Dive Brief:
- Dot Foods, a privately owned food warehouse and shipping company, has opened a 150,000-square foot addition to its Mt. Sterling, IL warehouse wherein workers are required to lift lighter cases of product than previously.
- Responding to increased demand, Dot Foods has taken a unique approach to adjusting its supply chain. Instead of automating more systems, which can become pricey and complicated, the company has hired more workers and spread out lighter caseloads among them.
- An additional 60 warehouse workers should join the Illinois facility's expanding crew of 850 by the end of 2015.
Dive Insight:
While some food companies are reducing their workforce in an effort to streamline their supply chains and operations, a company like Dot Foods has chosen a more nontraditional route to adapt to the changing times. As the economy improves, so too does demand for Dot Foods' products and services, so the company has decided to capitalize on it by hiring a larger workforce.
To do this, the company wanted to make itself a more attractive employment destination. By reducing the weight of the caseloads that employees in the new facility addition would be expected to carry, Dot Foods enabled more women and older men, who may have had trouble previously with heavier cases, to pursue jobs with the company. Higher demand than current capacity can be a good problem to have, and Dot Foods has come up with a unique solution that may inspire more food manufacturers in the future.