SIXTEEN OUNCES TO THE POUND ------The History of Schreiber Foods
This book is dedicated to the past, present andfuture partners ofSchreiber Foods. Copyright© 2003 by Schreiber Foods Inc.
All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any farm or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writingfrom the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote a briefpassage in review.
First Edition ISBN 1-882771-07-9 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2003112442
Produced by The History Factory 14140 Parke Long Court Chantilly, Va. 20151 www.historyfactory.com
Published by Schreiber Foods Inc. 425 Pine Street P. 0. Box 19010 Green Bay, Wis. 54307-9010 www.schreiberfoods.com CONTENTS
Preface XI
Part One: Origins 1 A Slice of History- The Story of" 16 Ounces to the Pound" 2 Wisconsin- T he Cheese Capital of America 3 Early Industry Leaders 4 Founding Schreiber Foods 11
Part Two: For the Record- An Overview of the Schreiber Experience 13 Building a Business Based on Values 14 Tests of W ill 23 The Challenge of Growth 33 Taking Schreiber to the Next Level 39 Finding New Ways to Grow 48 Schreiber in the New Millennium 57
Part Three: Recipe for Success 67 T he Journey Continues 68
Epilogue 77
Part Four: Timeline 79
Part Five: People and Places 87
"We wanted quality that would permit us to keep our self-
respect, and we wanted to guarantee to every customer that
he need never keep one pound of Schreiber cheese that he
didn't want. Now that was a hell of an order, because there
were some unscrupulous buyers. . . . So it cost us some
money. But remember, this was something revolutionary.
Nobody in the cheese business had that guarantee."
Merlin G. "Mer" Bush Schreiber Founder
I l
hen we began this book project, we forward thinking; farmers don't expect the immediate thought we'd capture and package what rewards that come from isolated victories and one-time W has made Schreiber the world's largest "killer" ideas. Survival and success come from what is private-label cheese company. But then we thought: repeatable, and hence subject to improvement. People of How do you take a history of honesty and integrity, the soil also have a natural humility, drawn from an under adherence to quality, personal accountability, creative standing of what is controllable, and what isn't. A farmer use of technology, and the belief in people working can't plan on a freeze, drought or fluctuations in the together, and put it in a neat little bundle? dairy markets, bur he can keep his cows healthy and his machinery in top shape. In other words, he masters what Well, you don't. And if Barney Schreiber and Mer Bush he can and looks for unexpected opportunities to excel. were alive today, they'd be less than satisfied if we didn't try harder. Instead, you tell stories with facts and Schreiber is made of these same ingredients. anecdotes, triumphs and failures; stories that help us understand how our business became what it is today. Much of our culture can be understood by the remarks In the process, yo u include guideposts that illustrate made by Mer Bush more than 25 years ago, when important concepts about our culture that you can hang he told the story of" l6 ounces to the pound." your hat on, and incorporate into your work. He said, 'Tm always suspicious if somebody tells you how honest he is. We decided to AB Schreiber has grown, our customers-supermarket build, and are still building, an image for chains, wholesalers and distributors, military commis reliability ... never making a promise that we saries, club and warehouse stores, drug and dollar stores, cannot keep .... I may have started it, but, restaurants, schools and colleges, hotels, and health and after the first few months, other people kept entertainment venues-have trusted us like they would that image going and improved on it." the handshake of a best friend. Those "other people" are you, Schreiber partners-the That's because, to use an old farm expression, we are source of innovation and continuous improvement, "people of the soil." process excellence, tenacity, hard work and ownership that ensure our lasting success. You are continuing to In the dairy business of the Upper Midwest, where make Schreiber a leader in the 21 sr century. Schreiber was born, yo u're never very far from the soil. Hard work, personal restraint and accountability, hands Larry Ferguson on practicality, and teamwork are part of getting up in President and ChiefExecutive Officer the morning. People close to the soil value patience and Schreiber Foods
-XJ- INNOVATION
LEADERSHIP
COMMITMENT ORIGINS
"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
Vince Lombardi Former Green Bay Packers Head Coach
- 1- A Slice ofHistory- a company that was based on honesty. That in itself The Story of "16 Ounces to the Pound" was a novelty. "
hen L.D. "Barney" Schreiber asked To be known as honest and trustworthy could give Merlin G. "Mer" Bush to run the cheese Schreiber a competitive edge in creating relationships W division ofL.D. Schreiber and Company with customers. But keeping promises was more than in 1945, Bush had strong ideas about how a cheese sound business prac- business should operate. He believed that his convictions tice. For Mer Bush, could distinguish Schreiber from other process cheese it was personal con companies. But his ideas were untested, and there were viction. As he came no other cheese companies running their organizations to find out, it was under the model he was about to propose. In a business an ethic in which based on thin margins, any mistake could mean the Barney Schreiber also end of the company. believed. In fact, when Bush presented his Bush journeyed to Chicago to meet with Barney "demand" to run the Schreiber. With a sense of urgency, he set forth a num business with strict ber of conditions, beginning with one simple notion: honesty and integrity, A pound of cheese would weigh one pound. Schreiber said, "Did you ever know me to While there were exceptions, much of the dairy and do anything else?" cheese business in the first half of the century was not known for its integrity. Regulatory oversight was Over the following minimal, which meant milk was often watered and years, the company's scales customarily weighed high. A lot of money was promise went well With its ideal agricultural conditions, Wisconsin quickly became synonymous with America 's made with pencils, through doctored manifests and beyond a pound finest dairy products . This photo was taken atthe bills of lading. weighing a pound. time of Schreiber's creation in 1945. As Dr. Vincent L. Mer Bush couldn't stomach such practices. As his son "Vince" Zehren, another of Schreiber's early leaders, Robert G. "Bob" Bush later remarked, "My father once commented, "You co uld always rely on the word talked about honesty every day of my life. And of Schreiber. [We] used to make big deals with a hand Schreiber Cheese Company was a chance to create shake. There were no lengthy contracts .. . because it
- 2- was not necessary. If Schreiber said that they were going to do something, you could be ass ured rhar it would happen. "
Today, Schreiber still uses" 16 ounces to the pound" as shorthand for two cornerstones of its character: unquestionable integrity and an ongoing commitment to quality.
Schreiber has come a long way from its modest begin nings, bur honesty and integrity are values the company will never leave behind. To understand where Schreiber is going, let's first look at where it's been.
Since the first trader set up his posts in 1655, Green Bay, Wis ., has been a crossroads for industry, culture and American expansion . This 1867 map Wisconsin-The Cheese Capital ofAmerica shows the growing city around the time of the introduction of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad . merica's first cheese factory was built in Oneida County, N.Y., in 1851 , and upstate teenager in summertime, co nnecting nothing to noth A New York dominated the country's early dairy ing. That's because the Badger State owes its road sys commerce. About that time, immigrants to America tem to the peculiar evolution of what would become were creating their own cheese-making tradition in the the state's vast dairy business. farmlands of W isconsin. The state's cool temperatures; abundant water, corn and grass; and large number of The typical dairy farm was small-perhaps 25 head of dairy-wise northern European settlers soon enabled cattle-yet what these farms lacked in size they made Wisconsin to overtake New York as the country's up in numbers. By the late 1860s, W isconsin's 245,000 largest dairy producer. dairy cows provided enough milk to enable local manu fac turers to turn out 3 million pounds of cheese a year, One of the most remarkable features of the Wisconsin a figure that would quadruple over the next 10 years. landscape is its idiosyncratic secondary road system. By 1945, the year Schreiber was fo unded, Wisconsin Rural areas everywhere in America have winding back was producing a phenomenal 515 million pounds of roads, but Wisconsin's often seem as aimless as a cheese an nually.
- 3- Early Industry Leaders
he natural cheese made in and sold from early factories resembled large, chick wheels. T Encased in stiff rinds, they could be found in general stores and small food emporiums everywhere. When one wanted cheese for the home, a clerk would slice off a piece of suitable size, weigh it and wrap it in paper. There were drawbacks to chis method: The rind was thick and useless, and the remainder of the wheel quickly dried out. European cheesemakers Wisconsin has early dairy farmers to thank for its unique second ary road system. Deliverym en, such as these 1915 wagon drivers, had already solved chis problem by heating the cheese found the most efficient path from one farm to the next. until it liquefied; adding seasoning, color and harmless emulsifiers; then cooling it until it could be packaged. Which brings us back to those winding roads. Tight packaging eliminated the need for the inedible Wisconsin was a booming dairy state long before the rind; the addition of emulsifiers and other ingredients gasoline engine, and hauling a heavy wagonload of milk ensured a longer-las ting product. was time consuming and difficult. It quickly became obvious that the answer was to place small cheese facto James L. Kraft ries throughout Wisconsin's hills and dells to reduce The advantages of process over natural cheese weren't the time required for cartage. Small cheese factories lost on a young Canadian named James L. Kraft, who sprouted like mushrooms-every crossroads of any size noticed the waste-and loss of profit-while working as had a cheese factory and a post office (and sometimes a grocery clerk in Fon Erie, Ontario. In 1903, he moved a church, but always a tavern). By 1922, Wisconsin to Chicago and began peddling cheese to local grocers boasted 2,800 cheese factories. That amazing network by horse and wagon. Kraft was a skillful businessman, of farm roads became the shortest distance between the and soon realized the potential business advantages of family dairy farm and the nearest place to sell its milk. a product with greater uniformity, less waste and more consistent quality. Incorporated in 1909, Kraft Cheese From those modest beginnings, Wisconsin was soon Company would dominate the process cheese industry selling cheese to the rest of America, and Green Bay in America for decades to come. became the epicenter of a vast enterprise.
-4- KRAFT E - --~.L...I standards got into the business. At this time, makers of natural cheese stood staunchly against this new process cheese idea, referring to the product as "embalmed," "imitation" and "moonshine." There was good reason for their animosity: Kraft knew that the success of the company's new product depended exclusively on the quality of the natural cheese from which it was made, and Kraft's high standards weren't necessarily shared by many cheesemakers. Cheese factories were often dirty, and the quality of their product was irregular, if not downright poor. (In fact, early Wisconsin cheese was sometimes dubbed "western grease" because it was occasionally used to lubricate wagon wheels.) Cheese markets such as this one dotted the Wisconsin landscape in the 1940s, Because of the early popularity of Kraft's high-quality a period when the state produced 515 million pounds of cheese a year. ''American" process cheese, suppliers were forced to upgrade their product. Thus, the entire industry can Kraft blended and heated cheese as early as 1912, and thank Kraft for its high standards, which set the fledg opened his first processing plant two years later. Kraft ling industry on a steady course. soon secured several patents covering the processes of heating, blending, sterilization and packaging. By Kraft's original processing patents expired in 1938. 1934, the company employed 10,000 people in plants While further patents would refine the making of located in 30 states and several foreign countries, and process cheese, the basic technology was no longer sold a million pounds of cheese a day. restricted. There would be room now for more entre preneurs to enter the business. Among them would be During Kraft's early years, other entrepreneurs were Barney Schreiber, who was willing to take a financial attracted to the industry, and Kraft brought patent risk in this newly competitive industry, and Mer Bush, infringement suits against any competitor who even whose leadership, values and vision would eventually remotely seemed to be taking advantage of his methods make L.D. Schreiber Cheese Company the only and technology. Kraft's interests went beyond protect cheesemaker in the world that would keep Kraft ing market share: He was well aware of the dangers of looking over its shoulder. compromising this new industry if those with lesser
-6- L.D. ''Barney" Schreiber Merlin G. ''Mer" Bush Barney Schreiber was a major trader at the Chicago Although born in the city of Buffalo, N.Y., in 1903, Mercantile Exchange, but he always referred to himself Mer Bush was quickly-and permanently-attracted simply as a "butter and egg man:' Thirteen years Bush's to the soil. As a teenager, Bush spent summers working senior, Schreiber was deeply influential in the business on his uncle's dairy farm in side of the dairy industry. (In 1935, at the invitation of upstate New York, and enrolled the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he helped write at Cornell University in 1921 quality standards for butter, standards that survived a with the idea of becoming a half century with only slight amendment.) Schreiber farmer. In his first year in the was, above all else, a businessman. By the mid-l 940s, dairy science department at he had already made a considerable fortune from Cornell, he met two professors, various produce, burrer and egg deals. Walter W Fisk and Walter V Price. Both happened to be While some called him friendly, those who partnered cheese men. "I liked what they AND HERE'S with him also knew Schreiber were doing," Bush remarked in ?It t;,. (MER) ~etd, _ _,M:;:;;•••o::::••=· or THE GREEN IAY PUNT as a genius with figures and a an interview, "and I liked what At first, Mer Bush politely declined demanding intellect. He asked I thought was the development Barney Schreiber's offer to run his penetrating questions and of the industry." In Bush's senior new process cheese plant. expected well-informed answers. year, Fisk asked him if he was Bob Bush, Mer Bush's son, later interested in working for A&P, which was looking for recalled, "We heard a lot of 'No' a man to start a cheese processing plant. "I said, 'Fine.' from Mr. Schreiber. We'd travel I thought that was just my oyster." At that time, A&P back from a meeting with him was the largest chain grocery store in the United States, in Chicago, disappointed with 3,500 stores and 96,000 employees. "You could because we had failed to make see they had a captive market, and I wouldn't have any our case. Barney always looked problem selling what I made, provided it was edible," Though he considered himself a "butter and egg man ," Barney for the pieces that were missing. Bush recalled. Schreiber was involved in all aspects We learned a lot from that. You of American agricultural business . Cheese was but one of his many had to do your homework." successful ventures.
-7-
Kraft's tightly held patents dictated that others getting In 1929, A&P knocked on Bush's door again with an into the business had to start from scratch. The trial offer to join its butter and cheese department in the and error involved in this startup proved an invaluable Midwest, a job that lasted a decade. Among the men learning experience for the young Bush. It wasn't long, Bush came to know during this period was Harmon however, before Wheeler, who had owned and operated process cheese A&P's process cheese businesses in Green Bay throughout the 1930s. Wheeler operation fell victim sold his first operation to what would become Borden to Kraft's legal Cheese Company and was soon eager to create another. department and was In 1939, he asked Bush to manage his new Wheeler forced to shut down. Cheese Company. Under Bush's supervision, the com Nonetheless, Bush pany prospered. In 1943, the government awarded a had gotten an oppor $3.5 million contract to pack 12 million pounds of tunity to get his feet process cheddar in 7-pound cans-at that time the wet in the business largest single contract of its kind in the cheese industry. that would become This association continued until the final day of 1944, his life's work. when Bush decided to end his relationship with Harmon Wheeler. To support his rapidly growing family, Bush Less than 24 hours after terminating his working rela THE WHEELER CORPORATION soon took a job as tionship with Wheeler, an amazing thing happened: (;HEE'< IHl . \\ I SCO~S L\ what he later termed Bush received a phone call from Barney Schreiber, This 1940s advertisement featured Wheeler's "assistant to the assis whom he had first met 15 years earlier at the Chicago Me l-0-Bit process cheese . tant to the assistant Mercantile Exchange. Schreiber, who already had a sales manager" at small cheese-packaging operation in Neenah, Wis., the Buffalo Foundry & Machine Company, which told Bush he wanted to set up a cheese plant in Green manufactured equipment for the dairy industry. As a Bay and asked Bush to run it. Perhaps thinking of the Cornell graduate and a man who had, until recently, rough-and-tumble of his final year with Wheeler, Bush run a factory for A&P, this was certainly a step down. politely promised Schreiber he'd think about it. Bush But this job, like the aborted A&P operation, allowed and his family visited his father in western New York Bush to gain valuable familiarity with machine design State, where he considered finally getting into farming. and engineering. That didn't las t long.
-10 - Founding Schreiber Foods It would have taken a man who loved the business to want to enter the fray at this most unstable moment. er Bush was tempted by Barney Schreiber's Bue the opportunity offer, buc he was no longer the young intrigued Bush ...... fATl AND DILS '""1"' CNtlH5• ... postgraduate who had jerry-rigged pro enough to call Barney """'' l lchl _,,, ... "' '"°""' w .. • M ~! :i:::;';;~:~.::J',:!~:,:,,: fwll cessing equipment at A&P. He was 41, with a wife Schreiber and say he HWtfW"""d • A.l~Ml-prHRI and three teenage children, and he had just concluded, was interested. He 11 11 1l under sometimes trying circumstances, a six-year stint also told his potential as manager of Harmon Wheeler's cheese plant. backer that they would have to talk. Moreover, America was still operating by wartime Bush had unique and, restrictions. This made operating any business, particu in some cases, highly larly a startup, highly difficult. "You couldn't hire a per unorthodox convic son without a legal certificate from the War Manpower tions about how the
Board," Bush recalled. "You couldn't buy a pound of company should be During World War II , a point system was created stainless steel or an electric motor without a document run. If Mr. Schreiber for rationed food products, including cheese. from the War Production Board. We didn't have a didn't like these con- building." Further, the government required that com ditions, then Bush wasn't interested. Of course, they panies set aside a percentage of production for wartime agreed, and in early 1945, a relationship was forged that use, and it had developed a cumbersome point system would put Bush in Green Bay at the head of Schreiber for accounting for the volume of set-aside, which could for the rest of his professional life. change every month according to bureaucratic whim. With these regulations still in force, procurement for But he didn't know that in 1945. There was no doubt the new plant would be tricky, as would keeping a dual that Barney Schreiber could capitalize the operation, accounting system-one for the civilian business and and Bush certainly knew how to make process cheese. another for the government. In an industry in which But then, a lot of other companies had sufficient capital the profit margin was often less than a penny a pound, and experience in the business as well. What was going even small additional costs could sink a company. to set Schreiber apart from the others? If they didn't answer that question quickly, the company would barely see the light of day.
- 11- EXCELLENC
INNOVATION IMPROVEMENT FOR THE RECORD-AN OVERVIEW OF THE SCHREIBER EXPERIENCE
"I can't make cheese by myself."
Daniel D. "Dave" Nusbaum Schreiber Founder
- 13- Building a Business Based on Values "People Are the Key Assets of Your Business." er Bush set up Schreiber's first plant Mer Bush told Barn ey Sch reiber that the company could prosper only if on the site of the Hagemeister Brewery hum an values took precedence over strictly financial concerns . The be st adjacent to the old Atlas Warehouse & M chance for operating profitably in the long run was to hire the best people Cold Storage Company available, train them well, and treat them fairly. For Bush, this was a deeply in Green Bay. Designed held article of faith : "People are really the key as sets of your business. It is and built to Bush's specifi not only reputation, it is not only money, but it is people . People are more cations, the building was modest even by the stan important than the other two." dards of the day. Barney Schreiber generally was Over the years, the prim ac y of Schreiber's people would take many forms and an absentee owner. His affe ct many aspects of th e company's operation . Hiring and rewarding good chauffeur-driven limou people who shared th e comp any's values would become a strong component sine arrived at the door of its lea dership, manag ement style and personn el deve lopment. Th e first Schreib er pl ant was adjace nt two or three times a year; to th e Atl as Warehou se & Cold Storage Comp any. It was important fo r many new otherwise, Bush held che ese comp anie s to have a stron g pres complete authority over ence in Gree n Bay. the business.
To help him run the operation, Bush built a team that reflected and supported his vision, values and focus. A number of these individuals would play key roles for decades. Daniel David "Dave" Nusbaum, whom Bush had known at Wheeler, became Plant Manager and took charge of procurement. In 1949, Robert K. "Bob" Deutsch, Barney Schreiber's son-in-law, joined the company. (He woul d later follow Bush as Schreiber's President.) Bush's two sons, Richard (Dick) and Bob, joined the company full time in 1950, after working summers in the late 1940s while in college. They would Early Schreiber employee s like these helped build the company's strong eventually oversee, respectively, Sales and Operations. found ation on shared valu es.
- 14 - Vince Zehren, who joined the Although the early leaders were Schreiber team as Technical a small group and responsibili Director in 1954 and would ties often blurred, their focus bring honor to both himself did not. They understood, for and the company for his contri example, that effective procure butions to dairy research and ment of raw materials was development, recalled the critical. The early leaders also headiness of those early days. quickly recognized that tech "We all spent a lot of time on nology could-and would the job," Zehren said. "Nobody be a key way to differentiate minded too much . ... We were from the competition. They involved. That was just a won (DAVE) ~ also understood that success derful, very dynamic time. Z:,, Z:,, required them to fight for every Exhilarating is the right word, Mer Bush had hired Dave Nusbaum to work for customer. Through all of that, Whee ler back in 1942. Bush was correct in his belief I'd say. " that Nusbaum's close ties in industry procurement they knew that people and would pay off for the company, as they did three years relationships were going to later when he bro ught Nusbaum with him to work Despite their experience and make the difference. for Schreiber. academic degrees, none of the early leaders slotted themselves From past experience, Barney into a specialty. Mer Bush had the title of Vice Schreiber and Mer Bush both knew well the challenges President of the cheese division ofL.D. Schreiber & involved in procuring bulk cheese and other products Co. Inc., bur in practice, as Bob Bush saw him, "He from the small dairy plants that dotted the Wisconsin was the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, countryside. To simplify access to these products for salesman, mechanic, bookkeeper and raw material buyer his other ventures, Barney Schreiber a couple of years for the first several years." Zehren, as Technical Director, earlier had formed a relationship with a Green Bay was by no means confined to his laboratory. "In those group called Marketing Association of America (MAA). days, everybody had a wide range of responsibilities," Schreiber connected Bush with MAA as soon as he Zehren said. Having "a wide range of responsibilities" arrived in Green Bay, launching a relationship that had an intentional benefit: Problems were solved by a would last for 50 years in a critically important aspect lot of mutual head scratching, and as a result, everyone of the business. felt responsible for the overall success-or failure- of the company.
- 15 - •
Barney Schreiber's close ties to Marketing Association of America gave his young company n advantage. Not only did MAA supply Schreiber all of its cheese. it also had high quality · rds that matched those of the company. MAA was, in simplest terms, a co-op with five ware houses that served as cheese assembly points for more than a hundred small bulk cheese factories throughout Wisconsin. For Schreiber, MAA would receive, grade, test and assemble the cheese into lots for delivery to Schreiber's Green Bay plant. In those early days, all of MAA's cheese went to Schreiber, and virtually all of Schreiber's cheese came from MAA. An early leader recalled, "It was much more than a buyer and a seller. MAA really was our procurement staff, for all intents and purposes. It was a wonderful relationship." From its earliest days, Schreiber understood that continuous improvement-from production technology to every other part Quality, service and price were the key procurement of its business-would be essential to its future success. factors then, just as they are today. Schreiber counted on MAA for quality and service. Schreiber was an active If efficient procurement was an early Schreiber tenet, member-and MAA a constant observer-of the so, too, was a commitment to technology. The com Wisconsin Cheese Exchange, which set the price of pany's decision to place technology at the foundation bulk cheese each week at its meeting in Plymouth and of the business clearly helped to ensure its survival. In later in Green Bay. In the context of the business then 1946, Mer Bush got an unexpected request from the as now, fractions of a cent meant big money; it was government to bid on a contract for 7-pound cans of simply on a different scale back then. process cheese. Assembling figures throughout the night in his Washington hotel, Bush crafted the win Through the years, small farms, small dairies and small ning bid. The problem was, Schreiber had no can line. cheese factories all gave way to large-scale operations. Working at an incredible pace and employing every Schreiber built up its own procurement capabilities, thing he knew from his engineering training, Bob Bush and MAA ultimately closed its doors in 1994. Yet the and his team designed and built Schreiber's first can importance of procurement surely endures, whether line. The system may have been primitive, but it Schreiber is buying bulk cheese or finished goods from worked beautifully. Many millions of pounds of gov a co-packer. So, too, does the spirit of that early, strong ernment cheese went through that can line during the partnership with MAA. Schreiber knew early on that next several years. And the basic operations of those relationships go both ways. days-blending and grinding, cooking and packaging remain part of the basic process today.
-17 - Good fortune brought Schreiber its first private-label They reduced prices to try to keep us away." But business when Shefford Cheese Company, one of the Bush and his team were tenacious: "Call it stubborn, many process cheese companies in Green Bay, was sold but we were determined not to let anybody shove us to Standard Brands, which promptly dropped Shefford's around. We didn't have a chip on our shoulder, but private-label accounts. Mer Bush moved quickly to pick we knew that if we let people sweep us under the table up practically all of them for Schreiber, one of which once, it wouldn't be long before we were [under the was Safeway. Almost immediately, Schreiber's emphasis table] to stay. We have always maintained that tough on honesry and trustworthiness helped to establish a attitude toward our competitors, but not toward strong relationship. Mer Bush would later remark, our customers." "The Safeway account got us started beautifully, because they were growing, and so were we. T hey were fine When Dick Bush began in Sales, a highly traditional people, reliable, honest. We tried to act as though we set of practices dominated the industry. Each processor were a subsidiary of their company. " Developing and had its own captive accounts with which it deal t exclu strengthening those kinds of partnerships remain sively. Schreiber had Safeway and Topco. Pauly had Schreiber's central focus today. Kroger. Borden had A&P. T here was an unwritten law that one company wouldn't tamper with another com Other than government business, Safeway remained pany's acco unts. Dick Bush quickly set out to repeal Schreiber's only major client. During the first few years, that law. Before long, he succeeded in getting Schreiber's acquiring other private customers was very hard work. foot in the doors of A&P and Kroger, among others. "Competition Soon, Grand Union in New Jersey, Food Fair in got awfully Philadelphia, and Fairmont in Omaha became regular to ugh," Mer customers. "It was also traditional for the big chains Bush said later. to have buyers who were expert graders," Bush said. "Margins were "They would come to Wisconsin several times a year to very low, some of select product for their own use. We changed that by them purposely going to their offices to sell to them." so, because we were knocking Schreiber knew, even early on, the importance of qualiry, In the early days, process cheese companies were at the door of value and customer service. "We had a good reputation only as strong as their top customers . When Safeway became Schreiber's first big customer, it helped ele other compa from the beginning, through our key men, for integrity," vate Schre iber to the level of such competitors as nies' customers. Dick Bush noted. "We didn't so much sell, in the sense Pauly, which had Kroger as a customer, and Borden, which had A&P.
-18 - of taking individual orders, as we did convince our customers to sign up for a program that gave them all Finding a Niche in Private Label the services that Schreiber offered and our competitors In his early meeting with Barney Schreiber, Mer Bush shared his belief that didn't. In my opinion, about as much business came to the future of the company must be in private-label production. Bush later Schreiber as Schreiber went out and got." remarked, "I knew that the man who tried to beat Kraft ... by selling an adver
tised brand was doomed As Schreiber grew- and, probably much to its benefit, to failure." While selling to it grew slowly-the company quickly learned the importance of hiring people who fit the culture the the government would early leaders were provide relatively steady, working to create. For though hardly luxurious, example, in 1950, income in the company's when Mer Bush and early years, producing Dave Nusbaum were 5-pound loaf for Uncle scouting for a plant in Sam should not be the Government contracts supported many fledgling process cheese companies, espe Missouri to provide company's destiny. cially during the hectic years of World War II. additional capacity for
the growing Safeway In hindsight, the fact that Schreiber Foods is now the world's largest maker of relationship, they private-label cheese makes Mer Bush a visionary. But looking forward from chose the Carthage 1945, Bush more than likely was relying on an earthy practicality that would Dick Bush was a key player location not for opera in the company's early sales often benefit the company- making private-label products for chain stores tional advantages but efforts. Schreiber's quality, provided the best opportunity to establish a niche. But in making that choice, value and service have always for the man, Frank Bush also knew there were challenges and obligations. As one executive said been important to customers. Claxton, who had later," A private-label partnership is as close a partnership as you'll find in managed the plant under the previous owner. Mer Bush later remarked, business. You're building their product. They're giving you their name and "Frank was worth a lot more than the plant." trusting you with it." Success in the private-label business would challenge their productivity, their technical acumen and their business agility. They "Our system," Bush said, "was to give [a person] a job would be dealing with large and powerful companies- no-nonsense organi that required a lot more hours than there were in a week, zations with high expectations and plenty of options regarding suppliers. more responsibility than he ever expected, and all the authority he needed." Bush and Nusbaum saw in
- 19 - "This Company Is Never Satisfied"
The ramifi catio ns of Mer Bush's insistence on supe ri or technology went
beyond si mply capital izing on Schreiber's technical strengths. Of those early
years, Bob Bush would later note, "Technology gave [Schreiber] an advan tage in that we could produ ce at a lower cost. It opened up the marketto us. We didn't undersell. Maybe we even added a premium, but we got our advan
tage through our ability to serve the customer better. We weren 't going to buy people's bu sin ess. We were going to earn it. "
Th e purcha se of th e Carthage, Mo., pl ant provided additional op erati on al capac ity to assist with Schrei ber's growing relatio n Because oftheirtechnical background, Zehren noted, "We understood the ship with Sa fewa y. machine ry better
than mo st other Claxton the kind of person they wanted at Schreiber: comp anies coming a multi-skilled, independent and imaginative thinker up at the time ." who respected the people who worked for him. Clarke Thi s understand
Thomas, who succeeded Claxton as Carthage's plant ing led to practices manager, once said of him, "He had a knack for involv that disti nguished ing you with himself. He had no technical education, th e fledgl ing com but he could imagine anything. He was a great optimist. pany from its com There wasn't anything he didn't think he couldn't do." petitors . Early on, Schreiber form ed Mer Bush saw him in a similar light: "People in our a strong mainte company owe a great deal to Frank Claxton. He was even more people-minded than we were. He didn't have nance dep artment, much formal education, but he had an awful lot of peo and was one of th e ple education. He ... never made a promise he didn't first in the indu stry keep, and he tried to see people's problems in the plant to emph asiz e Schreiber prides itself on a long hi story of eng ineering ingenuity. Maintenance shop s like this one reduced before they saw them themselves. He set up committees preventive cost by preventing equipment malfunctions. and groups of employees to talk with management. He had safety meetings. He taught us many things."
- 20 - To serve the company's customers-and provide a maintenance. "Fix it before it breaks down" became an essential step in competitive edge-Schreiber's technicians introduced daily operations. a remarkable series of innovations during the 1940s and 1950s.
But preventive maintenance wasn't enough. Virtually all basic machinery for processing cheese was manufactured by a small shop on the west side of In 1948, Kraft came out with its first sliced cheese in Green Bay. Everyone in the industry, including Kraft, bought and used the an 8-ounce package. T he product's immediate success necessitated that Schreiber provide a similar item to its same machinery. For Schreiber, this wasn't sufficient. "This company is never private-label customers. There was one big problem, satisfied, " a retired executive said later. "All the early leadership hated the and it was a familiar one: Kraft had the patents. Dave phrase, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it."' In order to take advantage of this too-level Nusbaum and Bob Bush moved quickly to design a playing field, Mer Bush insisted on keeping an engineer on staff to oversee unique slicing machine. But the trick was to find a way mechanical design and improvements. At the time, other cheese companies to keep the slices from sticking together, so that they didn't bother with an eng ineer, instead relying simply on a mechanic to make wouldn't break when the end user tried to separate them. basic repairs.
Nusbaum arrived at work with a blowtorch, and was The factthatthe engineer was also Mer Bush's son Bob was a convenient soon applying the device to pieces of sliced cheese. He coincidence . In what would become a fortuitous decision for the company, noticed that when the surface of the cheese was heated, Bob Bush, after getting his dairy science degree atthe University of Wisconsin, some of the moisture evaporated. A very thin film of stayed an extra year to study mechanical engineering . He kept a drawing drier cheese formed on the surface and kept the slices board in his living room and would sketch designs for improvements at night, from sticking together. Bush worked out the engineer then work with his mechanics to implement them the next day. Bob Bush was, ing details for a machine that used a hot acetylene flame in short, a born tinkerer, and no machine was safe around him. to play on the surface of the cheese as it was sliced. O ne veteran observer of the time called it "a real Rube Goldberg contraption," but it worked. Crude as it was, He would "bastardize the equipment," as one early partner called it, to the slice line represented a major breakthrough for make machines run faster or perform additional tasks. Such thinking soon Schreiber and its customers. became an axiom of Schreiber's business.
Schreiber's initiative and hard work made it the first company to use vacuum packaging. Because of inade quate packaging materials and machinery available
-21- before the mid-1950s, Bush wouldn't stay
cheese would stay satisfied. He and June 28.. 1955 R. G. BUSH ETAL 2,711,585 DIYICI nlA CUTTI~ PUSTIC f'OOO l'RUlUC1'S Jr."TO .f.llCUATE !KAP£S Of' sum.AR SIU: #JC) WEICHT mold-free for at most his team applied l"lled ,111" 28, ~ 2 5"•t...sii... t l 60 days, and more this technology to often half that time. a slightly faster To uphold its promise machine in the that any customer early 1960s, and could return any prod proceeded during uct if it didn't measure the next several up to qualiry standards, years to modify the Schreiber was forced machinery to use to buy back consider printed film, to able amounts of automatically moldy cheese. weigh product and Bob Bush led the company's efforts in techno apply labels, and to .. ROBERT G . BUSH GIL BERT H. HANNON logical innovation, helping realize engineering JNYENTOllS But Bob Bush had reach a speed of breakthroughs that would support the com pany's early success. smartly kept close rela- over 100 packages tionships with manu a mmute, more Bob Bush earned a number of patents in his efforts facturers of packaging materials, who in turn kept him than triple the to improve the technology of cheese production. informed of the most recent developments. Sometime original speed. Unlike competitors, Schreiber was able to build its in the late 1950s, a supplier came to Bush with a saran own machinery after developing its own ideas. coated Mylar film that was durable and extremely But for everything resistant to oxygen transfer. Bush quickly saw its possi that seemed good about the company in its formative bilities as an all-purpose wrap. He and his mechanics years , there was no room for complacency. "It seemed modified a used cracker-wrapping machine so it could like we were living almost from week to week," recalled use the new film to package cheese. They added a gas Bob Bush when describing the challenges of those early flushing device to the machine to remove the air from years. "There was no certainry on a Monday that the each package. T he "new" machine created a product place would be there on Friday." with a longer shelflife than any on the market, allowing Schreiber's customers to offer a product that competed with Kraft's.
- 22 - Tests ofWill Bob Bush and Early Innovation argely due to Schreiber's growing reputation In interviews with key figures at Schreiber- regardless of decade- one fo r quality, honesty and integrity, the company often hears some version of "Make today better than yesterday and tomorrow enjoyed steady, if incremental, growth. L better than today." Jack Meng coined that specific phrase during his Nonetheless, in the early 1960s, Schreiber remained Schreiber tenure, yetthe essence of these words has served as a Schreiber a small company. call to action from the beginning. In the early years in particular, fulfilling that mandate meant technological innovation. While Mer Bush certainly under On Oct. 1, 1962, in perhaps the most momentous event in Schreiber's history, Barney Schreiber agreed to stood the need to constantly innovate, it was his son Bob who embodied it. sell the company to 13 of its employees. The co mpany A later executive said, "Bob Bush was an 'imagineer'-an engineer with an had been operating for 17 years. With production vol imagination. We could make our product less expensively because of things ume increasing steadily, each year had shown a profit. he made and processes he created." Eventually, Bob Bush held 17 patents in By adhering to Mer Bush's original prescription of his name . Lacking such an imagineer, many competitors didn't survive . reliability, quali ty, full weight and cleanliness, Schreiber had built a good reputation in the industry. T hro ugh an aggressive sales approach, it had wooed customers away from some of its older, established competitors.
The key figures during those 17 years-Mer Bush 7 and his sons, Nusbaum, Zehren and others-had been responsible for that growth, and yet they were still salaried employees. Although they had years of "sweat equity" in the company, Barney Schreiber technically could have replaced chem all. In short, they wanted a stake in the business, and Mer Bush went to Barney Schreiber to cell him so.
Barney Schreiber's decision to sell the company was likely prompted by the same instincts chat had driven him throughout his business life: a preference for cash A young Bob Bush was rarely seen without his hands on some sort of con traption. Here, Bush, on the far right, transports a Doughboy sealer machine .
-23 - over bricks and mortar. As majority stockholder, Schreiber would still enjoy a steady cash flow and con Integrity Pays siderable influence and control. But for the original 13 Under the agreement with Barney Schreiber, the new corporation had to obtain stockholders, the promise and challenge of ownership at least $5 mil lion in ban k credit within 15 days of its organization in order to were far more daunting. What the agreement signified carry its cheese inventory; otherwise, the sale would be voided . Mer Bush was that if these 13 people co uld come up with the ap proached First National of Chicago and, with unchara cteristic bluntness, money to purchase 49 percent of the company, they told them that if they weren 't prepared to trust the new company to stand on and other fu ture shareholders would eventually own the whole enterprise. The arrangement was the easy part; its own feet, he would go elsewhere for the money. ''I'm glad they didn't say coming up with the money would be no walk in the park. elsewhere ," Bush recalled later, "because I didn't know where to go."
The original 13 were not wealthy men. Coming up 1VG1,,SS~ ""~ f!ri: /7 ;> lttook the bank only n us MUST B l!~~Q§, ~~ I! REGISTER 01' ~EEDS with just under a half million dollars in cash would two days to decide Wnitcll ~tatts · of ~mcrica basically commit them to this business for their lifetimes. that Bush and com- Most of the original stockholders visited Jake Rose at pany were a good Green Bay's Kellogg Bank, who knew the company and Ar t i cle• ot Incor po r•t l on or risk for the full L . D. SCHRRIBER CHC:!SB CO .• UC. many of the applicants personally. "I told [Jake] that amount, but the bank
the equity in our house and my wife's fur coat was about also required per I• T.,_, P"--t, I -~ .,._._ .., •1 4-J-' 4'1J •1 the extent of it," N usbaum recalled. "He suggested that 2nd .,.,.._ .... C..W. .. d, • ..,.,""*"-. •"'• - sonal signature .., ___ 2 _Ho ve.be':______.t-D. '~- I borrow $50,000. I didn't know that much money 14 guarantees from existed in one spot at that time." Bush and Deutsch . "I was taking a real Although these loans represented considerable personal The original L.D . Schreiber Cheese Co . articles of chance, " Bush said. risk, "The 13" were a determined and committed lot. incorporation, Nov. 2, 1962 "In those days, They were able to come up with $482,500- enough to purchase 49 percent of the shares. T he firs t genera under Wisconsin law, I would have been liable for everything I owned, includ- tion of Schreiber owner/operators was in place. From ing my house and personal possessions." Shortly thereafter, the new com that moment on, they were on their own and more pany, drawing on its bank cred it, pa id Barney Schreiber $5.3 million to cover determined than ever to make the L.D. Schreiber the value of the cheese inventory. "I can vividly remember signing that check, " Cheese Company work. Deutsch recalled later. "My hand was shaking ."
-24- The fact that ownership was more about responsibility than economic opportunity became quickly obvious. In 1965, the company's existence was seriously threat ened when, in accord with Schreiber's guarantee, Safeway returned about 4 million pounds of bulk cheese believed to have been contaminated with staphylo coccus enterotoxin.
In 1950, when Schreiber commenced its Carthage operation, the company agreed to accept all the cheese manufactured by Standard Milk, a local producer. The first stockholders of the L.D . Schreiber Cheese Company Schreiber resold varying but often substantial amounts had their eyes on the future when they gambled on the company's of Standard's cheese in bulk form to Safeway, which continuing success. Taking such a bold step was not without continued in 1965 to be Schreiber's biggest customer. its risks. In essence, Schreiber acted as a middleman between Standard Milk and Safeway. The cheese was entered in do with the inventory of Standard Milk cheese at Schreiber's inventory for varying periods but not physi Carthage. They think under their contract they have cally handled by Schreiber in any way. That nominal the right to turn it back to us and they are so doing." ownership, along with Schreiber's unconditional guar To make matters worse, while most of the suspect antee of quality, eventually combined to strike an cheese had come from the Safeway inventory, Schreiber almost fatal blow to the company. also had a substantial amount of this same product in its own warehouse, which increased the total to more The first hint of serious trouble came on Sept. 17, than 4 million pounds. 1965. As Mer Bush recalled years later, "I got a tele phone call from ... Safeway saying ... that a person was From a preliminary investigation, Schreiber had tenta dangerously ill from cheese they had packaged, but tively concluded that only a small portion of the huge which we had sold them and which had been made in inventory was contaminated, but that brought little [Standard's] cheese factory. " In the following days, relief By then, a court order prevented the sale of any more cases were reported. In a Dec. 3, 1965, letter to cheese produced by Standard Milk " ... unless and until Barney Schreiber, Bush stated, "The top management such cheese is tested to assure it does not contain enrero at Safeway have [s ic] decided they want nothing to toxin produced by coagulase positive staphylococcus."
- 25 - The court was basically demanding the impossible original testing methodologies. Ten years later, Mer because no test for the toxin existed. With that much Bush described dinner after the meeting: "You never cheese tied up and potentially unsellable, the company saw four more defeated, dejected men in your life. faced the very real Because if we listened to what we heard in that meeting, prospect of bank our company was in fact bankrupt." Suddenly Bob Bush ruptcy. Another pitched a fit. "He threw his napkin down and said, Tm company would not going back to Green Bay!' Then he said to Zehren, have handled this 'You and I are going back there tomorrow. There was predicament differ one guy that smiled at that meeting. That was the bac ently. The common teriologist.' " If there was to be a solution, it would approach would come from conversations among scientists and techni have been to hire a cians, free from the noise of lawyers and bureaucrats. squadron of lawyers Th e Safeway issue was a blow not only to Schreiber's and blame Standard Bob Bush and Zehren returned to the FDA the next Carthage, Mo., plant, where the product was inven Milk, or try other day and talked to the chief microbiologist, who saw in to ried, but also to the company overal l. legal means to these two men a common scientific background and void the Safeway contract. Most within the industry a determination to solve the problem in a completely expected Schreiber-still relatively small and finan aboveboard manner. Trusting Schreiber's intentions, cially vulnerable-to just fold its tent. None of those the FDA biologist named several scientists at the options ever saw the light of day. The first two would Communicable Disease Center in Atlanta who might have represented an unspeakable ethical compromise, have advice on creating a reliable test. In Atlanta, with and closing Schreiber's doors would have amounted to Zehren at the table for Schreiber, it was again one the betrayal of mutual trust and commitment estab scientist talking to another-a rare occasion in the lished among the original owners. food industry at the time. Zehren got the guidance he needed. After several more weeks of research and con But survival was going to take a lot of hard work and sultation by Bob Bush and Zehren, the FDA approved ingenuity. In search of a legally acceptable way to Schreiber's plan. proceed, the company's leaders-Mer and Bob Bush, Nusbaum and Zehren-rushed to Washington, D.C. The tenacity of Bob Bush and Zehren had gotten them The first meeting with Food and Drug Administration over the first hurdles, bur the ordeal had just begun: officials proved disastrous, as they rejected Schreiber's The company knew the test they had developed was
- 26 - scientifically sound, but they still had no ass urance that it was practicable when applied to 4 million pounds of cheese. "At the moment," wrote Mer Bush, "my own appraisal of our chances of proving that much of this inventory is okay are just barely 50-50."
Zehren's wife, Virginia, herself a Ph.D. and veteran of the Kraft laboratory, played a major role during the months of testing. It was she who directed the painstak ing laboratory work, which was conducted six days a week in two, eight-hour shifts from January through October 1966, when the last vats were released from the government restraining order.
As it turned out, the testing proved that very little of the 4 million pounds of cheese was actually contami nated. The Bush boys went to work. Through a fortu itous connection with a West Coast broker, Dick Bush Schreiber has established good relationships with government was able to sell all but 11 4,000 pounds of the inventory. agencies overseeing the dairy industry. Despite the expense of testing, the company actually made a profit, because the good cheese had aged and the night the injunction was lifted, L.D. Schreiber Cheese become more valuable. Company celebrated at Green Bay's Beaumont Hotel.
That fact made it no less an ordeal for the company. In early 1968, Schreiber faced another potential catastro It was not until September 1967 that the last of this phe. The U.S. government discovered brown lumps in cheese was sold or used. The injunction against the one of Schreiber's shipments and, as a result, rejected company was finally dissolved on Oct. 11 , 1967, two 165 carloads worth roughly $2.4 million. Two years years and 23 days after the first reported illness. "The earlier, in May 1966, Schreiber had begun cooperative period between January 5 and October 10 was the most experiments with Monsanto on several new phosphate difficult in our corporate history," stated that year's cheese emulsifiers (which are blended into the cheese to Annual Report. "That we survived is noteworthy." On prevent fat separation during the heating and sterilizing
- 27 - Winning Respect and Credibility
While this might be difficult to believe, before Schreiber's efforts in the Safeway issue, the standard testing procedure for a food product suspected of such infections was to feed it to a cat. Schreiber set a new standard forthe entire industry. Through an article on the testing procedures and results published in The Journal of Dairy Science, the Zehrens received widespread commendation throughout the industry, which in turn distinguished Schreiber from its competitors.
While Schreiber's focus was undoubtedly on saving itself, the company also knew that incidents such as this could befall any cheese company. With Schreiber's better understanding of the problem, the entire industry benefited. "When it was over,'' said Zehren, "the whole industry breathed a sigh of relief." The National Cheese Institute and some competitors asked Schreiber to maintain its laboratory after the issue had been resolved, to run sample testing- at a charge, of course - for Borden and even Kraft. Through its approach to this nearly fatal challenge, Schreiber had gained extraordi nary respect and credibility.
Vince Zehren did for Schreiber's laboratory procedures and quality control what Bob Bush did for Schreiber's engineering . The innovative tests developed by Zehren and his wife Virginia set the standard for the entire process cheese industry.
-28- stages). Over the years, Monsanto had proved to be a no commercial filter that would do the job. In remark responsible supplier, and, consequently, Schreiber took ably short time, Bob Bush and his team of Schreiber no special qualiry precautions, since none was recom mechanics devised a filter that worked. Soon thereafter, mended by Monsanto. Schreiber reported to Monsanto, Mer Bush was able to report, "In the last two days we however, that the new emulsifier tended to cake, which have used over 50,000 pounds of the Monsanto cheese resulted in brown lumps on the loaf cheese coming out in our production with good success." Eventually, of the Carthage plant. Monsanto repeatedly assured the company devised new products from the reworked Schreiber that it would take care of the problem. cheese and sold it all at a profit.
It didn't. When the U.S. government rejected the As in the contaminated cheese case that had shaken $2.4 million worth of Schreiber's cheese, Monsanto Schreiber severely during the preceding two years, the summoned its lawyers and experts and adamantly denied value of the cheese rejected by the government was responsibiliry. "That got Mr. Bush mad," Zehren said. greater than the company's net worth. Once again, "We sort of put on the boxing gloves after that. At Schreiber was threatened with bankruptcy. It took a Schreiber we like to get along with other people, but year and a half of tenacity and hard work to avert that when we think the other people aren't right, we adopt threat, and it wasn't until June 197 4-more than six a very aggressive attitude." Schreiber appealed directly years later-that a settlement was reached in Schreiber's to the president of Monsanto for fair treatment. "He lawsuit against Monsanto. politely told us to sue if we felt it was necessary," Bob Bush recalled. "You can imagine our outrage." Dire circumstances like the staph infection and the brown lumps fueled some of Schreiber's innovations, Schreiber indeed filed a suit against Monsanto. but certainly not all of them. The mid-1960s, for Meanwhile, the company had to solve the equally example, saw the company respond to Kraft's intro serious problem of what to do with the 5.5 million duction of individually wrapped slices of process pounds of cheese returned by the government. Unlike cheese by creating an innovative "hot pack" process. the Safeway issue, the cheese wasn't contaminated, The first in the industry, it provided customers with but with the brown spots and lumps, it clearly wasn't yet another product that could easily compete with marketable. The only realistic possibility was to com the industry giant. bine it in some proportion into new products, but first it would have to be filtered to remove the lumps. When Kraft and Clearfield came out with individually A search of the market soon disclosed that there was wrapped slices of process cheese, Safeway asked
- 29 - Schreiber for an equivalent product. Both Kraft and April 18, 1961 0 . O. NUSBAUM 2,980,542 Clearfield closely guarded their patented manufacturing CHEESE TREATMENT Filed Aug. 3 , 1951 processes, which meant that Schreiber would have to invent both a process and the machinery to support it.
Production technology is measured by two success factors: the speed at which a new product can get to market and the cost of manufacture. Obviously, they must go hand in hand. It makes no sense to be a "quick zz second"-essential to the success of a private-label 18 70 Z 3 tf '12 company-if the price isn't competitive with the branded version. With those factors in mind, Bob Bush '////' % -+ devised a "hot pack" process, in which the still-warm '//,/, % cheese was extruded into a plastic tube, which was flat tened, sealed and cooled. Bush would run the first machine during the day, then implement refinements at night, until both the extrusion process and the speed of the machine enabled Schreiber to quickly enter commercial production.
That Schreiber had to avoid any suggestion of duplicat ing Clearfield's patent turned out to be another advan tage. Kraft and Clearfield, running a "cold packaging" process, were limited in the blends they could package. With the hot pack process, as Bob Bush would later say, "We could then package anything you could pour," To compete with Kraft's patented individually wrapped slice technology, which provided Schreiber with new opportunities for Schreiber had to create an entirely new machine to produce similar results. Bob Bush and Dave Nusbaum tinkered tirelessly to find an answer. product development.
-30 - Not all innovatio n was limited to O perations. During the 1960s, the process cheese industry was slow to An Industry Pioneer in Computer adopt emerging computer technology, but Schreiber Technology wasn't about to turn its back on the competitive advan M.l.T.-educated Bob Deutsch is described by many as
tages that computerization- even in its infancy "brilliant" and "eccentric," and his fervor for early computeri mighr offer. Bob Deutsch led the effort. His first obstacle zation reflected both of these qua lities. He was something of was his father-in-law, Barney Schreiber, who, according an early "computer nut," and broughtto Schreiber's computer to Dick Bush, maintained that it didn't require a com technology what Bob Bush brought to the production line. He puter "to figure our that if you bought cheese for three taught himself to program-not an easy task in those days dollars and sold it for four dollars, you'd make a dollar. " and would spend weekends in his office creating programs for Nonetheless, Deutsch prevailed, buying Schreiber's forecasting and cost analysis. Deutsch developed Schreiber's first computer-an IBM 1440- in 1964, one of the fi rst computerized order-management system , which proved to first in the industry. be sufficiently adaptable to last many years. Largely because
As the preceding accounts ill ustrate, the company's of Deutsch's interest, Schreiber's early entry into computeriza growing reputation as the fastest "quick second" in the tion saved the company considerable man-hours performing private-label business was entirely due to its readiness to tasks that competitors would continue to handle manually for change, to innovate and to never give up. As one visit years to come . ing engineer told Deutsch in the late 1960s, "I know
your people are successful, and aggressive, and growing Bob Deutsch's degree because you operate a plant like you do. The people from the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology that wait for success to make their plant run like this came in handy during the one never live to see the day-it never comes." years of early growth .
Schreiber's devotion to technological innovation brought another unanticipated return, this time in hard cash. Foreign firms became interested in Schreiber's used equipment, prompting the company to form Green Bay Machinery in 1967. Over the years, GBM became a dependable profit center.
- 31- As the 1960s drew to a close, the company's record of success, even in the most daunting circumstances, had given Schreiber increased self-confidence. As a result, latrodutlllf 71,. N1w GBM M.JOllS EXTRUDER the original stockholders took an important step to ~300to5DO ...... , ~., ...... ,.....a.a. share the opportunities and responsibilities of ownership. "*",,,.,..,.A..,_....,,. ....,.,. lletfil,,_.,1. .. l. Mui ..leficudeintt.'**'-DldllllM In a Jan. 29, 1968, letter to Barney Schreiber, Mer Bush 1Millttriitnt1 2.UMot-.1olD0\1tcydeclchMM intor.UliOll1 3.Abiliry 10 fllfl lll,tl .oistiMt lonM11, wrote, "Ten days ago we offered our stock to a some llOWISJiithtseo\ 4. A11101111tictlict:S1Ktinrg 6 . ll'IOl'ovtel~htco1mol what extended list of employees, all key people. The 8. Slftit1rYst11b1l1n1lfflco11111uc1iolll l. Awellpro\Otn1tlilbltproduc1ioli1Mdli11. offering was well oversubscribed, and Dave Nusbaum, Bob Deutsch and myself immediately withdrew so that the newer people or smaller stockholders could buy a reasonable amount."
At Schreiber, ownership went beyond an opportunity L 0. Sdwtiblr C...tt to ~ Inc. b !be $1COllll l•1tll ..iul«1111• 8' prouu chMM in tht Uliltd Sllln. Wt procillu ovtrl00,00011111ot111ouu chttM to create a nest egg. It represented in many ways the 1MUtly. Thi.1111oduc1.ill bot11alictllld ,~,... Green Bay Machinery llo!lilldlo1flOf•,il ..ln01119Ddt1 1 __ IKIOrit1ontqtlipt1tllldni9'1tdby S,;;;/II I~ ~~-''-'~""""'~· ""· values and practices for which the company had always Sclwtibtt. GfH1181yMldlinery,1 ·-..... ( ... llbtl&•yofSdweibtt.l1cltdict1td11 stlill( l hitlllli..-Sdv ei btr~ .... _ ...... Mlttcblolorl'lll'Ofldwidt. ___ stood: hard work, sacrifice, collective thinking over Ow...,M11t is-linothett11ot 111111-. ~dtl011t1MiMdt!lr011fift =-=--"- contiflt .. 1. Kyo11 1111od.iagt.rproct1Mll " ...... '"...... ---· u~ ~,i odwctitn. klcittoC8M . W1 ,.-.:z .., h t • l • As he reflected on that era, Bob Bush noted, "I think it was 1970 or 1975 ... before I went to sleep at night knowing we'd be there the next morning. By then we had reached enough mass so that .. . it was highly unlikely that anything would come along and knock us out of the saddle. We had survived some big blows Green Bay Machinery was a natural outgrowth of Schreiber's by that point." increasing success in mechanical engineering. At the time, this subsidiary supplied the company with all of its own custom made machines. - 32- The Challenge ofGrowth n the late 1960s, Schreiber began what would be a long and successful partnership with the fast I food industry. As one former executive noted, "Schreiber was the right company, at the right time and place for the fast-food business." In Schreiber's 1971 Annual Report, Bob Deutsch, who was named President in 1969, noted, "The most important single achievement in our operations this year was our ability to handle a 25 percent higher volume with no apparent difficulty." Schreiber felt prepared to go toe-to-toe with its most aggressive Extending ownership of the company was an important step for Schreiber competitors. partners . It underscored the benefit of placing the needs of the company above one's own professional interests. Until the early 1970s, Schreiber's volume for McDonald's remained relatively small, as the ham burger giant tested Schreiber against the "big boys" - By 1975, sales to fast-food chains would account for Kraft, Pauly and Borden. But despite the seemingly roughly half of the company's business, and within a endless distractions of the previous few years, Schreiber year Schreiber was selling to seven of the top 10 chains. had been, as usual, sharpening the saw. Sales numbers from that period clearly indicated the company was To accommodate the need for expanded capacity, gradually convincing McDonald's that it was a worthy Schreiber opened a new plant in Logan, Utah, in 1972, partner. In 1970, McDonald's wasn't even among and another in Monett, Mo., in 1976. Between 1970 Schreiber's top 20 customers. The following year, it and 1979, pounds produced increased 246 percent, and ranked seventh, and the year after that, fo urth. In 197 4, sales dollars soared 614 percent. The formula value of McDonald's became Schreiber's number one customer a share of stock, adjusted for a 20-for-l split in 1976, and would remain at the top spot for many years. rose from $11.78 to $85.84. The number of employees tripled to 2, 110. -33- TRY 'EM TODAY Motn .. . Pop ... and kiddies toO . . . you'll \o~e McDonald's rich, delicioUS cheeseb~rgers . Th•Y re mad• wilh rich, crear improvement was a way of life from the beginning, What accounts for Schreiber's phenomenal succe ss in the fast-food industry? In many particularly as it related to manufacturing technology, ways, Schreiber had an ironic advantage over its more well-known competitors. In the and the 1970s were no exception. With the new branded -c heese business, one marches to one's own drummer, while the private-label Monett plant, for example, Schreiber brought on line industry knows it must march to the customer's drum beat. Schreiber had long ago new processing technology that allowed fo r continuous proved it knew what that meant: providing quality products, keeping one's promises, and vs. batch cooking. This improved throughput, elimi creating relationships built on honesty and trust. Those traits exactly matched the fast nated moisture control and vas tly reduced variation in food indu stry's expectation s, and in Schreiber they had found a reliable partner. the fini shed product. An apt example of "What we introduced in Monett was additional science," this increasingly vital a senior leader recalled. "It really was the beginning of partnership was Schreiber's inven - tion of the E-Z Pick™ package for sliced cheese . The indu stry standard for restau - rant chains had been a rectangular pack age with straight, uniform edges. By Schreiber's E-Z Pick slice, seen here with 1976 "Alice in Dairyland" Janice Findlay, became the company's happenstance, Bob competitive edge in the growing fast-food industry. Bush noti ce d a short-order cook peeling these individual slices and splaying the edges so they were ea sier to pick up . Jack Meng, then manager of the Green Bay plant, discovered that by offsetting the rollers on the casting line, he could slightly skew the slices. Meng was granted a patent on the process, and sales of the E-Z Pick package soared. Clearing the road of sheep was hardly a sight Schreiber's founders had in mind when starting the company. But with rapid domestic expansion, occurrences like this one atthe Logan, Utah, plant became part of everyday business . -36- process excellence in casting. The benefits were obvious, and we moved quickly to bring MGB, Carthage and Logan up to snuff. It was a quantum leap. W ithout the processing technology we introduced at Monett, we could not have made the fo rmulation improvements we've been able to make over the years since then. We're just now doing this with natural cheese." Meanwhile, in Green Bay, offi ces were bursting at the seams. Schreiber's headquarters personnel were dis persed in half a dozen Green Bay locations-a situation that was becoming increasingly ineffi cient and costly. Being in different places was also undermining the team spirit that was possible when everyone was under the same roof In response, the company consolidated the Home Office in 1977, bringing the corporate administrative staff back together under one roof in what was then the new First W isconsin Bank building on Pine Street in downtown Green Bay. Reassembling the Green Bay troops in one location " Our People Do Big Things" was Schreiber's motto as the clearly had benefits, but it was not a panacea. One company went through a pe riod of great growth. These partners increasingly obvious and troublesome iss ue was insular show just how big things could get atthe 1978 International Cheese and Deli Seminar. thinking. As one executive described it, "The plant managers ran each plant like a little kingdom. Sales and Operations-even at the senior leadership level-didn't "I went to my dad and sai d, 'We have to do something talk. When they did, it was oftentimes not productive." about this,"' Bob Bush recalled years later, and they did. W ith so many units guarding their piece of the business, W ith the help of an independent, external consultant, productive communication was severely hampered. they began a deliberate re-examination of communica- -37 - Mutual respect. Mutual benefit." Larry Ferguson, who was named President and Chief Executive Officer in 1999, homed in on the idea and said, "Yes. We are nice to each other. We want people to get along and be friendly. But what we're really talking about from a busi ness perspective is the ability to raise and resolve issues rapidly. That's how we get results." The interpersonal communication-related efforts of the 1970s-which Bob Bush recalled as some of Schreiber's first formal steps into developing people extended throughout the ranks. Senior leadership brought in an outside advisor to provide objective input on ways they could better communicate and resolve issues. Those efforts-and the emerging The creation of Schreiber Transit in 1981 was just another manifestation of great success as the company answered the need for better delivery and parallel growth in professionalism in other business greater reach . practices related to Finance, Human Resources, Information tion styles and behaviors among the senior leadership Services and ranks. They broke down barriers, built trust and put the Marketing-were focus back on results. "That work took an organization possible because that was becoming more and more dysfunctional and of increasing busi taught it to work together as a team. I believe it had a ness and the result lasting impact, not just on that group, but on Schreiber ing profits. They as a whole yet today." were also required if Schreiber was The value of that lesson-if not the lesson itself to meet the SCHREIBER FOODS, INC. entirely- has endured. Jack Meng, who would ulti challenges of a The 1980 change of the company's name to mately become Chairman of the Board, captured the rapidly expanding Schreiber Foods signified the broadening of the company's horizons. essence of it in an often-recited litany: "Mutual trust. orga01zauon. - 38- Taking Schreiber to the Next Level s the L.D. Schreiber Cheese Company entered the 1980s, it was a considerably A larger company than it had been a decade earlier. Increased volume meant more plants, more people and a wider range of products. To reflect this increased variety of offerings, in 1980 the company changed its name to Schreiber Foods. With this rapid growth came a new set of challenges. Given the relative prosperity of the 1970s, there may have been some impulse to simply ride the fast-food horse as far as it would travel. Business, after all, could The look of the Home Office building has changed several times harc!Jy have been better, and production for McDonald's since Schreiber moved in late in the 1970s. Those changes have included a new facade, different names and logos for the et al. seemed to cure any ills. For example, in 1980, landlord, and a new Schreiber logo . Schreiber lost two key customers (Safeway and Topco), but by 1982, the company had made up for the lost volume with new business from the fast-food industry. Bob Bush, who had become President in 1978, realized So, some might have thought, don't change the oats that taking Schreiber to the next level would require on a winning horse. leadership outside his expertise. "I needed to step aside," Bush remarked. "The technical side was well developed, The people who had risen to key leadership positions and the company needed a business leader. I was more in the mid-1970s and early 1980s saw differently. interested in seeing the company well-run than in They shared the instincts and principles of Schreiber's running it myself" Largely due to Bush's careful atten founders, who adamantly opposed the "If it ain't broke, tion to hiring and development, a new generation of don't fix it" mentality. Anything-including the organ leaders was ready to take over. ization itself-could and should be continuously improved. What's more, the world was changing faster When Jack Meng succeeded Bob Bush in 1985, it rep than ever, and falling behind would put any company resented more than a changing of the guard. Meng had including Schreiber-at risk. been with Schreiber for 17 years and clearly understood - 39 - Developing Schreiber People Moreover, such a process respects the individual and attracts the kind of person who wants the expanded tool kitthat comes from a wide variety of Schreiber has always taken an innovative approach to developing its people . work experiences. "I was an engineer, but I was never slotted as an engineer," Common practice in the industry was to hire specialists and keep them in their said another Schreiber leader. "There was never a time when something that area of specialization-accountants stayed in Finance, marketers in I really wanted to do was denied me . Instead, the company is always pushing Marketing. Schreiber believed in a far more comprehensive approach. As Bob people to have other experiences, gain other skills. If you show an interest, Bush observed, "Smart people grow and do amazing things if you push them the senior leadership will give you the chance, because they see you gaining into the water." skills, building an arsenal." Being "pushed into the water" is an apt phrase, because for many individuals at Schreiber, their rise through the organization has been one long stretch U.S. Patent Sept. 6, 1977 4,046,923 assignment. Among Tom Badciong's early assignments were engineering, packaging, the techni cal group, operations research, Green Bay Machinery, and pro 28 duction scheduling . *fl2 X't Jf.2 f!J R4 KP X'6' ;f7RB And this was a man who came to Schreiber with a human resources background . Tom Badciong, left, and Jack Meng are two of Jack Meng, whose Schreiber's leaders who benefited from a variety of assignments during their tenure atthe company. education, including an M.B.A.. was in finance, started as a night-shift supervisor in a plant and worked in a half- dozen different functions within the company on the way to the presidency in 1985. "Rotation gives the individual a bigger tool kit, experience adapting to new situations," remarked one executive. Future CEO Jack Meng's ideas were not confined to the boardroom, as illustrated in this 1977 patent. - 40 - the culture, but he Meng and his leadership team saw a world of opportu was the first person nity based in large measure on quality management outside the found principles espoused by Philip Crosby and others. Most ing families to hold important among those principles was an emphasis on the top job (Mer customer requirements. Prevention, zero defects and and Bob Bush were the elimination of waste were other key concepts of father and son; Crosby's model. Meng immediately set out on a mission Bob Deutsch was to transform the organization along those lines. To do Barney Schreiber's otherwise, he believed, would jeopardize the future of son-in-law). the company. After almost four decades of strong leadership, the Though Meng first generation of Schreiber leaders (including Dave Nusbaum, left, and Mer Bush) had selected and had worked in "Quality" had long been a cornerstone of Schreiber's trained their successors to build on the strong foun Schreiber's plants culture, but historically the term was used only in the dation they had established . and had served as context ofproduct quality. One executive provided the a plant manager, following analogy: his background and focus, unlike earlier leaders, was "We had always outside of Operations. Meng was, first and foremost, a thought we were Partners in profit Schreiber Foods ,__.,,,..,..,.._ businessman, and he quickly began driving change that serving the customer, rewards workers who value quality would further define the character of Schreiber Foods. but we really weren't. Customers don't From the beginning, technology-in addition, of always want a Rolex; course, to the very nature of the people-had been they may want Schreiber's key differentiator. "I was always looking at a simple, cheap problems and trying to solve them with technology," watch to wear while Bob Bush recalled. "I was so deeply involved in day-to they work in the day things that I wasn't seeing the real needs. Jack came yard. We kept show from a completely different perspective. He introduced ing them Rolexes a new era of emphasis on the customer. He was seeing because we weren't Jack Meng's focus on the needs of the customer the big picture, the issues, the future of the company, listening to them. ushered in Schreiber's modern age. His approach in ways I never could." Quality, as we made headlines in Green Bay and beyond . -41- Meeting Customer Requirements Fulfilling cu stomer requirements begins with careful attention to the voice of the customer. The customer, naturally, employs his own language to express needs and sometimes leaps to solutions . Schreiber learned that it must listen to those need s and "tran slate " them into actionable requirements. These discipl ined acts of listening and translation ensure that Schreiber truly under stand s the customer and provides the best solutions. Another important point is that requ irements can be operationally defined and me as ure d. Understa nding requ irem ents enables Schre iberto align its internal The purch ase of We stla nd Foo ds in 1985 was an exam ple of processes with customers' requirements. Once the processes are defined, Schreiber's desire to branch out into oth er foo d service products whi le keep ing its prim ary focus on che ese . Westlan d was known everyone at Schreiber can act on the m and mea sure them the same way in for its precooke d bac on. every plant in every part ofthe world . Lin king redefined it, means providing the customer what the cu stomer requi rements customer wants." directly to Schreiber processes hei ghte ns T he Rolex analogy, however, should by no means indi the comp any's ability cate a downgrading of the quality of the product. It to satisfy the customer. simply meant that what Schreiber thought the customer If the processes are wanted was not important. W hen Schreiber learned to aligned and in control, listen to its customers, truly understand their needs, and translate those needs into actionable requirements, Schreiber sh ould be growth accelerated. meeting the customer's requirements every time. "We said where we had to start was in the external world-with the consumer," Meng recalled years Schreiber's products are created in direct response to the customers' requ irements. later. "Thin k about this: Fifty-five percent of the work fo rce today is women with a caree r. They're time short. How is someone like Wal-Mart or McDonald's -42- responding to that? What is your competition doing? You have to think about all that, and then you pick out your strategies. You don't pick out a strategy and force it on the market. That's the old produc tion mentality." This direction would require a new organizational struc ture that would open up the internal and external lines of communication. In the mid-1980s, the company formed distinct divisions for Retail and Foodservice, each with dedicated Sales and Marketing functions. T his reorgani zation by customer type would ultimately focus all of Schreiber's business functions on customer requirements. Schreiber's leadership knew that to make this new structure work, it must be seen not simply as an organi zational reshuffling. It had to be seen as a shift of focus from a manufacturing-driven company to one devoted 9CHRSmmRPOOD•,INC. exclusively to meeting customer requirements. "We P.O. BOX 18010 ~ llAV, WI 84307.. 8010 had to become as innovative in other parts of the busi ness as we had always been with technology," a former leader recalled. "We had to find ways to deliver on value more than price, while continuing to be the lowest-cost producer." The ultimate purpose behind all this was, pure and sim ple, to create a competitive advantage that would enable Schreiber to improve its bottom line. "We liked to think we had been bottom-line driven, but I would suggest at that point we were worried more about In the mid-1980s, Schreiber decided to align its marketing by customer segment, separating the Retail and Foodservice pounds sold," Meng said later. To reinforce this change markets. Promotional materials such as these 1987 marketing in thinking, he and his team spoke more often about kits were created to appeal to retail customers. -43- increasing shareholder value as a central purpose of To Get Results, Start with Information both the company and its new quality initiatives. The final measure of any effort is results. In the late 1980s, the key drivers essen Among the total quality lessons Schreiber learned at tial to achieving results were linked through this formula: "Information drives the time were the identification and sharing of best beliefs, which drive attitudes, which drive behaviors, which drive results." practices, and benchmarking with its own and other Beginning with the right information, therefore, is critical. industries. "Plants represent huge investments, but back then we were running them only one or two shifts The changes that were taking place in the late 1980s required partners to think a day, five days a week," a leader remembered. "Other and behave differently, if results were to improve. True to the preceding formula, industries were already running 24/7. Obviously, you Schreiber began investing heavily in education, commun ication and information need enough volume to do that, but in a business with systems. New symbols, acronyms and other devices were introduced to help razor-thin margins, that's where we needed to be." with the effort. As these fundamental changes in thinking about quality To support this change of behaviors, Schreiber and efficiency were being learned, Schreiber acquired introduced TQC 2: "Total Quality Commitment Clearfield C heese Company. Clearfield produced an from a Thinking Quality Culture." To build under array of popular products for a range of customers, standing of the expectations entailed in this including many in the Northeast-where Schreiber previously had little penetration. new generation of quality management, 100 top level leaders wentto "quality college," and the In short order, Schreiber announced that it would remaining partners took in-house training. transfer most of the volume to its existing operations and close several Clearfield plants. About the same "We started the monthly SCOPE videos as a way Jack Meng and his time, to further enhance efficiency and sharpen focus, to getthe word out," Meng recalled. "First, to team devised a series of the company announced that it would eliminate jobs at educational programs to getthe same message to everyone, and second, reinforce quality standards. Home Office and in other parts of the company as well. One of the key tools in this to bring the outside world in. The vast majority Over the next 18 months, more than 600 people would effort was the Strategic of our partners were not involved with the cus Thinking Cube . leave the company in this unprecedented reduction tomer, but we needed them to hear from the in force . customer how we were doing - how we were doing compared to our competition." -44- "That was probably the most difficult time on my What would make the new culture a business reality watch," Meng recalled. "I went home one night, and could only be gauged by a demonstration of how such our oldest daughter said, 'You don't look very good.' thinking affected every individual in the company. It I said, 'I closed a plant today. You're getting ready to was clear that for this cultural change to gain traction, go away to college. I know there's a guy going home these new beliefs, attitudes and behaviors had to be tonight in Curwensville, Pa., telling his daughter she's shared by everyone. not going to be able to, because we closed that plant.'" Schreiber had always thrived on continuous improvement, Those actions truly were gut-wrenching for a company and during this period, "Continuous Improvement" known for being supremely "nice." At the same time, became an official they underscored that Schreiber's leadership had the anthem. Seen in courage and fortitude to do what was right to ensure this context, the long-term viability of the enterprise for the good involving all of the entire team. To the rest of the industry in an era employees only of "eat or be eaten," Schreiber had given notice that made sense: Those it was in it for the long haul. on the line were closest to the basic "That was a crucible," one leader later claimed. processes. Tapping "The steel was hardened. We had to make some tough into their knowl decisions, and we did. After that, really, Schreiber edge and experi became a corporation more than a family business. ence helped to As part of the company's ongoing pursuit of quality, We were starting to realize the folly of 'false kindness.' ensure that daily the principle of continuous improvement was applied to every aspect of Schreiber's operations. We began to understand that simply being nice to operations were people wasn't enough." actually serving the customer. From this point on, employees would be While the late 1980s and early 1990s saw many adjust known as "partners"-an altogether appropriate new ments to how Schreiber did business, in essence these title, as continuous improvement would be driven as changes were simply the next and necessary phases in much from the line as from the boardroom. That level Schreiber's ongoing pursuit of quality. "We started talk of engagement would intensify as Schreiber moved into ing about the quality of the culture, rather than just the the next century. quality of the products," a senior leader explained. - 45- .... Schreiber's CAPRI plant in Clinton, ~roduces- a variety of flexible film .9IU& res and packaging 7 solutions fo~9111Piiiiy's own products and for other customers. \ ~ - __...... ~ ,,..-,.,,.. Put the profits in our bank, To compete against Kraft's Velveeta, Schreiber offered a 2-pound loaf to its private-label customers. The 2-pound loaf generally garnered little respect within the industry at large, and Schreiber had for years paid little attention to the product, other than to be sure its customers had a ready supply. Schreiber's customer not theirs ... driven quality management prompted the company to rethink its attitude. What the company thought of the product wasn't relevant; what mattered was that, among many consumers, Velveeta was virtually a staple. Until this time, the same could not be said of Schreiber's equivalent. What Schreiber's customers required- with Schreiber's and what the company had until then ignored-was 2 lb. cheese spread. a 2-pound loaf designed to compete with Velveeta. Schreiber began to reformulate its product until it met those expectations, which soon resulted in increased sales and happier customers. SCHRl!IBEA fl"OODS, INC. Schreiber challenged Kraft's 2-pound Velveeta loaf with its With every partner responsible for Schreiber's success, own similar product as part of the effort to provide the customer the company felt strongly that everyone, not just share with what it truly wanted, rather than what Schreiber simply holders, should directly benefit. Although some finan thought it wanted. cial incentives had been in place previously, the late 1980s saw Schreiber introduce a more elaborate series of "The term 'partner' put everyone on the same footing," performance-based pay incentives that reached virtually a retired senior leader remembered. "It did much to every individual in the company, regardless oflevel. break down artificial barriers set up by the old 'manage Those on salary in the Foodservice and Retail divisions ment-vs.-employee' thinking. Everyone was a partner. saw increased earnings from the Sales Incentive Plan, That was very different thinking and a most signifi where payouts were determined by increases in gross cant change." profit afrer divisional expenses. Other salaried partners would see more income through the Partnership One of the signature improvements from this period Profitsharing Plan, initiated in the late 1980s. exactly reflected the Rolex analogy recounted earlier. - 47- Through such programs, virtually every partner stood to benefit directly from an increasingly healthy bottom line. While the actual instruments may have been new, they were in many ways more sophisticated and comprehensive reflections of Schreiber's long standing owner-operator heritage. Mer Bush, Dave Nusbaum and other early shareholders saw such value in ownership that they quickly-and unselfishly made sure that others in the company could share in Schreiber's success. Gradually, the number of share holders expanded to more than 300. The other pay-for performance initiatives oflater decades wisely began to connect pay incentives to daily, line-of-sight actions The introduction of Gainsharing and the Partnership Profitsharing Plan was a tangible way of rewarding and improving the quality and behaviors. These incentives not only allowed more of Schreiber's internal culture. Success continues to come from partners to share the wealth, but also directly linked every individual's attention to quality, in turn benefiting the whole . each partner's work-and income-to the success of the company as a whole. In the mid-1980s, hourly partners began to reap the benefits of "Gainsharing." Under this system, if per formance improved and costs were reduced without Finding New 'Ways to Grow compromising quality, the company shared the profits directly with those who made it happen. In the first y the early 1990s, Schreiber's new customer year of the Gainshare program, hourly partners received focused directives began to pay off. Overall checks averaging 4 percent of their annual income. As Bperformance was extraordinary. Among the a measure of the success of new quality management clearest indications of Schreiber's success came when applications, three years later that number was up to McDonald's named the company "World Standard." 12 percent, representing an outlay of $3.2 million. In 1991, Schreiber had 3.1 complaints per million Additional "line-of-sight" incentives were later intro packages shipped, in an industry where five complaints duced, wherein partners could increase earnings per million was considered "world class. " In 1992, through various certification programs. Federated Foods selected Schreiber as "Supplier of the Year" in both Retail and Foodservice. Perhaps the clearest -48 - Innovations in Customer Service Early in the 1990s, Schreiber introduced "sheph erding ." Und er th is program, when Schreiber acquired a new customer, that customer was assigned a team to monitor its fi rst order from the moment it was received until it arrived atthe customer's loading dock. Most remarkably, this team included not only Operations but also Sales, Finance, Accounting , Logistics, Information Servi ces and other divisions. If any aspect of Schreiber's service wasn't adeq uate, a re presentative was there to address it immed iately. Thro ughout the 1990s, Schreiber's commitmentto exce llence earn ed indu stry-wide re cognition . Unwilling to rest on its "Shepherding ," successes, th e comp any aim ed for furth er improvement as rem arks on e it entered a new ce ntury. leader, "says we care about your signal that Schreiber's quality management was working business, and we came in 1992, when the company successfully entered care about getting the club store market. Schreiber also began working it right. " with Wal-Mart during this period, a partnership that would eventually make the supercenter giant one of During this same Schreiber's largest customers. period , Schreiber made an extraord i- Good communication is a key part of the shepherding By the mid-1990s, Schreiber's cultural immersion in process and ongoing Schreiber customer support. quality management had enabled it to become, despite nary prom ise to its its size, increasingly agile and innovative. For example, customers. The as the fast-food business flattened in the United States, no rmal indu stry practi ce on large deliveries is thatthe shipment would many chains introduced customized items to garner be delivered plus or minus 10 percent of the order. Schreiber rai sed the bar market share. Tighter customer-centered teamwork by promising to deliver exact amounts. Only a company with Schreiber's among Sales, R&D and Operations enabled the company technologi cal expertise and customer focus would dare commit to such to quickly develop new and different cheeses necessary a standard . for these value-added menu items. -49- As the company approached the millennium, the most importantly, its customers. The company reached groundwork laid by continuous improvement prepared out to artisanal cheesemakers-both domestic and inter Schreiber for new challenges and new ways to grow. national-with a unique proposition. Schreiber would Growth focused on three areas: expanded product take specialty cheeses on consignment and store the offerings, acquisitions and international expansion. products in its warehouses. Through Schreiber's huge distribution network, the company would then place To meet customer demand for an array of high-quality this array of fine cheeses on its "menu" to large-scale specialty cheeses, Schreiber had co solve a series of issues customers such as chain scores. emerging from matters of scale. Schreiber could market these cheeses nationwide, Schreiber's often reaching far more potential customers than the artisans huge customers could ever hope to approach, while also freeing artisans were not set up to do what they did best: make fine cheese. Meanwhile, to accommodate Schreiber's large-scale customers had ready access to an small-scale suppli- array of more than 800 items of domestic and imported ers purveymg fine cheeses from more than 20 countries, without hav perhaps only one ing to manage relationships with dozens of different kind of cheese and specialty cheese suppliers. Further, customers knew that manufacturing at these cheeses were backed by all the assurances associated a scale that couldn't with any Schreiber product. Very quickly, this creative supply all outlets. solution made Schreiber, as one partner described it, And at the other "The Wal-Mart of specialty cheese." This was the kind Since 1973, Schreiber has relied on its in-house design department to create packaging for its own end of the chain, of customer-driven, strategic thinking that would products and those of its private -la bel customers. the artisans who propel growth. made specialty cheese rarely had the time, skills or interest in the Another way the company grew was through interna extensive marketing, sales and distribution necessary tional expansion. From prior experience, Schreiber to effectively serve these customers. knew that increasing its international presence would be a tricky proposition. Green Bay Machinery, a Schreiber saw an opportunity to create a significant Schreiber subsidiary, had been selling the company's "win-win" for itself, the specialty manufacturers and, equipment overseas since the late 1960s, and as a result, - 52 - Caring That caring spirit has always extended beyond the company itse lf. In Schreiber's early years, Mer Bush partnered with Green Bay banker Jake When Mer Bush agreed to create and run the cheese division of L. D. Rose and others to found local chapters of United Fund, the Red Cross and the Schreibe r & Co. in 1945, on e of his conditions was thatthe company would Salvation Army, as well as economic development projects. More recently, put people at the center of its culture. Schreiber's history offers abundant Schreiber helped create "Partners in Education ." This group of local Green examples of partners caring for each othe r and each other's families, Bay business leaders is dedicated to finding ways to help local school districts particularly in time of need. improve student learning and - typical of Schreiber's own values- define goals and achieve results. Thanks, Schreiber Foods, for Schreiber has contributed in similar ways in other communities where it has helping us tee off on our new a presence . At its cluster of plants in southwestern Missouri, for example, the company has supported the communities and encouraged its partners to YMCA West Side Building! get involved in numerous community development efforts- everything from cleaning streets and rehabbing houses to helping to recruit a new superin tendent of schools. In sum, caring at Schreiber is about relationships- not just among colleagues and Schreiber communi ties- but ultimately with customers Through yesterday's Charity Golf Classic, Schreiber Foods raised as well. That same caring sp irit that over $115,000 for The Greater Green Bay YMCA Inc. in support of the comes naturally among family and "Focus on Family" Capital Campaign. Thanks to all who generously made this event such a big success. friends, colleagues and communities, Perhaps the most visible of all Schreiber events to benefit the community is serves well with customers. In a busi the annual Charity Golf Classic , held in Green Bay. But the mission to give back to its neighbors is not limited to the Schreiber Home Office area . Locations ness built on re lationships, it fu rther Schreiber's commitment to the from Monett, Mo .. to Logan, Utah, work to improve the communities that have distinguishes Schreiber and provides community includes a great sense welcomed them over the years. an extra business benefit. of patriotism. Love of country has rema ined ve ry much a part of the company's character. - 53- Schreiber's firs t international exposure grew from its reputation for technological excellence. In the early 1980s, that expertise had allowed Schreiber to enter the international market by setting up plants and joint venture operations in Brazil, Ireland and Mexico. But Schreiber's technology and operations focus of that period was also a limitation, in that once the plants were operational, the company discovered it had no ready customer base. Lacking, at that point, the cus tomer-driven attitudes and behaviors it would develop later in the decade, Schreiber experienced a rare lapse in its customary tenacity. As Larry Ferguson noted, "We didn't get clear about our long-term vision, and we didn't have people tenaciously going after our business opportunities." As a res ult, the plants themselves were eventually sold to local owners. Schreiber wasn't about to let that happen again. In the early 1990s, the company's vision was virtually identical to that of its customers, and both saw enormous global growth potential. "Ir's simple," said one Schreiber leader. "T hey're now outside the U.S. T hat's where the growth opportunity is, and we need to be there, too. " Further, he added, Schreiber knew that, while these companies have a presence both inside and outside the In many ways, Schreiber's engineering company, Gre en Bay United States, their requirements are generally the Ma chinery, paved th e way for future intern ati onal endeavors. same. Wherever they are located internationally, "Our Here, Green Bay Machinery representatives explored the opportun ities of dai ries in So uth Korea. customers don't have to develop a supplier of cheese. T hey may have to develop a supplier oflettuce, but not cheese." T herefo re, Schreiber wasn't merely leveraging -54- relationships, but leveraging the customer-focused expertise gained over the past decade. "We still get our Follow the Customer edge from our technology, but now we link it to cus By the mid- 1990s, McDonald's domestic growth had fl attened, and an increas tomer requirements," remarked Ferguson. ing pe rc entage of its profits came from international ope rations. By late in the de cade, McDonald 's was generating roughly 70 percent of its profits At the international level, fulfilling the customer's intern ationally. McDonald's wasn't alone: Throughoutthis period, U.S. food expectations-even customers with whom the com chain s were realizing an international growth rate between 10 and 30 percent, pany had enj oyed longstanding relationships-was hardly doing "business as usual." For example, when numbe rs far in excess of their domestic perform ance. Schreiber responded, Schreiber began a small venture in India in 1996, that using its "follow the customer" strategy fo r international development, with country was the largest and lowest-cost milk producer new ve ntu res in Mexi co and Germany, followed by Sa udi Arabia, Ind ia in the world, and therefore represented an enormous and Brazil. opportunity. While there was a notable increase in demand for cheese, there was little infrastructure to Schreibe r's effort to support the business. Refrigeration was uncommon in expan d its internatio nal operations rep resents stores, and an even greater rarity in vehicles, making a long -term growth distribution a huge challenge. opportun ity, one that taps into the company's abil ity to und erstand its Capitalizing on this opportunity required tenacity, customers' requirements. patience and a long-range vision. "Our customers value the fact that we're willing to expand our international capabilities, because that's where their growth is," remarked one international executive. "The payoff may not be today, but for the next generation of the company." While realizing success on its expanded international business would require patience, Schreiber enjoyed exceptional domestic performance late in the decade. On numerous occasions, Schreiber's customers, includ ing SYSCO, Ahold and others, expressed their appreci ation by naming Schreiber "Supplier of the Year." Sales - 55 - records were set in virtually every period, resulting in original 13 to 300, still a small number, and most would healthy increases in stock value, a stark contrast to the have profited greatly by retai ning the financial arrange feeble performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 dur ment in place at the time. Private ownership had by this ing many of the same years. point in Schreiber's history become a cornerstone of the culture. As one leader said, "We love being privately "We are all just building on what's been here before us," held. Good decisions or bad, it's us. " One could argue Jack Meng said after he re tired. "We're building on a that private ownership had allowed the company to really solid fo undation, established originally by Mer become unique not only within the industry, but among Bush and Dave Nusbaum. Larry Ferguson and his team virtually all American business cultures. Partner owner today are taking it to the next, higher level. T hat's what ship through the ESOP would ensure that Schreiber's continuous improvement is all about. It's been here culture would remain in the company's control. from the beginning. It's thriving today." Schreiber in the New Millennium n Sept. 17, 1999, Schreiber created an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). 0 While technically the ESOP was put in place prior to the millennium, no single event would define the company more significantly as it moved into the new century. To this point owned by roughly 300 shareholders, Schreiber would henceforth be owned by the vast majoriry of partners. Most importantly, the ESOP would underscore for partners the opportu ni ry-and responsibiliry-to continue the legacy of Mer Bush and the other original stockholders. The ESOP didn't have to happen. Over the years, From a single owner to broad employee ownership, Schreiber has retained its core values since its doors opened in 1945. The employee stock ownership plan the number of stockholders had expanded from the of Sept. 17, 1999, marked a significant transformation for the company, which was named for one man , but now represents the hard work of thousands. - 57 - During the very first years of the new millennium, Raskas was a good fit culturally, with a long tradition Schreiber's improvements and innovations in supply of excellent customer service and product innovation. chain, distribution and technology were becoming key Schreiber and Raskas had already enjoyed a long-term factors in supporting both domestic and overseas relationship, wherein the St. Louis-based company growth. With the supplied cream cheese to Schreiber. addition of another distribution center in As Schreiber's customers grew, so did their demand 2001, Schreiber came for cream cheese, which meant that Schreiber had to very close to its goal of expand its presence in that segment if it were to main being able to deliver tam its growing reputation as its customers' "one-stop to every U.S. cus shop" for cheese. Raskas, at the time of purchase a tomer within one day, roughly $150-million-a-year business, didn't have the further widening the distribution or customer network Schreiber could offer. Schreiber has continuously set industry standards, gap between Schreiber such as its decision to be the first producer in the and its competitors. cheese industry to include Universal Produ ct Codes on its packaging. New information technologies and processes like quick response, category management and vendor-managed inventory helped Schreiber serve customers in ways unmatched by its competition. The company's implementation of the Oracle enterprise management system began providing vital cross-func tional linkages to help manage and measure Schreiber's processes and business practices, and better serve its customers. In November 2002, Schreiber continued its expansion strategy with the acquisition of Raskas Foods, then the largest private-label cream cheese manufacturer in the Schreiber's 2002 purchase of Raskas Foods widened the company's presence in the cream cheese market. Raskas shared many of the same "people of the United States. Founded in 1888 and still owned and soil" values that had made Schreiber an institution in process cheese. (Larry run by the fourth generation of the founding family, Ferguson, left, and Dr. Hesch el Raskas) -58- Quality has always been one of Schreiber's top priorities. That concept was embodied in Mer Bush's insistence on the best natural cheese available, and it continues with a commitment to standardized processes that ensure such quality. Adding cream cheese to Schreiber's own list of products take hold because they are driven by a strong attach filled a gap in fulfilling customers' expectations. ment to the foundations of its culture. In fact, virtually all of them are simply updated interpretations of earlier One of Schreiber's great strengths has been that virtu thinking. Thus, Schreiber's "quality journey" has no ally none of its change initiatives over the years has suf end: It began with "16 ounces to the pound" and pro fered from the "flavor of the month" approach that has gressed through quality management in the 1980s and hobbled many other companies. Schreiber's changes 1990s. As the company entered the new millennium, - 59 - quality was given a new dimension: process manage quality, teamwork quality, production quality, leader ment. With the prospect of Schreiber plants, offices and ship quality, and so on. From its efforts to continually people being situated around the world, the best way to sharpen its capabilities in these areas emerged a new make continuous improvement pervasive and unrelent goal: "Process Excellence." ing was to standardize processes throughout the com pany, and thereby eliminate waste and variation. In many ways, Process Excellence began building upon the previous generation of quality management. The In practice, process management amounted to a metic customer-driven initiatives of the late 1980s and 1990s ulous examination of every aspect of how Schreiber had helped Schreiber eliminate practices and procedures operated. "All work is a process," stated Ferguson, the that weren't focused on meeting customer require chief architect of this initiative. "The important word ments. But as the company expanded globally, quality here is not 'process' but demanded a more expansive definition. According to 'all.' To reduce variation, Schreiber's Total Quality Commitment Policy, "Schreiber you have to define the defines continuous improvement as the elimination of process first and make waste, reduction of process variation, and implementation sure people are trained of innovative processes." This definition gave continu according to that defini ous improvement a greater concentration on point-of tion. Then similar inputs contact, line-of-sight activity. Such an approach reduces should create similar cost by eliminating waste and increases productivity by outputs. Only then can making processes more uniform-an essential factor you measure outputs. when plants and offices are located anywhere from Locating discrepancies Green Bay, Wis., to Baramati, India. then allows us to contin ually drive waste from With rapid domestic and international expansion the process." When one under way, Schreiber further ramped up its efforts thinks of all work as part toward developing the kind ofleaders who could of a process, Schreiber's create and support sustained growth. Schreiber's con As President and Chief Executive Officer, new quality initiative tinued success would be fueled by leaders committed Larry Ferguson has spearheaded "Process to ensuring that continuous improvement was both Exce llence," the next step in Schreiber's embraced every part of quality journey. the company: system pervasive and unrelenting. - 60 - Beginning with Mer Bush, Schreiber's leaders person ified the company's character and culture. Of equal The Culture of Da iry Farming importance, they planned, hired and developed part "Farm sen sibi lity" conti nues to make a strong imprint on the work habits ners, and made business decisions in ways that served as and mental disposition of Schre iber's culture . It's not by coincidence that a kind of informal, ongoing cultural education. W hile Schreiber's President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Ferguson was himself certainly a significant achievement, such cultural rein born on an Oklahoma dairy farm . "People who have grown up on a dairy farm forcement was clearly an easier task when the company understand it's a way of life," Ferguson said. "You grow up involved in life had only a handful of plants and a few hundred people. To maintain the culture while simultaneously meeting sustaining activities. If you don 't feed the cows or milk them every day, there the challenges of growth required a new vision of what are consequen ces. The family wouldn't have mil k to drink, or money from Schreiber leadership looks like in action. selling the extra milk to buy other necessities. You understood that you had ownership in the enterprise. People knew they were doing someth ing "Good leadership is the key to growth, and as owners, that mattered ." every partner should think of themselves as leaders," Ferguson said about Schreiber in the new millennium. "We're not in control of the markets, not in control of the milk supply. Bur we can do the very best with what we can control, and one of those things is the quality of our leaders at every level of the organization. Any com pany can buy casting lines, bur they can't buy leader ship." According to Ferguson, build the right leadership, and the growth will come. "My vision isn't tactical; it's about growing the people who can carry a bigger load, whatever that tactical load may be. It's about developing courageous leaders who have the tenacity to get results." Schreiber has taken great care to identify those leader ship characteristics that drive results. Most of Sch reiber's founde rs and executives grew up immersed in the practices of dairy farming and food science . Several of them participated in th e University of Wis consin 's pioneering dairy program, which began in the 1940s and educated thousands of future dairymen. -61 - Four generations of Schreiber leadership in 2003: (from left) Larry Ferguson, Bob Bush, Dave Nusbaum and Jack Meng. The Character Traits ofSchreiber Leaders who knew as much about the company as any man Lifelong Learning. Schreiber has always sought to iden alive when he assumed the presidency in 1978, tify and develop leaders who, said Ferguson, "have the nonetheless took courses at Stanford Business School capabiliry, ambition and motivation to grow. " Personal the summer before taking the job. As one former leader growth, in turn, derives from an earnest interest in and aptly put it, "We need people who are going to thrive excitement about lifelong learning. This trait has always on continuous improvement." been part of Schreiber's leadership tradition. Bob Bush, - 62- THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN COLLEGE OF: AGRI CULTUR E Mediton 6 O'PAATHHlT OF DAIRY AHO FOOO IHOUSTQ."S April l.4, l9SS "'8COCK HALL Leaders Develop Leaders. Beginning with Bob Bush in Dr. V. L. Zobren L. D. Schreiber I< Co ., Inc. 21i6 M. Ma1n 811'11. the 1960s, Schreiber has had a tradition of"hiring two P.O. Box 2) <&-ea Bq, W1eoaui1n levels above" and then stretching the partner through Dear Vincei a series of challenging and varied assignments. Indeed, Ma,..- thaJlb tor your i.tter ot l.pr1l 12th Uld th• cwetlll anaqe1" ot thio prob1'1a ot deterred tor qualitJ. Iou cert..J.nl.T haft qritied ecma ot. t.bl 1nton1&tion-nt I haft, and baTe coatirwed •OM ot .,. many of Ferguson's senior team members arrived at guu ..a. Your obeerwtiona an t.he cbMH 700. ba'ft aeen are 908t int.91" ..,tl.ng and thought pr~oki.Dc• I hope that I can ..-er to hrl.oc up their present positions through this exact process. One thi.e question with Dr. Whitehead men ho 'rieitt .... .l.nd opeakl.ng ot Dr. Whitehead, I aa wondarl.ng it he hu •de Mir executive, for example, joined Schreiber as a second de!init...... _ntl to "181 t you at the plant 1n Green Bq. I still hnon't hoard juat ldlen ho Will be here. I •-•ted that it he could -.Jee it during tho tint !ft dqa ot tho week, I llicht be Ible to belp shift supervisor. After a brief departure to get an Ilia 90t around and aeo aoae or the pl&coa 1n llhich be llicbt be 1nten•ted• I con 1-cin• that Ile lligllt Y•rJ J1Uoh lln to •Ille hie headquartera 1n M.B.A., he returned to Schreiber in marketing, after Green Bq where be can aM 10 aucb of tba 1ndust17 ao •••11¥. GiYe .,. regarde t.o the rest. ot the taaiq, inoludillg th• young etodc. which he spent four years as Green Bay Plant Manager, and then oversaw the precooked foods group before Sim;~Ci1z llaltC' v. Price leading a business function. With the exception of Profoaoor ot Da1rJ Indutry Deutsch, every Schreiber President, regardless of back WVP/jo ground and expertise, has run a plant and more than likely spent time on the line. Bur then, it was always Bob Bush's notion that one could tell a great deal about the potential of a person by having them run the night shift. He or she might be 27 years old and responsible I for purring out a half million pounds on a shift and Walter V. Pric e was an important dairy innovator in the early days of the University keeping 30 people engaged and productive. of Wisconsin's agricultural program. As this 1955 letter to Vince Zehren illustrates, he shared the same commitmentto quality that he instilled in his students . Not Schreiber's present leadership program thus formalizes surprisingly, two of his former students-Mer Bush and Dave Nusbaum- went on to form Schreiber. a longstanding tradition. Leaders are encouraged not to hoard good performers, but rather to support devel opment plans by identifyi ng opportunities to accelerate Potential Leaders Own Their Future. Growth as a leader learning and growth. The emphasis is always on "grow at Schreiber doesn't mean that partners need only to ing another leader, " rather than merely promoting wait for their supervisor to hand them a development an individual. plan. "We value people who take ownership of their careers," said one senior leader. "That's why we have no -63 - the courage to raise and resolve issues, to be forthright with those one leads. If leaders are responsible for devel oping other leaders, then honest development requires that everyone knows how they're measuring up. This is not easy in a culture that in many ways still retains a fam ily atmosphere, but personal and professional growth depends on honesty. Schreiber has always respected those willing to take risks. Particularly today, with global expansion a core piece of Schreiber's growth strategy, those willing to take risks are of particular value. Risks entail the poten tial of failure, and honest feedback is the best possible means of turning those occasions into learning experi ences. Again, Schreiber's present leadership training echoes decades of tradition. Bob Bush once said, "Every encounter with a subordinate was a chance for coach ing. You coach every day, not once a year. I would tell someone ifI thought they could improve as quickly as Bus iness leadership is one of four important dimensions of leadership at Schreiber. It incl udes technical/functional competence. I would compliment them." Ownership Inspires Leadership. Because of the ESOP, formally structured career path. We want people to step everyone benefits from the success of the business, and up and say, 'I want this challenge or that experience.' therefore has a stake in creating strong leaders to drive Each person has to want to do it. They have to be growth. As one leader put it, "You want to hire people keenly committed to the stretch." better than you because someday you'll retire, and you'll want good people still at the company who'll increase Leaders Give Honest Feedback. Honesty has always had a the value of your ownership share." In many ways, these complex definition at Schreiber. Certainly, nothing can words reflect those Bob Bush uttered: "I think this team derail one's career faster than common dishonesty, but of managers, officers [and] technicians are all extremely Schreiber's definition goes beyond that. Honesty demands capable people .... One of the things I am most proud - 64- of is the hand I had in assembling that team, because parry at large. They must foster teamwork among those it's a team that's going to take the company places far who work for them, and connect daily business prac beyond my dreams, and I'm looking forward to sitting tices to the company's purpose, beliefs and values, and back on the sideline and watching." strategic direction. As part of their ongoing "stretch assignments," Schreiber's partners need to develop Later, Bush added: "If you hire people better than you ever-increasing proficiency in technology, finance, and are, they will carry you upwards, lift you up. If you program and project management. And every leader is don't, the quality of the leadership will wane. Soon, responsible for teaching about process management competitors will pass you by, and you will wonder why. " and continuous improvement. In addition to the personal characteristics noted previ This more comprehensive definition ofleadership is ously, Schreiber expects its present and future partners nothing new, but rather a more systematic means of to embrace a vision of leadership that encompasses the creating the kinds of leaders that brought Schreiber to entire business-its processes, its people and the com- prominence. In addition to their daily responsibilities, Mer Bush, Dave Nusbaum and others knew they must also coach, foster teamwork, continuously improve, and link daily business decisions and actions to the goals of the entire company. Schreiber expects its partners to embrace the concept of teamwork, one of the core tenets of the company's vision of leadership. - 65- r oMMITMENT RELATIONSHIPS CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT RECIPE FOR SUCCESS - ,o'i.;,,,;~ /,/m/,J, - .2/:/..Af. . w<~ ._,,,_, ,,_,;,,,.;,/- /"' - · ~!.,;,, kv1 ~, _ (__ _ I .,__ 1166 I I 1<.-7 "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." Thomas A. Edison Inventor -67- The journey Continues asked. At its core, Mer Bush's dictum embodies the promise to deliver a quality product. Again, Bush was oday, Schreiber Foods looks very different wisely linking integrity and high standards to the com from the small cheese company that began in petitive edge. Nobody in the cheese business had that T 1945. But looks, as they say, are deceiving. guarantee. Today, Schreiber still holds "quality manage Schreiber is that rare company that truly respects val ment" as the key to competitive advantage, but it all ues, and has worked hard from the beginning to build began with "16 ounces to the pound." and retain them at the core of its culture. Take the Long View For the company's culture to have endured-even The prevailing practices of the process cheese business thrived-while embracing increasingly ambitious goals at the time of Schreiber's founding were to hire cheap, has required a deep belief that its values provide a true touch a machine only when it's broken, and lose little competitive edge. These values have been formalized, sleep if most of your "pounds" are a half-ounce short. codified, framed by different words and communicated That's how most cheese companies made money, and in different ways, but they essentially haven't changed. Mer Bush knew his determination to operate Schreiber In sum, they represent according to vastly different standards was, at least Schreiber's "Recipe for according to many, a recipe for disaster. Results. " Let's revisit the ingredients. None of Bush's principles put money on the bottom line right away. Technology was costly, as was investing Put Quality at in technicians and engineers. And Bush's insistence the Center of on taking the long view didn't end with his approach Everything You Do to technology. Even his vow to run an honest com Along with "16 ounces pany was counterintuitive: "It was a struggle for many to the pound," there years to differentiate ourselves from the competition. Schreiber's cheese plant in Green Bay, Wis ., during the 1960s was another promise Our ' 16 ounces to the pound' helped us do that, but that went out to every it was also part of a competitive disadvantage. It was early customer at Schreiber, and it still does: If customers an additional cost." With this risky but courageous don't think the product measures up in any way, they approach, Bush later said, "We didn't start ro see can send it back at no charge and with no questions money for many years." - 68 - how to blend cheese, but nobody had decent cookers, ·Nov. 24, 1970 R. G. BUSH ETAL 3,542,570 PROCESS OP KAHUf'ACTURIMO tlCDIYI OUALLY WRAPPED SLICES blending machines or mixers. Nobody had respectable OP El11lUDABLB PRODUCTS Filed F•b. 10. 1967 packaging machines .... Anybody who continued to wrap cheese by hand was crazy." By applying the best engineering to the production line from start to finish, Schreiber found a competitive edge. That attitude was handed down through generations. As one former executive recalled, "With Bob Bush, it was always, 'How can we make it' -and 'it' could mean anything-'better?'" Without labeling this atti tude as such, these early leaders introduced "continuous improvement" as a company value long before these more contemporary words became a formal part of Schreiber's culture. Today, "make it better" has expanded well beyond machinery, as Schreiber explores ways to make contin uous improvement pervasive and unrelenting. Trust Each Other Schreiber has always stayed ahead of even the most current Since its founding, Schreiber leaders have known that technology. This ability has kept the company on the cutting if they were going to build a company around people edge, designing the future instead of reacting to the present. and technological innovation, then it followed that trust must be an essential part of Schreiber's character. Make It Better ''After [my previous employer], where everything had By the time Mer Bush met with Barney Schreiber, Bush been tightly controlled from above, it was great to be in had been around cheese-processing plants enough to a plant where you could try anything," said Clarke Thomas know that "we had to distinguish ourselves through about the Carthage plant after Schreiber acquired it in technology." At the time, Bush saw the process cheese 1950. "The Schreiber people .. . were very open, and business as still in its "blacksmith stage. People knew ideas flowed. " -69- Today, with almost every Schreiber partner an owner While there is greater discipline built into today's appli of both the company and its processes-trusting and cation of teamwork to process management, in practice respecting each other remain essential contributions to it looks and feels very much like the company of old. the company's continued success. As Larry Ferguson said, It, too, has simply been continuously improved. "We need people's minds, not just their backs and hands." Stretch Your Capabilities Manage the Processes By modern business standards, the L.D. Schreiber Processes don't run themselves; people run them Cheese Company should not have succeeded. None from the owners of the processes to those who perform of the early leaders was in any formal sense a business them. Schreiber has devoted considerable time to defin man. (Vince Zehren would later say, "When I joined ing how that "connectedness" berween process and peo Schreiber, I didn't know what a memo was.") But as a ple can best be leveraged to provide a competitive edge. group, they nonetheless possessed a unique mixture of attitudes and behaviors that quickly became embedded One of the chief benefits of process management is in the character of the company as a whole. Many of that it gives everyone a common understanding of the these traits arose from the fact that these early leaders process, which allows performers to execute according came from dairy farming backgrounds, and yet were to expectations of uniformity. Defining the process also educated as technicians and scientists. Zehren was liter defines the desired result, which consequently empow ally born in a Wisconsin cheese factory, and had a ers everyone involved in the process- the team-to doctorate in food science. Nusbaum grew up in Kaiser, think, act and make decisions according to a common Wis., (where his father managed a small farmer-owned goal. Further, this approach allows every team member cheese factory) and proceeded to become a postgraduate at every level to share responsibility for continuous research assistant at the University of Wisconsin before improvement. With the entire team responsible for Mer Bush hired him at Wheeler. removing roadblocks and improving the process, every one is accountable for its results. The common owner Because they knew so much, and so little, about the ship of the process itselfleverages the strengths of the business of the cheese business, those leaders, and even entire team, which facilitates quicker identification of tually the company at large, quickly learned the value problems and a comprehensive approach to solving them. of acquiring new skills to ensure Schreiber's growth and success. For the founders, every day brought a new "stretch assignment." Today, Schreiber values those who embrace new learning opportunities. -70- Don't Ever Tell the Customer "Wi! Can't Handle It" Dave N usbaum once said, "I don't think we've ever turned a customer down .... We never told a customer, 'We just plain can't handle it.'" Saying "Yes" to the fast food industry challenged Nusbaum's assertion. It required levels of service far beyond anything Schreiber had ever delivered. The company knew it would have to ratchet up productivity in its plants, and that the sales people would be facing buyers with extraordinarily high expectations for consistent quality, dependable delivery and fai r price. A less-determined company of Schreiber's size might well have said, "No thanks,'' and stood pat with the modest growth it had enjoyed since its fo unding. As one executive later said, "Everybody in the industry said we co uldn't do it." But emboldened by the challenges of the 1960s and technologically sharper than ever, Schreiber leapt at the opportunity. Today's more sophis ticated continuous improvement initiatives are simply ways to ensure that Schreiber never has to say "No." Be Prepared In many ways, Schreiber's heightened focus on leader ship refl ects its ongoing belief in "being prepared." One of the most remarkable aspects of the co mpany in its early years was the absence of a formal "business plan." Rather, Schreiber simply made sure that it was ready when opportunities presented themselves. For example, 1966's "Alice In Dairyland, " Jo Ann Cupery, surveys Schreiber products. early leaders didn't say, "We're going to be the major Over the years, many "Alic es" have visited Schreiber, a stamp of approval from what was Wisconsin's agricultural spokesperson . supplier to the fast-food industry." Instead, they devel- -72- oped technologically to the point that Schreiber was ownership makes everyone responsible for the success among the few companies that could serve that vast of the company, and creates a top-to-bottom urgency industry. They were prepared. around getting cash flow up, debt down, and results. As Ferguson said, "Hard work comes from the roots Never Rest of personal ownership." Schreiber has never come to rest. While the initiatives around continuous improvement driven by Jack Meng Quietly Serve in the 1980s and early 1990s created greater discipline Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Schreiber's behind the idea, Schreiber has always been comfortable community service is the lack of self-promotion that with change. Looking back over the earlier years, one accompanies such efforts. While remaining a depend long-term partner said, "My impression of the company able resource for its communities, Schreiber has always in those days was that we were constantly changing. insisted upon maintaining a low profile. For example, Nothing ever stood still. The idea was, if you quit chang in 1976, with some financial help from the company, ing, you're dead." While at first glance this approach may Schreiber partners built an elaborate float commemo simply appear to be sound business sense, one need only rating the American Bicentennial. Mer Bush wrote look at the myriad companies that have either failed or to Barney Schreiber, "The float made a hit at the drifted into insignificance precisely because they froze Green Bay Memorial Day parade and at the 'Alice in their thinking and practices in time. "Other companies Dairyland' pageant ... early in June. Our name was on look at new ideas and processes as disruptions to their the float, but not so conspicuous as to be officious or systems. We don't," observed one Schreiber partner. offending," Bush wrote. ''All in all, it was done in "We build flexibility into our systems." excellent taste and highly successful." That admirable modesty-so uncharacteristic of contemporary corpo With Ownership Comes Responsibility rate America-and love of country remain very much As Schreiber's original 13 owners knew very well, with part of the Schreiber character today. the benefits of ownership come enormous responsibilities. Ownership gave the original partners an added motiva Years later, Mer's son Bob added, "The showboats don't tion to work hard. In fact, one could argue that this logic last long at Schreiber, because they are not team players, motivated Barney Schreiber in his sale to the original 13: and we are, first and always, a team." Having more people invested in the company's success would make them more productive-again, an uncanny "win-win" for the company. Most importantly, partner -73- chreiber has achieved something rare in the people who help and depend on one another. From history of American business: It has managed to those relationships spring trust and a respect for fair Sgrow and change while, at its core, remaining play. Farmers understand that no success comes easily, constant. The primary contributor to this remarkable and that truly worthy achievements most often result accomplishment is that its character remains in touch from equal amounts of tenacity and patience. with its origins-close to the soil. Accomplishments are kept in proportion-no matter A successful dairy farmer knows that his livelihood is how well the milking went today, it still has to be done directly linked to the quality of his product and his tomorrow. Perhaps between then and now, the farmer work. He welcomes change when he knows it improves can find a way to do it a little better. Most importantly, his work. H e abandoned the draft horse the moment a farmer knows who he is, and goes about his business he was convinced that a good tractor would make his according to his values. farm more productive. Farmers make down-to-earth, sensible choices: A dependable tractor is preferred over These same traits define the Schreiber spirit. They have a fancy one any day. been part of Schreiber from the beginning, as the kin dling for aspirations and safe harbor from the storms. People of the so il are keenly aware that barns are built And just as they have served Schreiber well through its not by solitary individuals, but by communities of past, they surely will serve it well in its future. -77- PROCESS EXCELLENCE INTEGRITY OWNERSHIP PART FOU TIMELINE "The secret of success is constancy of purpose." Benjamin Disraeli British Statesman - 79- 1945 1977 September3 1945 The cheese division of L.D. Schreiber and Co. is officially established. It is based on the site of the Hagemeister Brewery adjacent to Atlas Warehouse & Cold Storage Company in Green Bay, Wis. September 9 Production begins on the first Schreiber cheese products. The company's initial machinery consists of a Damrow cheese grinder with a 100-horsepower motor, a horizontal "lay down" cooker designed by Mer Bush and Aron Boehm, and a Nelson filling machine that works on both 2-pound and 5-pound packages. 1950 Schreiber acquires a cheese processing plant in Carthage, Mo., from Shefford Cheese Co. L.D. Schreiber Cheese Co. incorporates with the purchase of 49 percent of company 1962 stock by 13 employees. Original owner L.D. Schreiber maintains majority control by holding onto 51 percent of the company. 1964 The company purchases its first computer, an IBM 1440. Safeway returns about 4 million pounds of product due to fear of staphylococcus 1965 enterotoxin. The cheese was manufactured by Standard Milk, a local producer whose product was resold by Schreiber. March 1966 The prototype machine for individually wrapped slices is completed, and plans for a second machine begin. -80 - Schreiber establishes Green Bay Machinery for the purpose of selling the company's 1967 machinery and technology to non-competing companies outside the United States. The company begins the first small shipment of individually wrapped singles. January 1968 For the first time, the company allows employees other than the original 13 owners to purchase company stock. DecemberB Mer Bush reports that McDonald's has just given the go-ahead "to start on formal tests for supplying them with their institutional sliced process." September 28 1969 Mer Bush retires as President and is named Chairman of the Board. Robert Deutsch is named President. 1973 The Design Center opens, offering design-on-demand for customer labels and packaging. November30 1976 L.D. Schreiber dies at the age of 86. By this time, his holding in the company has dropped to less than 20 percent of all outstanding shares. March 1977 Corporate offices are officially moved to the First Wisconsin Bank building on Pine Street in downtown Green Bay, Wis. - 81- 1978 1993 1978 Bob Bush is named President and Chief Executive Officer. December6 1980 L.D. Schreiber Cheese Co. becomes Schreiber Foods Inc. Marchl 1982 Mer Bush retires. December31 Dave Nusbaum retires. Electronic mail is installed in the corporate offices. March 1983 The Schreiber Computerized Order Processing Environment (SCOPE) is installed for controlling orders and invoices. 1984 Sales incentive plans are introduced. 1985 Jack Meng is named President and Chief Operating Officer. Bob Bush becomes Chairman of the Board and continues as Chief Executive Officer. Schreiber acquires Clearfield Cheese Co. Schreiber purchases Westland Foods, which specializes in bacon and bacon bits precooked in continuous microwave ovens. Schreiber's Robert G. Bush plant in Tempe, Ariz., begins production of cheddar cheese, utilizing a new manufacturing process. -82- 1986 A 401 (k) savings program debuts for Schreiber partners. Gainsharing is introduced to extend the opportunity for employees to share in Schreiber's continued success. May27 1987 Mer Bush dies. Schreiber sets the standard by changing its distribution to "exact shipment" from "plus or 1988 minus 10 percent," which was typical of the industry. 1989 Jack Meng retains the position of President and is named Chief Executive Officer. Schreiber adopts a formal Total Quality Commitment policy. The company initiates the Partnership Profitsharing Plan. 1990 Schreiber is named the "World Standard" for McDonald's cheese. 1991 Schreiber introduces the "shepherding" process for new customers. Schreiber introduces safe work and safe food certifications. March 1992 The Schreiber Board of Directors approves a new joint venture in Germany and a new plant in Mexico. 1993 For the first time, Schreiber's annual sales surpass $1 billion. -83 - 1994 2003 Schreiber acquires Arden International Kitchens. It becomes the cornerstone in the 1994 company's plans to build a prepared entrees business. Schreiber builds the CAPRI plant in Clinton, Mo., providing the company with a high-quality, reliable source for its printed packaging materials. 1996 Schreiber develops a licensing agreement with Dynamix Dairy Industries in India. 1999 Larry Ferguson is named President and Chief Executive Officer. Jack Meng becomes Chairman of the Board. Schreiber acquires Tate Cheese Co. February2 The Logan plant breaks Kraft's industry record of more than 4,988,216 hours without a lost-time accident. September 17 Schreiber creates an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). After receiving notice that Hill & Valley bulk cheese tested positive for listeria mono 2000 cytogenes, Schreiber voluntarily initiates a Class I recall of more than 1.4 million pounds of cheese. In response to the public notification of the recall, the company receives over 5,000 phone consumer calls, and hires a nurse to advise consumers and physicians about specific health questions. The company is praised by the FDA for the accuracy of its records and by customers and consumers who complimented the company on its conscientious service. - 84 - 2001 Schreiber acquires Lov-lt Creamery. For the first time, Schreiber's annual sales surpass $2 billion. 2002 Schreiber acquires the assets of Deep South Products Inc. in Gainesville, Ga. Schreiber acquires Raskas Foods, the leading private-label cream cheese maker. 2003 Schreiber acquires cream cheese assets from ConAgra Foods in Fredericksburg, Iowa. -85- INTEGRITY LEARNING NEVER SATISFIED PEOPLE AND PLACES "People are really the key assets of your business." Merlin G. "Mer" Bush Schreiber Founder -87 - Origi.nal 13 Owners Richard F. Jaacks Secretary Merlin G. Bush President Daniel D. "Dave" Nusbaum Vice President Richard M. Bush Sales P. Clarke Thomas Assistant Plant Manager, Carthage, Mo. Robert G. Bush Operations Dr. Vincent L. Zehren Technical Director Jesse F. "Frank'' Claxton Plant Manager, Carthage, Mo. Schreiber Board ofDirectors Edward W. Collins, Jr. Sales Dates represent tenure on board or first year ofservice on board for members since 1962. George K. Cornell, Jr. Procurement Nancy K. Armbrust 1998-Present Lawrence R. Davis, Jr. Sales Thomas F. Badciong 1980-Present Robert K. Deutsch Vice President and Treasurer Merlin G. Bush 1962-1987 William H. Gwinner Chairman ofthe Board, 1969- 1977 Sales Chairman Emeritus, 1978-1987 -88 - Richard M. Bush Thomas L. Krautkramer 1969-Present 1990-2000 Robert G. Bush Brian P. Liddy 1969-Present 2000-Present Chairman ofthe Board, 1985-1999 Chairman Emeritus, 1999-Present John C. "Jack'' Meng 1978-Present George W. Cawman Chairman ofthe Board, 1999-Present 1989-2003 Daniel D. "Dave" Nusbaum George K. Cornell, Jr. 1962-Present 1978-1983 Chairman ofthe Board, 1980-1985 Chairman Emeritus, 1985-Present Robert K. Deutsch 1962-1980 Timothy T. Opel Chairman ofthe Board, 1978-1980 1996-2003 Ronald]. Dunford Mark A. Peterson 2003-Present 2001- Present Larry P. Ferguson David P. Pozniak 1995-Present 1999-Present Ed Gossner Alan L. Reinstein 1970-1972 1969-1981 Gary E. Hanman Gunnar T. Scholer 1985-1989 2003-Present -89- L.D. "Barney" Schreiber John C. "Jack'' Meng 1962-1976 1985-1999 Chairman ofthe Board, 1962-1969 Larry P. Ferguson Roger C. Schreiber 1999- Present 1989- 1996 Richard C. Ward Officers 1994-1997 Dates represent overa!L tenure at Schreiber. Jay Winston Nancy K. Armbrust 1962-1978 1982-Present Dr. Vincent L. Zehren Thomas F. Badciong 1988-1994 1973-1995 Director Emeritus, 1994-Present James E. Buenger 1984-1988 A History ofSchreiber Leadership Merlin G. Bush Presidents 1945-1982 Dates represent tenure as President. Richard M. Bush Merlin G. Bush 1950- 1981 1962- 1969 Robert G. Bush Robert K. Deutsch 1948-1991 1969-1978 Roy E. Cartwright Robert G. Bush 1998-Present 1978-1985 - 90 - George W. Cawman Donald}. Kelly 1983-2003 1972-1997 George K. Cornell, Jr. Thomas L. Krautkramer 1958-1984 1980-1999 Robert K. Deutsch David B. Leonhardt 1949-1980 1967-1983 Ronald J. Dunford Brian P. Liddy 1996-Present 1996-Presen t Larry P. Ferguson John C. "Jack'' Meng 1975- Present 1968-2003 Roger L. Gereau Sherry W. Maier 1972-1991 1990-1997 Richard W. Gochnauer Daniel D. "Dave" Nusbaum 1974-1982 1945-1983 Ronald S. Godfrey Timothy T. Opel 1977-1999 1976-2002 Jay R. Hamann Jeffrey M. Ottum 1978-1994 1979-Present Charles A. Hutchison Frederick J. Parker 1990-Present 1979-2003 -91- Mark A. Peterson Richard H. Thompson 1975-Present 2001-Present David P. Pozniak Deborah A. Van Dyk 197 4-Present 1979-Present Jerome D. Rogers Richard C. Ward 1969-1978 1987-1997 Kenneth D. Sampson Dr. Vincent L. Zehren 1962-1979 1954-1989 Gunnar T. Scholer Business Acquisitions 1996- Present Stella Cheese Company Roger C. Schreiber 1950 1974-1996 Clearfield Cheese Company Nancy L. Schwenke 1985 1972-Present Westland Foods Stephen E. Shelley 1985-1998 1993-Present Empire Foods Susan M. Staed 1990 1987-Present Arden International Kitchens David A. Strohman 1994-2002 1986- 2001 - 92 - Tate Cheese Company Schreiber Plant Locations 1999 Dates represent year opened or acquired, or years of DFA Cheese Plant operation as a Schreiber plant. 1999 Arizona Pinnacle Cheese Robert G. Bush Plant 2000 Tempe 1985 Beatrice Cheese (partial assets) California 2000 Stockton 1986-1991 Lov-lt Creamery 2001 Georgia Gainesville Deep South Products Inc. 2002 (partial assets) 2002 Illinois Dixon Raskas Foods 1985-1998 2002 Missouri ConAgra Foods CAPRI Plant (partial assets) Clinton 2003 1994 Carthage 1950 - 93- Clearfield Plant Shippensburg Clinton 2002 1985-1987; 1999 Texas Daniel David Nusbaum Plant Stephenville Clinton 2002 1995 Utah Fairview Plant Wellsville Carthage 1985-1987 1993 Smithfield Monett 1996 1976 Logan Mt. Vernon 1972 1997 Wisconsin St. Louis Alaska 2002 1981-2000 Pennsylvania Green Bay Creamery Curwensville Green Bay 1985-1988 200 1 Pittsburgh Merlin G. Bush Plant 2000-2003 Green Bay 1945 - 94 - Waukesha Promiter Queso Fino (joint venture) 2000-2002 Mexico City 1980-1982 Wisconsin Rapids 1980 Northern Ireland DDP-Schreiber Cheese (joint venture with RHM) Brazil Coleraine RioAzul 1980-1985 1999 Saudi Arabia Germany United Food Industries Corp. (joint venture) Schreiber Rupp (jo int venture) Dhahran Neder Wangen 1992 1992 India Dynamix Dairy Industries (equity partner) Baramari 1996 Japan Nippon Schreiber Foods (joint venture) Tokyo 1981 Mexico Leon 1992 -95- Image Credits Page 34 inset: Used with permission from McDonald's Corporation. All other images are courtesy ofSchreiber Foods archives. Pages 34-35: Used with permission from Pagex: © CORBIS McDonald's Corporation. Page 2: Wisconsin Historical Society Page 36, right: Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County, Green Bay Press-Gazette Collection Page 3: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division Page 37: Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County, Green Bay Press-Gazette Collection Page 4: Wisconsin Historical Society Page 41, right: Courtesy of the Neville Public Museum Page 5: Wisconsin Historical Society of Brown County, Green Bay Press-Gazette Collection Page 6: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Page 49, top left:© 1995 VNU Business Media, Inc. Prints & Photograph Division Used by permission. Page 11: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Page 49, top center: Courtesy of Marketplace Prints & Photograph Division Magazine, Apple Photography Ltd. Page 14, left: Courtesy of the Brown County Public Page 61: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Library Prints & Photograph Division Page 18: Photo © 1994, David Gwynn, Groceteria.net. Page 63: Courtesy of Dr. Vincent L. Zehren Used by permission. Page 71: Wisconsin Historical Society, photo by Page 19, right: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Milwaukee Journal Seminal Prints & Photograph Division Page 72: Courtesy of Neville Public Museum, Green Bay Press-Gazette Collection -96- cc 'UOUS IMP )0 f LfF I I ·NOVAI J() { l R ( X' I H H 0 N E S r Y 1 E RS HIP TE A ·f 0 R K PI 0 C ES S EX CF LL F C [ I F I AT I 0 1 SH IP OMMU ICAfIO p NERSHIP ( C N I'INUCJ Iiv1PROVE ·If T IE R ING NEVEi S I I FI ,D CARING OW1 FI HIP TEAIY1\X'ORK QUALIT' RES UL£ 'I R l S I C 0 rv1 !vI L I C \ 1 I 0 N PARrNERSHIP I N T E (1 R l 'J y I F J D F R s H I p I' E A R I 1 T 1 l ' I· v E R s T I s F I E I) cu COM1·1IT IF r RE. UL1S l NOVATIO GIOWTH HONES'IY 7 'f E Cr RI TY LE ADER SH IP I ) , to W I ) ( ( R ~ ) ( l l ) l () > \ R ( ( < > x; ~ () l I [ l \ f I 0 [ R f I l>I ~II l' .\ R I I t I I Z < ) i\ \f I ( ( r Y R ( <,R< W f'l- ) I < I l r l l Hf P SIXTEEN OUNCES TO THE POUND SCHREIBER ..