Will IPC be looking at cutting overtime hours at the Owensboro plant? And cutting back on weekend work to allow for employees to have more family time and allow for preventive maintenance to be done?

Thanks so much for the question. Here are a few thoughts.

High overtime is generally due to one of a few issues: 1) more work than can be done without overtime; 2) less efficiency – due to equipment or product issues or team members with limited experience; 3) insufficient staffing; or 4) a combination of two or more of these. As a business, we want to have enough sales to optimize production at the plant and provide all team members with steady, predictable work hours. At the same time, we recognize that high overtime – especially when sustained for longer periods of time – isn’t productive or good for morale. Unfortunately, the seasonal nature of our businesses – whether at a processing facility such as Owensboro or a packing facility like Delphi – requires us to either work more overtime (with the team members we have) or hire more team members (knowing that we won’t have the work to maintain employment for some during the non-peak seasons – and will need to lay team members off) during this time of year. One way to – potentially – overcome this is to growth those product lines not affected by seasonal changes (or grow in areas where sales are higher in what are traditionally our slower months of the year).

Great question! Thanks so much for taking time to ask.

Mark Berry, VP, People (HR, Safety, & Health Services)