Before Madhu Bangalore, automation engineer, arrived at Mary’s Gone Crackers in Reno, Nev., the machinery was not integrated. If one piece of equipment went down, the others kept going. And the company lacked real-time data.

“Previously they were doing everything through a spreadsheet, and they would analyze it the next day,” he said. “That was a problem.”

If there was an issue with the ovens, for instance, operators didn’t know what part was malfunctioning. The ovens — some of the longest in North America, according to the company, at 420 feet — have 10 zones and each performs a different task of drying and baking the crackers. Each zone runs at different temperatures, so understanding how each area is doing is critical to consistency. Now the system is integrated and has sensors all along the production lines, from mixers to packaging.

“Everything is live data,” Bangalore said. “We have integrated all the machines onto a PLC network where it can scan the data. We have about 25 displays, even in the management rooms and also on the floor where it’s visible as the process is happening.”

That means the team can respond quickly to problems, which has not only helped to increase capacity but also to reduce waste.

“Our waste numbers last year were in double digits,” said Nate Lindsay, vice president of operations. “Right now, we’re trending at about 3% because we’re able to respond quickly and adjust right on time.”

Another piece of building up the business and team is emphasizing communication with a focus on problem solving, something Lindsay has made a priority.

“If anyone on the floor sees something that needs to be fixed or can be improved, everyone has the attitude of ‘Something’s wrong? Let’s fix it’ instead of ‘Let’s walk past it,’ ” he said. “Operators have the empowerment to shut down a piece of equipment if it’s not running right.”

The leadership team believes everyone should contribute to problem solving and provide input on decisions by brainstorming together as a group.

“We work, we collaborate and we’re very goal-oriented as one team,” said Michael Finete, chief executive officer. “There are no barriers across functions, no politics.”

Bangalore added there is no finger pointing, either.

“Operators can talk to anyone up to the CEO, and that made it very comfortable for us,” he said. “Any design changes, we take input from the operator, not just the engineers. That makes us comfortable to improve, and everybody works as one team. Everybody is happy to work that way.”

Finete continued: “But we are demanding in terms of meeting our objectives. We have great communication and cross-functional work. We all know what we’re trying to achieve, and we all work to the same end. I always say we’re all rowing in the same direction.”

Once the team started making lasting improvements, it helped to build trust in the team, which was critical to the company’s advancement. 

“We had to gain the confidence of our sales team that was lost due to our OTIF that we used to struggle with,” Lindsay said. “Once we started hitting those 99 percents and 100 percents, people started to believe. And once you got the right people in place, the numbers started to demonstrate that.”

Believing in the team helps employees feel good about their work.

“One thing Michael said to me is to watch people when they leave work because if they’re smiling, it means we’re doing the right thing,” Lindsay said. “I took that to heart. That makes a lot of sense.”

And that sense of optimism has a ripple effect, Finete added.

“What’s extremely important is when they go home to their families, they’re also smiling and upbeat and positive and bring that to their family and that’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “I think that’s something that gives us great satisfaction as well.”

Feeling good about the job the company is doing helps it move forward. Consumer complaints have dropped 90% in the past several months, Lindsay said.

“When we go to customers, we can convey confidence, and I think they appreciate it,” Finete said. “They are looking for who’s going to drive growth in this category. Who really knows the category? Who’s really connected with consumers? We have had all the tools, but we have not conveyed it. We have not communicated it in the right way because we didn’t have the right level of confidence in everything we’re about, everything we do and who we are as a company. I think that has changed; I hope everybody agrees with me.”

The sales team is all new to the company, and it is rich in diversity, which brings another strength to the business, Finete said.

“The plan was to bring individuals with different capabilities together to make sure that the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts. I’m very happy to say that we’ve accomplished that,” he said. “I didn’t even realize that our team members were made up of individuals from all different minorities until long afterward. I was thinking we have a real eclectic mix of team members, not only in terms of the diversity side but in terms of their capabilities that we didn’t have in our sales team.”

The sales team members all complement each other, Finete said.

“When we have team calls, you can see the outcome from different backgrounds who have different ways of doing things. Having different types of perspective and different ways of looking at things really come together to help us find innovative solutions, strategies we probably wouldn’t be able to arrive at otherwise,” he pointed out. “It really helps us execute faster and better than we would if we all came from the same background and had the same type of thought process.” 

This article is an excerpt from the October 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Mary's Gone Crackers, click here.