the stool pigeon - pl developments...the stool pigeon 2012summer stores – we are in a strong...

8
THE STOOL PIGEON Summer 2012 stores – we are in a strong position to sell more items through our current client relationships. Since the first sale is the most difficult and the most expensive sale to make, our nationwide distribution is a real value driver for PLD. Being the entrepreneurial company that we are, our approach to adding products to our portfolio is diverse. We will add products through partnerships. This is the strategy that has been leading our growth to date. When we partner with companies we leverage our experience and expertise in servicing the challeng- ing needs of Private Label Retail with our partners’ expertise in Development and Manufacturing of Drug Products. Partnerships typically allow PLD to enter a market more rapidly and with less risk. We will also add products through Internal Prod- uct Development. We have adjusted our business strategy in Miami so we are identifying and developing valuable and proprietary drug products for manufacture and distribution through our infrastructure. This means that we will be on the forefront of patent challenges and expirations, RX-OTC switches and new product introductions. While the development/ commercialization cycle is long and the investment is high, the economic and strategic importance for this discipline cannot be overstated. We will add products through acquisition of IP, Products, and Businesses. Acquisitions are valuable tools for aggressive growth, however they do add elements of risk and must be reviewed and considered carefully. As we look ahead, some of our acquisitions will be small–like our purchase of an ANDA for Miami–and some may be large. We will target companies where we can add value by adding our reach to retail and our expertise in servicing Private Label Retail to these prospective firms’ product portfolio. In order to truly seize the opportunity that is before us, we must continue to champion and be best in class in operations, have robust and efficient quality systems, have a scalable and optimized supply chain, maintain integrated logistics networks, as well as Innovative and Creative Marketing and Promotion, and a motivated and talented work force. To ensure all of these principles are met we continue to invest heavily in the business, in our operations, and in each of you. Thank you to everyone for making PLD great. Fondly, Mitch 2012 PLD Summit I wake up in the morning proud of the com- pany that we have built, excited for the day that is ahead, and humbled that I am able to call each of you coworkers, friends, and most importantly, family. PLD SUMMIT is about getting together to review what has been and to set the stage for what is yet to come. Some of our incredible accomplishments and advancements of the last year have contributed significantly to how our business has grown. We have added talented and dedicated employees to all areas and levels of the company. By augmenting our already incredible staff we are preparing ourselves for future opportunities and chal- lenges of our business. We had a bit of a parking problem at PLD, and to address the safety and logistical concerns of our employees we acquired a large parcel of land which was turned into a new parking lot and Cabin. We have also squeezed every square foot of production and office space out of the headquarters in Westbury, with plans to take over the rest of the building in the next several months. We are on pace for another year of double-digit revenue growth which speaks to the success of our entire company. We are introducing exciting and value-added products to the market, which will not only drive revenue growth, but also industry perception of PLD. I recognize and appreciate the incredible commitment, the tireless work ethic, and the entrepreneurial spirit that the entire PLD family exudes daily. Without each of you and your incredible personal characteristics, none of this would be possible. We have built an incredibly strong and robust foundation for our business. Since PLD has opened every retail door that is significant in the US – Food Stores, Drug Chains, Mass Merchandisers, Wholesalers and Club As delivered on July 9, 2012 at the opening of the PLD Summit

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Page 1: THE STOOL PIGEON - PL Developments...THE STOOL PIGEON 2012Summer stores – we are in a strong position to sell more items through our current client relationships. Since the first

THE

STOOL PIGEON

Summer

2012

stores – we are in a strong position to sell more items through

our current client relationships. Since the first sale is the most

difficult and the most expensive sale to make, our nationwide

distribution is a real value driver for PLD.

Being the entrepreneurial company that we are, our

approach to adding products to our portfolio is diverse. We

will add products through partnerships. This is the

strategy that has been leading our growth to date.

When we partner with companies we leverage our

experience and expertise in servicing the challeng-

ing needs of Private Label Retail with our partners’

expertise in Development and Manufacturing of

Drug Products. Partnerships typically allow PLD

to enter a market more rapidly and with less risk.

We will also add products through Internal Prod-

uct Development. We have adjusted our business

strategy in Miami so we are identifying and developing valuable

and proprietary drug products for manufacture and distribution

through our infrastructure. This means that we will be on the

forefront of patent challenges and expirations, RX-OTC switches

and new product introductions. While the development/

commercialization cycle is long and the investment is high, the

economic and strategic importance for this discipline cannot

be overstated. We will add products through acquisition of IP,

Products, and Businesses. Acquisitions are valuable tools for

aggressive growth, however they do add elements of risk and

must be reviewed and considered carefully. As we look ahead,

some of our acquisitions will be small–like our purchase of an

ANDA for Miami–and some may be large. We will target

companies where we can add value by adding our reach to

retail and our expertise in servicing Private Label Retail to

these prospective firms’ product portfolio.

In order to truly seize the opportunity that is before us, we

must continue to champion and be best in class in operations,

have robust and efficient quality systems, have a scalable and

optimized supply chain, maintain integrated logistics networks,

as well as Innovative and Creative Marketing and Promotion,

and a motivated and talented work force. To ensure all of these

principles are met we continue to invest heavily in the business,

in our operations, and in each of you.

Thank you to everyone for making PLD great.

Fondly,

Mitch

2012 PLD Summit I wake up in the morning proud of the com-

pany that we have built, excited for the day

that is ahead, and humbled that I am able to

call each of you coworkers, friends, and most

importantly, family.

PLD SUMMIT is about getting together to

review what has been and to set the stage for what is yet

to come.

Some of our incredible accomplishments and

advancements of the last year have contributed

significantly to how our business has grown. We have added

talented and dedicated employees to all areas and levels of

the company. By augmenting our already incredible staff we

are preparing ourselves for future opportunities and chal-

lenges of our business. We had a bit of a parking problem

at PLD, and to address the safety and logistical concerns

of our employees we acquired a large parcel of land which

was turned into a new parking lot and Cabin. We have also

squeezed every square foot of production and office space

out of the headquarters in Westbury, with plans to take over

the rest of the building in the next several months. We are

on pace for another year of double-digit revenue growth

which speaks to the success of our entire company. We

are introducing exciting and value-added products to the

market, which will not only drive revenue growth, but also

industry perception of PLD.

I recognize and appreciate the incredible commitment,

the tireless work ethic, and the entrepreneurial spirit that

the entire PLD family exudes daily. Without each of you

and your incredible personal characteristics, none of this

would be possible. We have built an incredibly strong and

robust foundation for our business. Since PLD has opened

every retail door that is significant in the US – Food Stores,

Drug Chains, Mass Merchandisers, Wholesalers and Club As delivered on July 9, 2012 at the opening of the PLD Summit

Page 2: THE STOOL PIGEON - PL Developments...THE STOOL PIGEON 2012Summer stores – we are in a strong position to sell more items through our current client relationships. Since the first

2

The Journey to the Log Cabin—Linda Singer, VP Creative Services

vision and determination of what the Cabin could become. We had fun shopping and filling our Cabin with items that matched our inspirational concept boards. There were many laborious jobs that were shared by the crew. Since each member is a perfectionist, there is no surprise that the results are fabulous. Most beautiful is the mural on the walls upstairs. Heidi created the image and then projected it on the walls and outlined the entire graphic. Each of us filled in between the lines, and then Heidi did her touch ups. It is a masterpiece, and the group effort was a most memorable experience. As our Cabin evolved, so did our ideas. Each time we came up with our "wish list", David Bautista enthusiastically made our ideas a reality. His craftsmanship and attitude are both impressive. His input was so great that we considered calling the cabin Camp David! I am thankful for his contribution to making this all a reality, as well as my entire Cabin Crew, for taking on this unusual project and seeing the vision. On July 9, we proudly cut the ribbon to The Cabin and opened it up to PLD. Much like the conference rooms, The Cabin is available for meetings and reserved through Melissa Valukis and Elizabeth McGinn. It accommodates 24 people at the conference table, has a comfortable seating area for smaller meetings, and a beautiful kitchen. We have had several meetings there already, as well as lunches and dinners. I encourage you to arrange for a meeting there, and experience Cabin Fever for yourself.

Purchasing the property on Hicks Street and Union Street solved the problem of increasing the amount of parking spaces available to our PLD employees, and providing a lit, safe, locked parking lot. That was the easy part; the hard part was figuring out what to do with the log cabin located on the property, which was previously used as the offices of a garden nursery. The Cabin interior was in poor shape, and the footprint of the cabin took up space that could be several more, much needed parking spaces. Keeping it up would require a lot of work but knocking it down, seemed like wasting an opportunity to create a unique meeting environment. After days of differing opinions, I decided to take a stand and declared that I was confident that the serenity of a cabin, achieved by its simplicity, was something from which we would benefit. I envisioned that having a "cool", calm space in close proximity to our facility would provide a needed getaway. I asked for volunteers to work with me on the cabin, and before I knew it an amazing project of creating our very own PLD cabin was underway. My Cabin Crew: Jerry Astro, Kristina Chu, Michele DiVincenzo, Lauren Slattery, Andrew Wangelin, Tatiana Bogdan, Melissa Doublet, Anthony Bartolomeo, Heidi O'Gara, Mike Martino, David Bautista and Marco Thomo. To say the least, this group had Cabin Fever! We began with concept boards to visually inspire us. Dividing the responsibilities, each group researched and chose their own area-bathrooms, kitchen, paint color, décor etc. When did we have time to do all of this? It happened during lunch hours, after work, and on the weekends. We each had a clear

Did you know: Did you know PLD recently purchased a new

building and have started renovations?

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3

PLD’s First Annual Summit—Sabrina Cervasio, Marketing Intern

The morning of July 9th, 2012, officially kicked off the first annual PLD Summit meeting. It was a full and busy week for all, including department presentations, PLD Has Talent, and the Brand Building workshop, concluding with an open discussion meeting with our brokers. It all began at 10 am Monday morning, in front of the log cabin, to have the official opening with a speech from CEO, Mitch Singer. Afterward, there was a ribbon cutting ceremony with the entire Singer family, to officially open the cabin. After the ceremony, the Summit kicked off in the training room with the department presentation portion of the Summit. Through-out the Summit, "The Brilliance Table", was utilized with a gift for each brilliant thought shared. The concept of the table is that whenever someone has a brilliant idea, someone else could nominate them to pick a gift, to reward them for their "brilliant idea". By the end of the week all the gifts were given out! After lunch on Monday the Finance & Accounting departments presented, followed by Supply Chain, Operations, and Human Resources. These departments discussed topics such as project updates, as well as upcoming projects for the future. At the close of Monday’s presentations everyone was excited to hurry to The Sands, to enjoy PLD’s annual party and talent show. Tuesday was an early start, at 8 am, starting off with presentations from Miami R&D, QA, Regulatory, and IT. Each presentation provided department updates along with future goals . After a lunch break, we were treated to a lively and unique presentation by Creative Services. They worked hard putting together a rap song, set to the beat of Alicia Keys and Jay Z’s song "Empire State of Mind" . Anthony’s rapping to their creative lyrics would have made Jay Z think about retiring. It was by far the most entertaining presentation of the whole summit. Next up, the entire group participated in the branding workshop, led by the consultants Lanny Lewis and Mike Clark. They began with two very insightful presentations on branding. We all learned an interesting fact from these presentations -the three second rule. As a consumer is looking at the shelf, you have three seconds to gain their interest. The first second they are looking at the colors on the product’s packaging. Next they are looking at shapes and icons on the product, followed by the third second when the consumer’s attention may have been captured and they are reading the product’s label. After their presentations, the group was divided up into seven teams and given the task of creating a brand for PLD products inclusive of a marketing plan, product design and press release. At the end of the second day each group presented their "Brand" to a panel of judges, where the top three teams were picked. After working on their brand names, identity, mission statements, press release, and marketing plans, each group presented their brands. All of the groups’ ideas were great. The winners were announced after intense delibera-tion, with second place going to team three, whose brand was CuraLife. First place was a tie between two great teams, team five, with the brand “Dr. Ordered” and team two, with the brand "Relief. " "Dr. Ordered’s" brand concept was simple. They had the packaging of their products look like a doctor’s prescription note, including symptoms, directions for use, and side effects. "Relief’s" concept was to have the letters "Re" followed by an image of a leaf. Their packaging idea was to

keep their products sleek and simple, easy for the customer to read and understand. Each team that participated did a great job with all their ideas, and everyone enjoyed this workshop very much. All the ideas and poster boards made from the workshop will be kept and reviewed by the marketing team to potentially be used to create PLD’s own brand. After the workshop, it was marketing’s turn to present. The marketing presentation was on our new product launch of Cetirizine softgel, including packaging design and a launch plan. Everyone was very engrossed in this hot topic, which ended the day on a good note. The last day of the Summit, everyone returned to the training room at the office for the Sales Directors’ account presentations, followed by the broker discussions. The brokers provided a unique perspective of the marketplace. They know what each of our retailers expect of us and their point of view. These open discussions were an eye opener to the whole group and many great points were made as well as recom-mendations on how we can improve. Overall, the entire Summit was a week of hard work, team-building and lessons learned mixed with great fun. So much effort went into the planning of this week-long event. The first annual Summit can be checked off as a great success and will only raise the bar for next year!

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4

PLD’s Got Talent!—Sabrina Cervasio, Marketing Intern

July 9th was the annual PLD company party, held at the Sands in Lido Beach. The theme this year was PLD's Got Talent, and boy, do we! The emcee of the evening was Adam Singer posing as Nick Cannon. He did an awesome job keeping up the audience’s energy

levels! The judges for the show included John Francis, posing as Howard Stern, and he did not disappoint. He remained in full character throughout the show, and dished out comments in true Howard Stern fashion. Sharon Osborne was played by Miss Jennifer Singleterry, with a lovely, yet sometimes hard to understand, British accent. Howie Mandel was played by Suresh Santhanam. The first act to perform was the beautiful ladies of Human Resources wearing full Marilyn Monroe costumes. They serenaded Mitch, with their rendition of "Happy Birthday Mr. President." He loved it, even turning a little red in the cheeks at the end of the performance! The second act was a rendition of a Spanish love song, sung by T-Manno, Manny Cherizard. The audience, as well as Sharon, loved it! He was followed by the most memorable performance of the night, the Blue Man Group, made up of some of the gentlemen from the Opera-tions Department. Mike Martino came out on stage to perform

August 10th, 2012 PLD MIA took a trip to Marlins Park Stadium to watch the Dodgers vs. the Marlins. For most of the employees, this trip was the first time at the stadium, since it opened on April 1st, 2012. It was an event planned out for the employees to enjoy aside from the game. Prior to the game we all got together inside the stadium for some food and drinks. It was nice to see a side of our co-workers that we normally don’t see at work; it was the perfect time to just interact with one another to have some fun. Once the game started we all sat in the section behind home plate and the view there was phenomenal. During one of the breaks in between innings, Budweiser announces the winner for Good Sport on the screen and we had the honor of the winner being one of our employees, Miguel Hernandez. The Budweiser Good Sport is chosen from fans that sign up as Designated Drivers. The winner gets to take a picture with a couple of the Marlins Dancers and wins a Marlins Jersey. Though it nearly seemed as if Lester Morell was the winner, he managed to come out in almost all of the pictures that we took of Miguel and his jersey. Throughout the game we also gave away two signed baseballs, Yovany Torres took home the ball that was signed Carlos Zambrano and Marlion Vara took home the ball signed by Logan Morrison. After the game, the employees had the benefit of what is

his version of "I’m Sexy and I Know It". With breakaway pants and a Magic Mike t-shirt, his portion of the performance did not disappoint, and the crowd went wild. The fourth act was a comedy act performed by Tom Rizzo and Don Hansen, who played the puppet. The next act was performed by Dizzle Beats, Kendale Johnson. He banged on his drum, entertaining the crowd with his talent. The final act was the winner of PLD's Got Talent. It was performed by some of the ladies of QA, calling themselves "The Active Ingredients". They sang the 60s song "Da Doo Ron Ron", with lead vocals by Kelly Fitzgerald and back up singing and dancing by Martha Sanwald, Felicia Tempro, and Johanna Ramos. Throughout the night Andrea Boneillo was announcing the winners of some of the great prizes in the raffle, gener-ously donated by vendors and suppliers. Deacon Fahl was the winner of the grand prize. The event concluded with everyone heating up the dance floor, showing off their dancing moves. A lot of planning went into this event, including selling raffle tickets, wrapping gifts, decorations, setting up, invitations etc., so a big thank you needs to go to all the volunteers who donated their time and energy to make this another great party. Everyone had an amazing time and this year’s party is definitively one for the record books!

A Night at a Ball Game For PLD MIA!—Sharon Yevenez

gotgot

called “Friday Night Live”, a post game concert that is done on the first Friday game of the month. To finish off the night, there was great music to dance to by Fito Blanco. Planning the event for the company was a lot of fun. Listening to employees giving their feedback on what team was worth going to see, then shopping for Marlins apparels to show team spirit, social time with co-workers, sitting back and watching a baseball game was PRICELESS!!! Even though the Marlins did not win, for PLD it was a Home Run, the excitement and gratitude from all the employees was memorable.

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5

Many of you have heard the word "SharePoint" in conversa-tion throughout the office. You’re probably asking yourself "What do we need with another program?" Well, that’s just it, this isn’t another program. This is going to be a new method of communication for our business. SharePoint is a portal of information. It’s a tremendous platform. It saves us time from searching within program to program and folder to folder to find what we’re looking for. It speeds up the manner in which information is delivered and you’re able to manage and secure your documents more efficiently. You will also be able to ensure regulatory compliance. There are so many organizations today that face increasing pressures to comply with government regulations. This intranet is designed to protect these files. There are permission levels and versioning rules that we can apply to each individual document to ensure that control. Now you ask yourself, "What is an intranet?” An intranet is a private network between a company; whereas the internet is public. In addition, there are many companies in this day and age that operate globally. Having access to grab your information anywhere in the world is truly remarkable. As long as you have access to the internet you will always have access to SharePoint. During the first phase of the launch only PLD employees will have access to this site. We will make this available to external parties in later phases. Much time and effort has been devoted to this project for its success. I’ve worked closely with our implementation team to ensure that all of the company’s needs and desires are met as well as extensive meetings with department heads. We are incorporating everyday processes to make this as user friendly as possible for all. This is a positive

Sharepoint-—Melissa Valukis, Executive Assistant

change for PLD. It will keep us in the loop of new and updated information. SharePoint will be your default desktop once we go live. Our expected launch date will be towards the end of the fourth quarter. This is a work in progress so we will look forward to your suggestions. Kristina Chu has been instru-mental in the design of the SharePoint site. We both attended off-site training to aquire skills necessary for this project. PLD Pulse a/k/a SharePoint will ultimately become your L: drive. Think of it as the PLD Cloud. It will become a content repository; In other words, a very large document library. PLD Pulse also combines familiar office programs such as MS Excel, MS Office, Visio, PowerPoint and Outlook to name a few. You will be able to share the functionality of these applications in one environment. Once we’ve become accustomed to work-ing within SharePoint we will then add more complex information such as workflows, dashboards and even grant third party access to vendors and/or customers. Below is a snap shot of what you can look forward to!

A New Start towards “One Company, One Vision” in PLD Miami— Ramon Torres, Quality Assurance Director,

Sharon Yevenez, Human Resource GeneralistPL Developments Miami has gone through significant changes within the last couple of months. The manufacturing workflow has changed after carefully evaluating our product portfolio. We realized that the strategy for Miami needed to be changed to transition from commodity products to more specialized prod-ucts. By doing so we are investing more towards our R&D group. As a result, there has been a new turnaround in Manufacturing, which has allowed the Management Team to focus more towards process improvements (Six Sigma), cost reduction (Lean Manufacturing), and to invest in employee development. How can we continue to manufacture quality products with a lower cost? We challenged our operators to help us to better the system and they took up the challenge by becoming even more involved, adding their own input, taking up new initiatives, and thinking outside the box. For example, they came up with the use of different bin sizes for different products, utilizing other tablet presses to have more flexibility, etc. Cross training the employees in Manufacturing was another change, giving us more flexibility with the workforce and sched-ule. It has also benefitted the operators as they have gained more

experience and knowledge with other equipment/processes that they were not familiar with. A good example of the development of our employees is Oscar Reyes (Sr. Quality Eng). He has been a key person through-out the changes coming from the Quality team. He has taken up the responsibility by leading the Manufacturing TEAM and has done a great job. Oscar has directed the manufacturing group in a positive way and has taken the time to get to know the employees better, in order to build a stronger and more cohesive team. Along with Oscar, everybody on the team has played an important part throughout this new transformation by expand-ing their roles and responsibilities. For example, Julio Torres from our Warehouse is now working directly with Manufacturing, improving our Spare Parts and Supply Room, and performing Oracle transactions to have a better control of our inventory. William Garces, from tooling, has taken the initiative of becoming more familiar with the equipment in Manufacturing in order to help in the tablet press cleaning and setup process. The entire Manufacturing group has done an excellent job in the last two months working as a TEAM, as well as working side by side with Maintenance and Quality Assurance.

Did you know: Every department has their own official logo? The folder is located on L drive so check it out!

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Daniel Mejia Daniel is new to PLD working on the floor for just about 7 months. He likes working for PLD for the same reasons as Dunia, the family atmosphere and the encourage-ment to advance. Daniel starts his

day at 7 am and begins his duties with checking production 6

Focus on Production—Sabrina Cervasio, Marketing InternI recently sat down with three employees that work on the Westbury production floor, to find out a little more about what they do all day. Most of the employees of the office don’t really get to see what goes on down there, and I know I was curious to find out. Some of us never go down there. All we hear are the machines running all day and think nothing of it. Turns out, a production line takes a lot more work to function than I could have even imagined. I sat down with Production Line Supervi-sor, Dunia Bonilla, Production Order Checker, Daniel Mejia, and Mechanic, Emelina (Jinna) Casco, to find out what exactly it is they do.

Dunia Bonilla Dunia has been with the company for 11 years, starting as a line opera-tor and moving her way up over the years to the position that she holds today. She enjoys working at the company very much, especially

because “here, you have the chance to grow and move up, and everyone encourages you to do so” . Her day starts before everyone gets here, at 6:30 am, to check that all the machines are operating properly as all the workers are here to begin pro-duction promptly at 7 am. Her other duties include deciding which jobs have priority over others, as well as ensuring that everything is staged for the next job and ready to be run. She plans on spending her whole career at PLD and loves coming to work every day because, “We are a family here”.

Emelina Casco The last employee I sat down with was Jinna, a mechanic for the blister and carton lines, who has been at PLD for 7 years. Her job also starts before everyone gets here be-

cause her responsibility is to ensure that all the machines are functioning in order to begin production. The first thing she does when she comes in is to go around to her lines and make sure all machines are in good working order. If they are not, she must work as quickly as possible to try and fix them for a 7 am start time. If they are not, production will be impacted. “I love working here because I started out as a line operator and have grown into a mechanic. I am very happy here.” She specifically enjoys the close knit community everyone shares on the floor and also enjoys working along side her two sisters who are a line leader and a line operator.

A tremendous amount of teamwork goes into ensuring that all of our orders get filled in a timely fashion. Taking a brief look into a day in the lives of three production workers has really helped me have a better understanding of exactly what goes on down there, and how everybody at PLD truly gives their all!

schedules. He ensures that the line runs the right order, with the right components at the right time, and he confirms expira-tion dates and lot numbers. He enjoys the fast paced environ-ment on the floor and plans to stay an employee of PLD for as long as he can.

A New Start towards “One Company, One Vision” in PLD Miami— Continued

From left to right (Back): Marlion Vara, Oscar Reyes, Miguel Hernandez, Ivan Garcia, Aden Sifontes and Jackson JeanFrom left to right (Front): William Garces, Antonio Osorno, Jose Ruiz, Rodisel Leyva, Richard Villasuso, Anabel Diaz, Alex Sanchez, Luis Docampo, Eric Pullen and Antonio Roxas Missing from the picture above is Carol Underwood and Julio Torres

One of the priorities for the Miami Team is to provide each employee with company updates so they can feel more involved in the different projects the company is working towards. We have scheduled monthly employee meetings consisting of group lunches with an employee from each department so all employ-ees see and hear what is going on throughout the company. We have also circulated our first Newsletter from our R&D team. Aaron did an excellent job elaborating the different projects his team is working on developing. Suggestions are being heard and positive changes are on their way. Some departments are seeing the changes sooner than others due to the workload they may have, but everyone is work-ing hard for a successful tomorrow of “One Company, One Vision”.

Did you know: Did you know every Monday, Wednesday and

Thursdays, Juan a personal trainer runs an open workout session for PLD employees?

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7

Six Sigma—Sophia Sutphen, Human Resource DirectorIn late 2011 PL Developments applied for grant funding from New York State. If awarded, this grant money would be used to invest in training programs for PLD associates. The application process is very labor intensive and highly competitive

since funding is extremely limited. As you may know, PLD was awarded $45,000 in training grant funding from the state for 2012. The approved grant proposal is broken down into three training programs: a comprehensive Six Sigma program, which was recently completed, Strategic Planning, and Customer First Culture, which will both be coming to PLD later this year. The following is an overview of the Six Sigma program.

First, what is Six Sigma? Six Sigma is a methodology for improving quality by reducing process defects. It is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving toward six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process, from manufacturing to transactional functions, and from production to service.

Why do we need Six Sigma? The objective of the program is to make PLD a more effective business by

Minimizing Waste

Maximizing Productivity

Enhancing Employee Engagement

How does the program work? The coursework teaches participants the fundamentals of lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. This coursework is then applied to real world business issues. Since we were lucky enough to have the program onsite, the real world business issues were specific to PLD. PLD’s Six Sigma training was broken down into eight full day modules. Typically, the first half of the day was dedicated to coursework while the second half focused on applying coursework to specific projects. Nineteen associates were broken down into four functional groups. These groups evaluated over thirty possible project subjects and narrowed them down to one per group.

Group 1 chose to evaluate downtime on Bottling Lines and focused their analysis on Line 9. What they found was that by implementing setup sheets, downtime could be reduced by approximately 30 minutes per job. The estimated cost savings is $492k per year.

Group 2 chose to evaluate Production floor personnel turn-over rates. What they found was that by making some changes to things such as training and employee relations initiatives, voluntary turnover could be reduced by approximately 50%. The estimated cost savings to PLD would be $150k annually.

Group 3 chose to evaluate short dated finished goods. They found that by changing select customers to MTO (Made to Order), short dated inventory could be significantly reduced. Cost savings totaled $230k for just one customer (Good Sense).

Group 4 chose to evaluate mechanical downtime on Blister Lines. They found that labor underutilization due to this downtime totals $425k annually. Further examination showed that as we improved downtime tracking metrics, labor utiliza-tion would also improve, leading to significant cost savings.

These four projects are just the start of what we can accomplish at PLD. I would like to thank the participants for somehow juggling this demanding program without missing a beat on their regular job responsibilities. I would also like to thank the Singers and the rest of the executive team for supporting this undertaking, and Kerriann Martin and Lisa Mendicino for running the program. Through this process we have identified quite a few other processes that warrant further investigation The Six Sigma Training Program was a great success. Moving forward, our objective is to widen our scope on Six Sigma training and to move towards incorporating this methodology into our everyday work life.

Recently, PL Developments donated a significant amount of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals for the displaced families affected by the wildfires that occurred in Colorado Springs. The contribution was made possible with a joint effort between the trade association GMDC and the food bank Colorado Care and Share. PLD employees worked quickly to package and ship thousands of packages of generic brand Ibuprofen, Aspirin, and the like. As a member of the General Market Development Center, known as GMDC, PL Developments responded to their request for personal care items. Located in Colorado Springs,

PLD Helping Those in Need—Elizabeth McGinn, Executive Assistant

GMDC is a non-profit worldwide trade organization to retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers of general merchandise and health, beauty, and wellness. All the donations were delivered to Colorado Care and Share which is a well-established food bank. They have helped provide food to the hungry of southern Colorado for more than 35 years. It is times like these when PLD understands the importance of reaching out to those in need. This is, has been and will remain a part of the core values of PL Developments.

PL Developments helps the Victims of Waldo Canyon

Did you know: PLD is considering launching our own brand

Page 8: THE STOOL PIGEON - PL Developments...THE STOOL PIGEON 2012Summer stores – we are in a strong position to sell more items through our current client relationships. Since the first

Summer

2012THE

STOOL PIGEONThe Stool Pigeon is produced by Creative Services & Marketing

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visit us at www.pldevelopments.com

Jocelyn and Carolina’s

Baby Showers

March & May 2012

Employees gathered t

o wish

the mommies-to-be the

best of luck with show

ers

of gifts.

Andrea, Melissa & Ashley’s

Bridal Showers

February, May & June 2012

Seems like everyone is getting

hitched

at PLD. The PLD family joined

together to wish the blushing brides

the warmest wishes.

August 10th, 2012 PLD MIA took a trip to Marlins Park Stadium to watch the Dodgers vs. the Marlins. Co-workers enjoyed some down time with each other.

PLD’s Got Talent—July 9th, The Sands

Employees gathered for a fun filled

event of dining and showing off

their talents!

July 13th 2012Some of PLD’s athletic employees gathered at Cantiague Park to compete in a friendly game of kickball!

August 8th 2012

PLD presented the Leukemia and

Lymphoma Society with a “big check”,

thanks to the donations rec

eived

through the sale of raffle tickets for

our PLD's Got Talent event!

March 23rd 2012PLD employees joined together in a bowling outing organized by our own Suresh. We enjoyed picking teams, team names and team colors! What a great time!

April 30th 2012—Tough M udder

Eight of PLD’s toughest employees

participated in the Tough Mudder event

to benefit the Wounded Warrior

Project. Great job guys!