeping pace with new technologies in the industry, but suggest that being aware of the "hard asset" technologies may not be their biggest challenge.
The wide range of periodicals, trade magazines and conferences are keeping plant managers and engineers current, but skill enhancement is critical in the areas of "justifying" the adoption of new technologies and in human resource management.
As capital becomes scarcer, plant managers and engineers must become more adept at presenting complete business cases to sway senior financial managers of the company to fund upgrades.
Additionally, engineers and plant managers often have a propensity for interpreting technical data and pursuing quantitative results. A significant amount of time will have to be given by plant managers in developing human interaction skills, as these skills will often determine success or failure of projects.
Do you believe engineers beginning their career with a small company can cope with the pressure when they join a bigger player later in their career?
Pressure is often a function of responsibility. How one deals with added responsibility determines how much pressure one feels and is what prepares them for performing while accepting higher position promotions with more responsibility.
Having started in a smaller company I can attest that smaller companies often have less support services available to anybody at any level of the organization than typically does a large organization.
At each position often comes a greater level of responsibility in a smaller company than at a comparable position with a large organization. Typically, one decision from one person in a 20-person operation has greater impacts, either favourable or negative, than does one decision from one person in a 2,000-person company.
Therefore, I believe that engineers having started in a small company will be more than prepared to accept the pressure of joining a larger company.
A benefit that engineers may experience when joining a larger firm is that they may have an opportunity to specialize in their engineering field. Being with a smaller firm means that they would get a much better rounded exposure to all engineering aspects.
A challenge that engineers would face when joining a larger company may be on how they react to the mechanics and structure of a larger company.
From their previous experience they will be used to being relied on solely to make and drive decisions but they may be potentially more unfamiliar with protocols and policies that tend to slow project development in larger companies.
Blair Clark is Transition Manager for Ocean Nutrition Canada (ONC). He earlier held positions of Production Manager and Plant Manager with ONC. His career includes experience with Coca-Cola, Trimac Transportation as well as Farmers Co-operative Dairy. A native of Nova Scotia, Blair holds a Bachelor of Science from Saint Francis Xavier University, a Master of Business Administration from the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University and is a Certified Management Accountant. For article feedback, contact Blair at bclark@ocean-nutrition.com
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