Tag Archives: whatever it takes

Packing House Team

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The daily routine at our cranberry platform is a simple but continuous process, and relies on constant communication between the team leaders and the packing house team, as well as between the packing house and the receiving station. It remains the same as always: each team on the bogs has been assigned a color: Orange, Blue, or Green. In order to properly track each team’s production, their bogs are assigned a different section on the packing house platform. Each bog is run through the blowers separately. The first load from each new bog has a post-it note attached to it with our Exhibit A number, or bog identification number. It is the team leader’s responsibility every day to let Mike Guest, our facilities supervisor, know what their plan for the day is and to keep him informed of any problems that might occur during the day.

First, the forklift crew, led by Emmanuel Colon, unload the full cranberry boxes from the trucks coming out of the field. If the boxes are coming from the bog that Mike is sending through the blowers, then the forklift crew will dump the cranberries from those boxes into the hoppers. If Mike is not running that particular bog the forklift crew will stack the boxes in the appropriate spot for that crew on the platform. Once the cranberries are poured into the hoppers, they pass along the belt through the blowers, which are used to partially dry the fruit and remove as many of the leaves as possible. Once the leaves are blown out, the fruit drops onto another belt and from there move up the truck elevator into the waiting trailer. Team member Harry Mick keeps the loading moving; he signals our drivers, Josue and Pedro, to keep the trailer inching forward as each section is filled with fruit. It is then his task to halt the line when the trailer is full or the bog is finished in order to bring the next waiting trailer forward.

While all of this is going on, other team members are busy rinsing off the belts in order to keep the equipment as debris-free as possible. They also take advantage of pauses in loading to sweep up the extras and push them toward the debris pile. In addition, everyone pitches in when necessary to clear out the hoppers, which occasionally can get jammed. The last box out of a bog usually has a lot of leaves, grass, and other bog debris, and can clog the line and cause hold-ups both here and at the receiving station if we do not take care of it immediately. Therefore, the constant washing of the equipment and attention to detail by the packing house crew help keep our harvest running.

Mike always welcomes any ideas from his crew to improve the process. “They’re the ones who are on it every day; if they come to me and ask if we can try something, I’ll always see if it’s doable.” He especially relies on the assistance of Emmanuel Colon. Emmanuel, a seasonal team member for seven years, moved up to full-time to assist Mike Guest with our Facilities team. While every day during harvest time is busy, some days are especially hectic, and that’s when Mike relies on Emmanuel the most.

“He’s a hard worker,” Mike says. “Not only is he willing to do anything, he’s also willing to stop and ask questions if it’s something he’s not sure about; he won’t just bluff his way through it. I never have to worry if I have to go somewhere; when Emmanuel is left in charge, things get done and they get done right.”

A devoted husband and father of three, Emmanuel is also highly versatile with excellent technical skills. In his time here, he has helped build the new well at Caley, assisted with the new irrigation lines at Boricua, and done numerous carpentry jobs, both large and small.

“Emmanuel’s very flexible, with a great work ethic,” GM Fred Torres says. “I know he’s busy this time of year, but if I ask him to do something, he’ll get it done. And I don’t have to go back and check; if it’s on his list, it’ll get done. He’s organized. He writes it down, he keeps track.” We’re proud to have a team member like Emmanuel, who is always willing to do “whatever it takes” to help Pine Island Cranberry keep growing!

Pine Island Team Profiles: Harry Mick

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This past June, team member Harry Mick hit a huge milestone: he’s been with Pine Island Cranberry for thirty-five years!

A lifelong area resident, Harry started with us just after finishing high school, and has become one of our most reliable team members. “You can always count on Harry,” says GM Fred Torres. “You tell Harry what he needs to do and he’ll do it. He never lets us down.” Harry’s main task is fueling up the equipment and he’s truly conscientious about it. “If there’s a problem, he always calls,” Fred says. “When Harry’s on duty, no one ever runs out of fuel.”

In addition to fuel, Harry’s task during cranberry season is helping the packing house run smoothly. He keeps the loading moving by signalling drivers Candido Rivera and Josue Rodriguez to keep the trailer inching forward as each section is filled with fruit. It is then his task to halt the line when the trailer is full or the bog is finished in order to bring the next waiting trailer forward. “He takes his job seriously,” says Facilities supervisor Mike Guest. “He shows up every day, ready to work, and then heads out to top off the fuel tanks every night. And he does a great job.”

Bog Renovation Manager Joe Colon works with Harry the most, and like everyone else, has nothing but good things to say! “He’s darn good out there,” Joe says. “Irrigation lines, putting in gates, hauling sand…he does it and he won’t waste any time about it, either. When it’s his job, he’s going to by-God do it; once he learns something, you’re not going to take it away from him. Tell him how you want something done, and he’ll take charge. All I have to do is give him a couple of helpers and turn him loose.” Harry’s favorite phrase is “Let’s get ‘er done!” and with Harry, you never have to worry about it for a single minute. If you ask him to do it, it’s done. If you ask him if something is working, he always makes sure to check before he tells you, “Yes”. And if something does go wrong, he won’t rest until it’s fixed.

The Pine Island team would also like to express our deepest sympathy at the recent loss of Harry’s father. “Harry’s a chip off the old block,” Joe says. “Bucky was the same way; he did what he had to do when he had to do it, and was a damn good mechanic besides.”

Harry is the living embodiment of doing “whatever it takes”, and we’re lucky to have him. Keep getting ‘er done, Harry!

Harvest Lunch

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Pine Island Cranberry held its annual harvest lunch this week to say thank you to all of our team members who work tirelessly all year round but have really stepped it up this fall for both the harvest and the fall planting. It was also a chance to say good-bye to our seasonal team members, who are heading back home until next year.

One seasonal team member who will be retiring this year is Arturo Vieyra. Arturo has been coming to us for fifteen years; he worked on the Green Team gathering crew and has stepped up to do a thousand other things over the years, wherever he was needed. He has been a living example of Pine Island’s core values, always doing whatever it takes to help us bring in a better harvest, year after year.

Our team has a lot to be proud of this year; we set several production records and had our best harvest yet at Sim Place. Our newly created clean-up team put us ahead of schedule on our winter maintenance. As CEO Bill Haines said to the assembled team: “We delivered 38,000 barrels in two days. You can be proud of that and of everything else you’ve done this year.”

Bill also told the team: “It was a good harvest. It wasn’t a great harvest; we always want a record. But I will say this: everyone worked very hard. We had a very low rot percentage, which is fantastic. Everything was done way ahead of schedule. And that is a credit to organization and how hard everyone in this room worked. It means that if we’re doing the same things we’re doing right now, if we’re all working to improve what we do when it needs to be done, we’ll continue to see better results next year and every year after that. We have a great team here at Pine Island. And I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you’ve done for this place.”

The finish line!

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Our hard-working crews hit their final targets this week, and our clean-up crew is close behind!

Pine Island Cranberry set several personal records this year. The one we are most proud of: on Monday, our teams moved so fast that we sent almost 14,100 barrels–over 1.4 million pounds of cranberries–to the Ocean Spray receiving station in Chatsworth. Other highlights: we harvested 1,299 acres in 35 days, finishing two days early and averaging 224.53 barrels/acre across the entire farm with only 3% rot.

We picked some of our newly renovated bogs for the first time and got results that give us great hope for our future. It was decided to pick some of the young bogs after only two growing seasons because there was already a lot of fruit in there. As CEO Bill Haines explained: “It might not be entirely useable, but if we leave it, the fruit drops off and rots into the ground. We won’t know exactly what will come up, but chances are it won’t be as productive. It won’t have the same genetics.” He calls those “mutts”. “Mutts will take over a bog if you let them; they grow more vines than fruit. They bloom at different times, making it impossible to time fertilizer and fungicide. They go backwards instead of getting better.” With an average of almost 189 barrels/acre at Panama #5 and 218 barrels/acre at Panama #6, it’s looking like growth and improvement can only continue over the next few years!

Overall, we set a new production record at Sim Place! Last year, our team brought in 32,220 barrels from Sim Place. This year, with several bogs setting new individual records, they harvested 41,966 barrels: a 30% increase in production! The low rot percentage made a huge difference here.

All of our teams did a phenomenal job. Despite the heavy summer rainfall, it was a dry autumn, and our supervisors had many challenges with water management. But they acquitted themselves admirably, and all of our teams surpassed their daily targets.

Our new fourth team, Jorge Morales’ clean-up/swan string crew, is still hard at work, but they expect to be done in good time, making it easier for our planting team to move on immediately to the Boricua renovation and helping Pine Island as a whole become more efficient. Their best record so far: covering 50 acres with swan string in one day!

In the end, Pine Island’s success is dependent on all members of our team, who are always willing to do whatever it takes to help us be better at what we do: growing more acres and more fruit per acre, every successive year!

From Bill’s Desk: “Whatever It Takes”

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Our newest feature: the first in an occasional series of entries by CEO Bill Haines.

At Pine Island Cranberry we believe in doing what ever it takes to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. In fact, “Whatever It Takes” is one of the six core values that guide everything we do. This week three of our team demonstrated the kind of dedication it takes to put that core value into action.

The first day of harvest, our Sim Place well went out of commission when the harmonic balancer (also known as a dampener pulley) broke. It has been a dry August and September; our reservoirs are not as full as we would like. The well was crucial to flooding our Panama bogs for their first harvest. Louis Cantafio, manager of Equipment and Facilities, immediately went into action. He dispatched Ernie Waszkiewicz to remove the radiator from the engine to gain access to the balancer. In the meantime, he used every resource available to find the part. After locating one in northern New Jersey that afternoon, he made a four hour round trip to retrieve it. While waiting for Louis to return, Ernie rigged lights to make it possible to repair the engine and put everything back together after dark.

While this was going on, supervisor Matt Giberson, leader of the Blue harvest team, was successfully doing everything possible to flood the Panama bogs for picking. The team hit its target.

When Louis arrived with the balancer, he, Ernie and Matt went right to work. At 9:30 PM, I received a laconic text from Louis stating simply, “Well running”.

I am very proud of the effort, professionalism and dedication they displayed the first day of our 2013 harvest. They are perfect examples of the entire Pine Island team’s determination to do “whatever it takes” to be the best in the world at what we do. I am lucky to have such a team.