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Vitacress Salads

Image of Vitacress Salads's Logo

Vitacress is Europe’s leading grower and supplier of baby leaf salad and watercress. The company has developed a model of processing excellence that is inspiring. The site at St Mary Bourne, Hampshire employs over 450 people and is the main processing facility, handling all output from British farms. The plant is widely acclaimed as one of the best in the industry and in 2006 picked up a prestigious Best Factory of the Year Award. ‘Mission Directed Work Teams’ has successfully brought a ‘bottom up’ focus on how efficiency gains can be made in production. Since the teams were launched there have been more bags of salad produced per minute and at a lower cost per bag, The company is a leader in the systems it has adopted. Each bag of salad that leaves the facility is part of a sophisticated, industry-leading traceability system from pack to seed. Vitacress places sustainable farming and processing at the heart of its business. Environmental awareness and commitment runs from the Board through farm and shop floor staff.

Our focus is on highly nutritious fresh produce, produced with minimum environmental impact.

We operate a “follow the sun” philosophy, growing crops outdoors in ideal conditions which require less pesticide and fertiliser input. Our network of farms ensures we can continue to grow and supply our high quality crops throughout the year, avoiding the use of heated glass.

The wash water discharged from our processing plant is so pure it is passed back through the nearby watercress beds and then flows on to form a prolific trout stream.

The Vitacress Conservation Trust has been formed to research, conserve and enhance the wildlife and habitats associated with watercress and salad crop farming, with the objective of communicating and educating.

Visit in 60 seconds

Leadership…Talent management…Company culture…World Class Manufacturing…Mission Directed Work Teams…Process Improvement…Quality …Five S…Training…Communication…Material Supply…KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

Topics covered by Vitacress Salads


People Development and Leadership

Vitacress has grown steadily for 55 years from one bed of watercress to an international salads business. Vitacress’s answer to ever increasing competitive pressure has been to widen the leadership base, releasing the latent talent in First Line Managers. We will tell you how our culture has changed, why it had to change and where we are on the journey toward World Class Manufacturing. We will share our experience of what was difficult, what challenges we have overcome and what tools we have used so far.

Process & Quality Improvement

The structured path that Vitacress has chosen to change its culture is called Mission Directed Work Teams (MDWT). Many will recognise terms such as Goal Alignment and 5S, which are incorporated into this system. We will describe MDWT, the process improvement training and the human interaction training. These two aspects combine to give benefits throughout our organisation.

Vitacress and the Environment

Vitacress places sustainable farming and processing at the heart of its business. Environmental awareness and commitment runs from the Board through farm and shop floor staff.   Our focus is on highly nutritious fresh produce, produced with minimum environmental impact.

Information

Vitacress Salads dates
Visit dateVisit TopicsVisit Location
Wed, 20th Nov 2013 - People Development and Leadership
- Process & Quality Improvement
- Vitacress and the Environment
 Andover
Vitacress Salads website
www.vitacress.com
Testimonials about Vitacress Salads
“Very enjoyable, excellent information, well structured an presented by enthusiastic people.”
“Absolutely excellent visit.”
“Honest, open, transparent, passionate, eager to take on change and the individual ownership is excellent.”
“Very positive, one of the best (visits) I have been on.”
“Very impressed by the running of this factory.”
“I am a salad snob now! Great visit!!”
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