Heartbeat
Heartbeat The Pulse of Heartland Co-op November, 2007 After a few months of discussions, Heartland has entered into a “Letter of Intent” that will lead to a possible merger with Farmers 4County Cooperative, Belle Plaine. A “Letter of Intent” sets out the more significant terms of a proposed merger, but does not obligate the parties to proceed to a merger. It allows legal representatives to develop a merger agreement that is more defined, and if approved by the Boards, can be taken to the membership for explanation and approval.
A Message From Larry Petersen… CEO/General Manager
Over the past few years Heartland and Farmers 4-County did enter into discussions concerning the joining of our agronomy operations in the Eastern portion of Heartland’s trade territory. As those talks became more serious, Farmers 4-County decided a full merger of operations would bring even more advantages than limiting discussions to agronomy only. Along with the main location at Belle Plaine, 4-County has locations at Luzerne, Blairstown, Elberon, Hartwick, Marengo, and Chelsea. The locations surround Belle Plaine and are located in the 4 Counties of Benton, Iowa, Poweshiek, and Tama. To give you an idea of the size of the company some of the volume statistics include: Total Sales - $35 Million Grain Storage Bu. – 5.25 Million Bushels Handled – 7 Million Fertilizer Sales – 11,000 Tons Petroleum Gallons Sales – 1.4 Million Total Employees – 31 The trade territory fits well into our Eastern geographic area. This gives some real advantages in operational efficiencies when operations are combined in adjoining trade territory. If the merger moves forward, it is anticipated the vote would take place in December and the merger would be effective on February 1, 2008. The letter of intent is not the finale word, but it moves the process forward. I will keep the employee base informed as more news becomes available.
Melbourne Bin Collapse by Bill Chizek, Safety Compliance
On Monday, November 5 at 8:15 a.m., a load out bin started to shake while one employee was on its catwalk and another employee was in his truck loading from that same bin. Due to a quick response by Melbourne employee, Mark Havens, to get himself, the other Heartland Co-op employee plus 3 millwright contractor employees out of harms way, very possible serious injuries were avoided. The bin collapsed, striking an adjacent bin and setting a flow of approximately 100,000 bushels of corn to the ground. One of the first things the location did after the collapse was activate their emergency action plan. Going to their Visitor Log Sheets and identifying who was working at the location. There were 5 contractor employees working near the bin before it collapsed. All personnel at the location were accounted for and no one was injured. This situation shows us the benefit of making sure everyone is logged into your visitor sheets. With that much grain on the ground we would not have necessarily known if someone was buried or not. Know who is where at all times and be prepared for unusual events. REMEMBER…..SAFETY FIRST!!!
E 18th ST Facility Passes First QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) Audit…… by Dick McClure, Quality Control Manager The East 18th Street facility passed their first, ever, QA/QC Audit on October 19, 2007. Our Avon facility began the process with American Institute of Bakers in 2003 and passed the Quality Systems Evaluation (QSE), Food Safety Audit with a Satisfactory rating on January 15, 2004 and an Excellent rating on February 10, 2005. In July, 2005, Heartland Co-op decided to move this process in-house and revamped the QSE process, which was a Food Grade Safety program, to better fit the grain elevator industry. East 18th Street is the first facility to pass an internal QA/QC audit. We currently have three other locations working on passing a QA/QC Audit – Dallas Center, Enterprise, and Prairie City. The current grading system is simply an “Excellent”, “Pass” or “Fail” system. The East 18th Street facility’s score was a Pass with just a few items keeping them from scoring an Excellent. Larry Hoffman and his employees at East 18th have written procedures on their day-to-day operations, as well as housekeeping and maintenance operations. There are seven major categories that their facility was graded on; General Guidance, Training, Programs & Procedures, Maintenance, Housekeeping, Calibration and Security. Monthly management and employee meetings are conducted to monitor the process. I would like to congratulate Larry and his employees for a job well done. If you are in the area, stop in and see the facility as they are very proud of their accomplishments.
Pork Grilling at Prairie City
Gary Mohr, Oscar Meyer and Joyce Hoppes of IA Pork Producers
• Sponsored by Heartland Co-op and IA Pork Producers • Saluting grain and livestock producers and in recognition of October Pork Month • 150 pork burgers were served with lemonade • 2.1 million bushels of corn went through Heartland to feed livestock in 2006
It’s benefit meeting time again!!! by Katie Thompson, Payroll & Benefits Administrator We are entering our open enrollment period for 2008 benefits and we are having meetings at a number of locations throughout all the regions at Heartland Co-op. Please make every effort to attend these informative meetings. Spouses are strongly encouraged to attend as well. We will have a representative from Mercer and ABC at every meeting to do a presentation about the benefits package for our full time employees for 2008. Please keep in mind this is the only time throughout the year that you can make any changes to your benefit elections, barring a life altering event such as marriage or a birth in your family. These changes will go into effect January 1, 2008 and will stay in effect through the end of the calendar year. The flexible spending account elections have to be made every year. Your selections for 2007 do not roll over into the next year automatically. You need to fill out new enrollment forms every year for those. We are adding more meetings this year, including one at the West Des Moines corporate office. Two nights have meetings at 2 different locations going on concurrently to accommodate as many people as possible. There are sign up sheets at all the locations, so please sign up for the meeting you wish to attend. Again, spouses are strongly encouraged to attend the meetings as well, so please note if your spouse will be joining you. All of the meetings will start with food at 5:30 pm and the meeting will begin at approximately 6:00 pm. Please sign up no later than November 16th so we can get an accurate head count for food. Here’s the schedule: Tuesday, Nov 20th Tuesday, Nov 27th
@ 5:30 pm WDM office-
rd
FC Stone Conf Room 3 Floor
@ 5:30 pm Grundy Center @ 5:30 pm Dallas Center Wednesday, Nov 28th @ 5:30 pm Malcom Thursday, Nov 29th @ 5:30 pm Gilman-Legion Hall
Tuesday, Dec 4th
@ 5:30 pm Avonbasement meeting room
Wednesday, Dec 5th @ 5:30 pm Jewell Thursday, Dec 6th @ 5:30 pm Slater’s garage @ 5:30 pm Prairie CityCommunity Center
If you have any questions, please call me at 515-974-4354 or email me at [email protected]. Thanks!
Nurturing Self-Controlled Children When a child misbehaves in ways that are out of control, parents and other adults often are at their wits end to deal with the behavior. Reasoning by using “adult” logic is beyond the child’s understanding. Adult anger and rage is destructive. Firm limits and consistent, calmly delivered consequences help children realize they can control themselves! It is important for adults to shape behavior. When we don’t, the child concludes: I’m so troubled that adults need to let me misbehave because I probably can’t control my actions. Such a message will not encourage me to try harder. It is clear adults do not expect I can do much better... and I’m beginning to believe them! Parents are encouraged to access coaching for parenting issues early on. Your EAP can connect you with a professional who has experience coaching parents. Up to three hours of assessment and solution planning service are available for no out-of-pocket costs to employees. Connections Inc. Employee Assistance Program, Phone: 800-779-6125, www.connectionseap.com
News from the Reinbeck Location…... Heartland Co-op’s Reinbeck location participates with other community organizations in the Food Resource Project organized by the Orchard Hill Reform Church. 60 acres of corn are planted and harvested with proceeds going to the local food bank and missions. This year the 60 acres were located just to the north of Heartland’s location so pictures were captured from the top of the elevator of the 16 row combine going through the field in seemingly one “wide sweep”. A sight to see indeed!
Best Wishes go to Ted Anderson (SLATER) …...
Above, Larry Petersen and Tom Nystrom, along with all of those in attendance, give their best wishes to Ted Anderson at a retirement party held in his honor on Sunday, November 11th. After 42 years getting up in the morning and reporting to work at the same place I would imagine it will take a while to change his course….or will it? ☺☺☺ Ted will continue with Heartland on a consultation basis as a ConsultantTrainer, as after all those years he has stored up a wealth of information. Best wishes in your retirement, Ted!
Construction at Pickering…...
These pictures of the new pit-less scale going in by the office at Pickering are actually more than a month old. Update pictures will be in the December Heartbeat.
December
December
Anniversary Hire Dates
Employee Birthdays Nathan Rauch Terri Fehrer David Stephens Laurel Vanderpol Gregory Anderson Dennis Myers Tom Talbert Darren Douglas Douglas Rose David Lee Scott Poore Thomas Williams, Jr. Dale Douglas Lewis Goodrich Sharon Willard Mark Havens Roy Jamison, Jr. Brett Halvorsen Terry Tjernagel Shannon McCoy Adam Deppe Jeff Needs Byron Gutshall Bradford Moses Brandon Smith Timothy Tipton James Hyslope Daniel Brandhof Mark Lichty Wendy Meester Spencer Mylan Allan Fenneman Daniel Pickar Scott Van Ryswyk Robin Gunn Chris Jones Candace Stensland Janyce Wrage
12/01 12/02 12/02 12/03 12/08 12/08 12/08 12/09 12/09 12/10 12/10 12/10 12/11 12/12 12/13 12/14 12/14 12/15 12/15 12/16 12/17 12/18 12/19 12/19 12/19 12/19 12/21 12/24 12/24 12/26 12/26 12/27 12/27 12/27 12/28 12/28 12/28 12/28
Reinbeck Indianola Indianola Prairie City Waukee Dallas Center Montezuma Malcom Enterprise Cambridge Waukee Waukee Malcom Enterprise Gilman Melbourne Booneville Jewell Jewell WDM Booneville Pickering Booneville Alleman Indianola Rippey E. 18th St. Prairie City Washburn WDM Redfield Conroy Indianola Prairie City Rippey Indianola Slater Holland
Jim Tomlinson (ALLEMAN) Retires…… Whenever Jim was asked when his last day was going to be he always gave the answer “whenever Justin comes back from vacation after the baby is born.” Well Justin returned to work on Friday, October 19th, and that day was Jim’s last day. Alleman employees grilled about 150 hamburgers and invited customers and employees to stop by and grab lunch as they extended their best wishes to Jim. The Hostess Cup Cakes? You never saw Jim eating lunch without one ☺☺, so it just made sense. Justin joined this group of longtimers when he hired on at Alleman as the bulk fuel driver when Jim retired. Seated are Jim Tomlinson and Larry Mitchell. Standing (l to r) are Brad Moses, Justin Boege, Oscar Meyer, Kevin Hanson and Jerry Karsjen. Above, Jim visits with another retiree (Oct. 31), Ted Anderson (SLATER). Best wishes in your retirement, Jim!
Charles Atcher David Coppess Deanna Damman Brett Halvorsen Kevin Hanson George Hiner John Hohnstein Bonnie Melton Grant Ostercamp Randy Sunderman Lorraine Walker
1989 2001 1995 2006 1998 1985 2004 2001 2000 1993 2004
Pickering WDM Melbourne Jewell Alleman Malcom Pickering Collins Holland WDM E. 18th St.
***FOR SALE*** 1999 Jeep Wrangler SE Red, 4 cyl, Auto, Hardtop, Air, Tilt AM/FM CD 53,000 miles — Excellent condition! $9500 OBO 515.685.3571 Slater office 515.450.7168 cell — Candy Stensland
A Message From Larry Petersen… CEO/General Manager
Over the past few years Heartland and Farmers 4-County did enter into discussions concerning the joining of our agronomy operations in the Eastern portion of Heartland’s trade territory. As those talks became more serious, Farmers 4-County decided a full merger of operations would bring even more advantages than limiting discussions to agronomy only. Along with the main location at Belle Plaine, 4-County has locations at Luzerne, Blairstown, Elberon, Hartwick, Marengo, and Chelsea. The locations surround Belle Plaine and are located in the 4 Counties of Benton, Iowa, Poweshiek, and Tama. To give you an idea of the size of the company some of the volume statistics include: Total Sales - $35 Million Grain Storage Bu. – 5.25 Million Bushels Handled – 7 Million Fertilizer Sales – 11,000 Tons Petroleum Gallons Sales – 1.4 Million Total Employees – 31 The trade territory fits well into our Eastern geographic area. This gives some real advantages in operational efficiencies when operations are combined in adjoining trade territory. If the merger moves forward, it is anticipated the vote would take place in December and the merger would be effective on February 1, 2008. The letter of intent is not the finale word, but it moves the process forward. I will keep the employee base informed as more news becomes available.
Melbourne Bin Collapse by Bill Chizek, Safety Compliance
On Monday, November 5 at 8:15 a.m., a load out bin started to shake while one employee was on its catwalk and another employee was in his truck loading from that same bin. Due to a quick response by Melbourne employee, Mark Havens, to get himself, the other Heartland Co-op employee plus 3 millwright contractor employees out of harms way, very possible serious injuries were avoided. The bin collapsed, striking an adjacent bin and setting a flow of approximately 100,000 bushels of corn to the ground. One of the first things the location did after the collapse was activate their emergency action plan. Going to their Visitor Log Sheets and identifying who was working at the location. There were 5 contractor employees working near the bin before it collapsed. All personnel at the location were accounted for and no one was injured. This situation shows us the benefit of making sure everyone is logged into your visitor sheets. With that much grain on the ground we would not have necessarily known if someone was buried or not. Know who is where at all times and be prepared for unusual events. REMEMBER…..SAFETY FIRST!!!
E 18th ST Facility Passes First QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) Audit…… by Dick McClure, Quality Control Manager The East 18th Street facility passed their first, ever, QA/QC Audit on October 19, 2007. Our Avon facility began the process with American Institute of Bakers in 2003 and passed the Quality Systems Evaluation (QSE), Food Safety Audit with a Satisfactory rating on January 15, 2004 and an Excellent rating on February 10, 2005. In July, 2005, Heartland Co-op decided to move this process in-house and revamped the QSE process, which was a Food Grade Safety program, to better fit the grain elevator industry. East 18th Street is the first facility to pass an internal QA/QC audit. We currently have three other locations working on passing a QA/QC Audit – Dallas Center, Enterprise, and Prairie City. The current grading system is simply an “Excellent”, “Pass” or “Fail” system. The East 18th Street facility’s score was a Pass with just a few items keeping them from scoring an Excellent. Larry Hoffman and his employees at East 18th have written procedures on their day-to-day operations, as well as housekeeping and maintenance operations. There are seven major categories that their facility was graded on; General Guidance, Training, Programs & Procedures, Maintenance, Housekeeping, Calibration and Security. Monthly management and employee meetings are conducted to monitor the process. I would like to congratulate Larry and his employees for a job well done. If you are in the area, stop in and see the facility as they are very proud of their accomplishments.
Pork Grilling at Prairie City
Gary Mohr, Oscar Meyer and Joyce Hoppes of IA Pork Producers
• Sponsored by Heartland Co-op and IA Pork Producers • Saluting grain and livestock producers and in recognition of October Pork Month • 150 pork burgers were served with lemonade • 2.1 million bushels of corn went through Heartland to feed livestock in 2006
It’s benefit meeting time again!!! by Katie Thompson, Payroll & Benefits Administrator We are entering our open enrollment period for 2008 benefits and we are having meetings at a number of locations throughout all the regions at Heartland Co-op. Please make every effort to attend these informative meetings. Spouses are strongly encouraged to attend as well. We will have a representative from Mercer and ABC at every meeting to do a presentation about the benefits package for our full time employees for 2008. Please keep in mind this is the only time throughout the year that you can make any changes to your benefit elections, barring a life altering event such as marriage or a birth in your family. These changes will go into effect January 1, 2008 and will stay in effect through the end of the calendar year. The flexible spending account elections have to be made every year. Your selections for 2007 do not roll over into the next year automatically. You need to fill out new enrollment forms every year for those. We are adding more meetings this year, including one at the West Des Moines corporate office. Two nights have meetings at 2 different locations going on concurrently to accommodate as many people as possible. There are sign up sheets at all the locations, so please sign up for the meeting you wish to attend. Again, spouses are strongly encouraged to attend the meetings as well, so please note if your spouse will be joining you. All of the meetings will start with food at 5:30 pm and the meeting will begin at approximately 6:00 pm. Please sign up no later than November 16th so we can get an accurate head count for food. Here’s the schedule: Tuesday, Nov 20th Tuesday, Nov 27th
@ 5:30 pm WDM office-
rd
FC Stone Conf Room 3 Floor
@ 5:30 pm Grundy Center @ 5:30 pm Dallas Center Wednesday, Nov 28th @ 5:30 pm Malcom Thursday, Nov 29th @ 5:30 pm Gilman-Legion Hall
Tuesday, Dec 4th
@ 5:30 pm Avonbasement meeting room
Wednesday, Dec 5th @ 5:30 pm Jewell Thursday, Dec 6th @ 5:30 pm Slater’s garage @ 5:30 pm Prairie CityCommunity Center
If you have any questions, please call me at 515-974-4354 or email me at [email protected]. Thanks!
Nurturing Self-Controlled Children When a child misbehaves in ways that are out of control, parents and other adults often are at their wits end to deal with the behavior. Reasoning by using “adult” logic is beyond the child’s understanding. Adult anger and rage is destructive. Firm limits and consistent, calmly delivered consequences help children realize they can control themselves! It is important for adults to shape behavior. When we don’t, the child concludes: I’m so troubled that adults need to let me misbehave because I probably can’t control my actions. Such a message will not encourage me to try harder. It is clear adults do not expect I can do much better... and I’m beginning to believe them! Parents are encouraged to access coaching for parenting issues early on. Your EAP can connect you with a professional who has experience coaching parents. Up to three hours of assessment and solution planning service are available for no out-of-pocket costs to employees. Connections Inc. Employee Assistance Program, Phone: 800-779-6125, www.connectionseap.com
News from the Reinbeck Location…... Heartland Co-op’s Reinbeck location participates with other community organizations in the Food Resource Project organized by the Orchard Hill Reform Church. 60 acres of corn are planted and harvested with proceeds going to the local food bank and missions. This year the 60 acres were located just to the north of Heartland’s location so pictures were captured from the top of the elevator of the 16 row combine going through the field in seemingly one “wide sweep”. A sight to see indeed!
Best Wishes go to Ted Anderson (SLATER) …...
Above, Larry Petersen and Tom Nystrom, along with all of those in attendance, give their best wishes to Ted Anderson at a retirement party held in his honor on Sunday, November 11th. After 42 years getting up in the morning and reporting to work at the same place I would imagine it will take a while to change his course….or will it? ☺☺☺ Ted will continue with Heartland on a consultation basis as a ConsultantTrainer, as after all those years he has stored up a wealth of information. Best wishes in your retirement, Ted!
Construction at Pickering…...
These pictures of the new pit-less scale going in by the office at Pickering are actually more than a month old. Update pictures will be in the December Heartbeat.
December
December
Anniversary Hire Dates
Employee Birthdays Nathan Rauch Terri Fehrer David Stephens Laurel Vanderpol Gregory Anderson Dennis Myers Tom Talbert Darren Douglas Douglas Rose David Lee Scott Poore Thomas Williams, Jr. Dale Douglas Lewis Goodrich Sharon Willard Mark Havens Roy Jamison, Jr. Brett Halvorsen Terry Tjernagel Shannon McCoy Adam Deppe Jeff Needs Byron Gutshall Bradford Moses Brandon Smith Timothy Tipton James Hyslope Daniel Brandhof Mark Lichty Wendy Meester Spencer Mylan Allan Fenneman Daniel Pickar Scott Van Ryswyk Robin Gunn Chris Jones Candace Stensland Janyce Wrage
12/01 12/02 12/02 12/03 12/08 12/08 12/08 12/09 12/09 12/10 12/10 12/10 12/11 12/12 12/13 12/14 12/14 12/15 12/15 12/16 12/17 12/18 12/19 12/19 12/19 12/19 12/21 12/24 12/24 12/26 12/26 12/27 12/27 12/27 12/28 12/28 12/28 12/28
Reinbeck Indianola Indianola Prairie City Waukee Dallas Center Montezuma Malcom Enterprise Cambridge Waukee Waukee Malcom Enterprise Gilman Melbourne Booneville Jewell Jewell WDM Booneville Pickering Booneville Alleman Indianola Rippey E. 18th St. Prairie City Washburn WDM Redfield Conroy Indianola Prairie City Rippey Indianola Slater Holland
Jim Tomlinson (ALLEMAN) Retires…… Whenever Jim was asked when his last day was going to be he always gave the answer “whenever Justin comes back from vacation after the baby is born.” Well Justin returned to work on Friday, October 19th, and that day was Jim’s last day. Alleman employees grilled about 150 hamburgers and invited customers and employees to stop by and grab lunch as they extended their best wishes to Jim. The Hostess Cup Cakes? You never saw Jim eating lunch without one ☺☺, so it just made sense. Justin joined this group of longtimers when he hired on at Alleman as the bulk fuel driver when Jim retired. Seated are Jim Tomlinson and Larry Mitchell. Standing (l to r) are Brad Moses, Justin Boege, Oscar Meyer, Kevin Hanson and Jerry Karsjen. Above, Jim visits with another retiree (Oct. 31), Ted Anderson (SLATER). Best wishes in your retirement, Jim!
Charles Atcher David Coppess Deanna Damman Brett Halvorsen Kevin Hanson George Hiner John Hohnstein Bonnie Melton Grant Ostercamp Randy Sunderman Lorraine Walker
1989 2001 1995 2006 1998 1985 2004 2001 2000 1993 2004
Pickering WDM Melbourne Jewell Alleman Malcom Pickering Collins Holland WDM E. 18th St.
***FOR SALE*** 1999 Jeep Wrangler SE Red, 4 cyl, Auto, Hardtop, Air, Tilt AM/FM CD 53,000 miles — Excellent condition! $9500 OBO 515.685.3571 Slater office 515.450.7168 cell — Candy Stensland
