Building Safety Culture: Kelly Wadding on Transforming Quality Pork Processors

Anthony Codispoti: Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Kodespode and today’s guest is Kelly Wadding, who was president and owner at Quality Pork Processors Inc. for 30 years and is presently serving as a senior advisor. Founded in 1989 in Austin, Minnesota, Quality Pork Processors is a leading food manufacturing company that processes 19,000 hogs each day. They employ over 1,300 dedicated team members and even offer free on-site primary care for employees and their families. Under Kelly’s leadership, the company has maintained a strong position in meat processing, providing essential products across the country. Kelly has been instrumental in various leadership roles within the industry, showcasing his expertise in strategy and operations. And before joining Quality Pork Processors, he gained valuable experience influencing business growth at other meat processing firms. Since taking the helm, he has helped the company expand its operations and remain a key market player. His achievements include shaping effective policies and driving operational improvements. Together with his team, Kelly continues to uphold rigorous quality standards by creating a positive workplace environment. Now before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our innovative programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible.

To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefitsagency.com. All right, now back to our guest today. Senior advisor, former owner, and president at Quality Pork Processors, Kelly Wadding. I appreciate you making the time to share your story today.

Kelly Walding: Oh, thank you. Happy to be with you.

Anthony Codispoti: Okay, Kelly. So you’ve been involved in the meat processing industry for quite some time. What initially drew you to this field?

Kelly Walding: Well, a job. I started when I was 18 years old. In fact, October 8th of 1970 is my original seniority date. And that was a company called Wilson’s. Meatpacking is one of the, I think it was a third or fourth large meatpacking in the country. And I started, as I said, 18 years old. I started in a gang. The first job I had was pushing hogs in a hog cooler. And there I stayed on the labor force for two years, and then had an opportunity to be a supervisor with Wilson. So I then took a supervisor’s job. I was 20 years old, young as supervisor, Wilson’s ever hired. They were a little concerned about hiring somebody that young, but they got the job.

Anthony Codispoti: So what were you doing at such a young age that they saw in you, Hey, let’s promote this guy as a 20 year old kid?

Kelly Walding: Well, quick story of it is actually I went when I was working as labor, I there’s an ad in our local paper about for supervisors in Madison, Nebraska. And I went there to interview actually, I was interviewed by Bob Peters who ended up being the president of Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, Iowa industries. Anyway, he told me that he’d hired me as a gang leader, but I have experience as supervisor. So I said, Okay, thank you very much. And I went back and I mentioned it to the my supervisor. And he went down there. He took the job.

The the his boss come to me and said, I hear you’re looking for a supervisor. And I said, Yep, and and I was a good worker. I worked a lot over time.

I tried to do everything. So I had a pretty good record with employers. So they hired me as a supervisor. And and that’s kind of starting me on the road to management.

Anthony Codispoti: So what is a gang leader? I have a feeling that means something different to you than it does to the average.

Kelly Walding: Yeah, a gang leader is actually a lead man. You’re still in the labor force, you still work on the line. And but you’re utility guy, you can fill in for a lot of jobs, you have to learn all that. And so so it’s a step towards supervision. So and Mr. Peters has said that would I would follow that. But I I decided to say Wilson’s what worked out good.

Anthony Codispoti: So how long did you stay at Wilson’s altogether?

Kelly Walding: Okay, well, the quick history there is I stayed as a supervisor for another six years. And then six years I was promoted to the division superintendent or the pork division over superintendent down Oklahoma City. And I transferred down there.

I spent two miserable years down there. It was the management was very poorly run. The union dictated everything I every morning I walked in and it was just like putting my boxing gloves on and going going to town. So so it but but I I stuck in there for two years and then a lot of consequences with Wilson’s they were offered to transfer me but just one place and I I so I turned my registration in I went to Iowa pork industries in South St. Paul. And there I went there as a plant superintendent. And there was a it was a new new startup plant by Harry Harry Weinstein.

But anyway, the plant was built on a shoestring budget. Lots of breakdowns, lots of and we had to we had to replace our work our workforce. And I gained reason I’m saying that I gained so much knowledge in the five and six years I was at that plant that I went through walkout strikes I had several machine breakdowns.

I in fact we were breaking down and having so much trouble in our our maintenance areas I actually took some engineer courses. I I did get an associate degree down the road by by the way but anyway I took some engineering courses and learn refrigeration and things like that that we’re having so much trouble with and that comes in the plane in just a little bit but anyway I spent five six years there they promoted me or give me the plant manager job when I was 31 and I did that for about a year and a half then a strike strike took us down and we were working I mean it was pretty tough and the the owner he wanted to sell the company and I kind of saw the the writing on the wall and so I made good friends in the industry I go to the conferences every year and so a guy told me if I ever wanted a job to just pick up the phone and I called up Dale Dan and he was a vice president with John Morrell company in Sioux Falls and Dale said he’s starting two weeks so then so I went to John Morrell Sioux Falls for two years as a commercial pork manager.

Anthony Codispoti: Before you get into that Kelly I want to hear so I understand why you first took the job right you’re a young kid you’re looking for work to pay check but you continue to stay in the industry for a number of years and you moved around to different locations there was something about this that drew you in and kept you there what was it that you liked so much about this industry?

Kelly Walding: Well I felt I was good at it I this you know I I got married young I didn’t have a college education the the beat packing industry back in the 1970 was the best-paying job in Norberley Minnesota and so the money was good benefits were good so you know and then as I worked on the line I looked around and watched these managers walk around and say you know I don’t want to be tied down the line I want to try to advance and so I took an opportunity got the opportunity and you know and it’s just in my career I think the uh based on a lot of luck I took some uh uh chances at some other opportunities and they all worked out fine I had some great mentors throughout I mean I could I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for four or five guys that mentored me and brought me along like the like the Dale Dan and I picked up the phone called him he he brought took me to work and you know so I’ve been blessed to have uh people in my life really really helped me.

Anthony Codispoti: Well it’s nice to hear sort of the the positive memories that you have of these experiences but there were also challenging times right like you were talking about miserable two years that you spent at the one plant yeah certainly there were some times where you just kind of sold your job and you’re like man I you know this is a job I gotta do it you know I gotta make ends meet uh but you know we learned from those experiences sometimes as much or more than we learned from you know some of the positive role models and mentors that you had.

Kelly Walding: Exactly exactly I I you know the you know there there were nights that I sat down and just just didn’t know what I was gonna do to go on and stuff but as I look back they really built me and helped me deal with as and when I got to QPP I was ready for the challenges there and uh it really they may be stronger I mean it’s just a corny old saying but that there was it

Anthony Codispoti: did definitely get some thicker skin by going through them and you learn how to work through tough times and how to interact and deal with people through those difficult times so that when you did land at some really good future opportunities you were well seasoned and even better prepared to handle those right.

Kelly Walding: Absolutely absolutely and then you know and and the fact that people give me the mentors give me the opportunity I wanted to repay that so I I have several people that I’ve helped in the industry and come up through the world so I mean it’s a it’s a kind of a payback thing but uh you know everybody said man you worked in the industry all your life what you know what kind of career is that that’s it couldn’t have been better I mean I I just so happy that I stayed in industry and things worked out as they did.

Anthony Codispoti: Oh it’s great to hear that gratitude okay so before I interrupted you were starting to talk about the opportunity at the John Morrell company.

Kelly Walding: Yeah and I was a commercial pork manager there um I I stayed there for about two years um you know I learned so much about yields and meat costs and stuff like that of guy by the name of Doug Howell another one of my mentors he a brilliant man and he took me under his wing and him and I had many discussions arguments on on how to process a hog and you know it sounds like it might be an easy thing but it’s complicated when you look at values and things like that but anyway I got a great deal of knowledge of that um but be quite honest it it was kind of boring I just uh I wasn’t in actual operations where I was running things I was just uh doing meat cost tests and stuff like that and and you know it was a good job well long story short I had a gentleman from uh Des Moines Iowa Iowa packing company a guy by name Ed O’Hillski um come flying in he he had heard about me and uh uh through a mutual friend and we met for dinner one night and he was building a second plant he had one plant and right side by it he was building a retrofitting another plant plus he’s going to build an engine room for his refrigeration and he had heard I had some experience in that that’s that’s what I was saying earlier when I had the engineering courses and I love the idea of building a plant and building an engineer uh refrigeration uh uh room and so anyway I

Anthony Codispoti: accepted that you gotta do it from scratch like you you took all the things that you’d learned from all your different positions with these different companies along the way and now uh I know the right way to do it I can fix all these problems that we ran into before

Kelly Walding: right and then not only that Ed O’Hillski himself was a very brilliant man as far as coming to that stuff so I learned from him as well so I went there as vice president of operations and uh I uh and we we got the second plant built we run two plants we got the compressor and it was a boring sow kill plant so we only killed like 300 an hour and uh it was you know not not with the big boys but it’s just a small uh uh unique little ditch that we had in the industry and so I did that for uh nearly 10 years and Ed O’Hillski come like my uh my my second dad and we grew real tight um I just uh so so and there was a non-union um I was the safety guy there I was uh uh just uh part of HR and Jack of all trades and was small company like that and there I really got to understand that the employees were not employees they’re part of your family and we really um Ed O’Hillski was great on immigrants we’d bring him in we’d set up housing we would take care of him that way um he was uh Ed was obviously Polish and a lot of Polish immigrants and they are the best workers guys and they play hard and they work hard and there’s I can’t tell you the number of times I went down bail some out of jail and and you know got some housing for them and went and you know they always argued among themselves who worked harder and so I’d have to be referee so it was quite an experience but Ed O’Hillski expected you to work 12-14 hours a day that was a typical day so um so we worked six seven days a week worked hard and uh but it was a satisfying time uh and then I uh in uh 93 I got a call from a head hunter that uh asked if I’d like to go up to Quality Pork with a guy by the name of Richard Knight and uh be a general manager there and I’ll tell you the quick story on it is that I told him he said no I said I’m happy where I’m at I said but you know someday I might want to go south I don’t want I’m I’ve been from Minnesota I don’t want to go back north and he said okay and and uh so that was uh uh a Wednesday and I went home that night and my wife’s wife told me her grandma had passed and she lived up in uh right next to Austin where QPP is at and so the funeral was on that Friday so I called the head hunter back the next day and I said you know I said I’d like to meet Dick Knight I’ve heard about him in industry and I said I wouldn’t mind meeting have dinner with him I says I no guarantees I said but I’m gonna be up there anyway so um so we did and Dick Knight and I uh sat and uh had dinner and I bet you we sat for two hours and just seemed like a nice fit uh he liked he has had terrible work problems terrible safety issues I mean it was and when I I I back up a little bit up in Iowa park industries and dealing in Minnesota work comp was the son of a gun and they you know we were getting sued and it was just so I I dealt with all that and I got to learn a lot about work comp so anyway back to uh so and you know I kind of missed running a high-speed plant oh I had just my close buddies were uh captains in industry and they were you know slaughtering uh 10-12 ,000 hogs a day and though and they say why you got a butcher shop you’re running there so so I’m a little bit eagle there I wanted but but I I really Dick Knight and I really hit it off well and so uh I uh one of the hardest things I ever did in my life was turn my notice in the Ed O’Hillsky and uh so we both uh he offered a blank check for me to stay and everything and uh I said I’m I’m going to take this opportunity and as another one of the lucky breaks in life that I I’ve come this close to not going but because in fact we both sat down and had a little cry about it and and we moved on and so I went up to uh quality pork industries as a general manager

Anthony Codispoti: and real quick Kelly the thing that really drew you to this new opportunity at QPP was just sort of the size and scale of what they were doing

Kelly Walding: exactly it was to be a bigger player in the industry yeah and you know and uh you know I had a nice little niche down in Des Moines and we were going along just fine uh but it was you know I would go to the the the AMI in Chicago and meet all my friends that a lot of my friends that I’d come up with they’ve they grew in the industry too so they were vice presidents and they were uh movers and shakers as well so uh you know one time I think I knew about every plant manager in industry so uh it was a small family so so yeah I wanted to be a player in that and that’s one of the bigger reasons I went to uh quality pork processors

Anthony Codispoti: okay so you get there in 93 93 correct and so what was it like

Kelly Walding: it was uh the uh I’ve two my biggest thing was the work comp we spent uh the year before they spent uh nearly a million half in work comp uh claims uh the following year that I took over we got it down to 400,000 so but and I did that two ways and basically number one is to our my famous slogan uh it is still up on the wall this day if it’s not safe don’t do it and uh I uh I told all my supervisors anybody that gets reprimanded for refusing to do a job because it’s unsafe they’re going to be in trouble uh not the not the employee and but the the supervisor everybody got the message and and we really it uh you know I’ll just say one of my prouder accomplishment is our safety record at quality pork processors we uh we took it seriously our people took it seriously and we really and you know if somebody and I just work comp it’s it can be a game you got somebody that can come up with uh oh I got a sore back oh I got a sore arm and you know so okay we’ll we’ll accommodate you you play a game and yeah you recognize it for what it is and you just you work through it but at the same time you got somebody that cuts their finger off or somebody that has a fall and hurts herself you know you recognize that injury and you do everything you can to get him better to give him time off or whatever he needs because you know that employee needs help you know in like I say you gotta you gotta recognize that and uh so I and I and our employees got the message it took a couple years but they got the message that hey if I want to play games we’re gonna play games if I got an issue they’re gonna take care of me

Anthony Codispoti: so I want to better understand though some of the I don’t know the brass tacks of what you changed I mean to go from a million and a half in work comp to four hundred thousand dollars the next year that’s a significant reduction you don’t get there by just putting a slogan up on the wall if it’s not safe don’t do it what what were some more of the like practical things that had the change that you introduced

Kelly Walding: well the couple three things uh now you know the reason for that the big turnaround was the it was an easy target because when I went in there just settled a bunch of claims around the books and just settle them and pay it and you know the dick knight was they I’m not going to pay these guys one dime well you ain’t going to win that game and so we went in we settled so we wiped out a lot of claims there and then uh them and then you know the biggest thing is we we looked at work with cause of the accidents what was going on what we needed to do um and have everybody be part we we had a safety team that go around once a week and they would put down uh issues of safety and it’s just like I say it it just evolved but and then the big thing too is I also uh uh settled claims smartly um mr knight he’s the god rest his soul a wonderful man wonderful man but he would fight people they would take him to court he would he would somebody come in and said uh he’s hurt and and if I ain’t got any work for you send him home and uh and he just he got in the the biggest reason that it wasn’t that the safety record so much to the million half it was the fact that the lawsuit he was getting killed in him and he wasn’t handing him properly and so I changed lawyers and that’s

Anthony Codispoti: that’s where that was at from your past experiences you understood sort of the game that goes behind all this and and you said hey listen there’s a different way to approach this I know that we’re going to end up you know probably paying some folks that you know they’re sort of faking it or maybe this isn’t totally legit but this is going to be a much more efficient path forward for everybody

Kelly Walding: right yeah I wasn’t they when I first I my second weekend I told dick bring me all the work comp files because he was handling it I said bring me and my deck my desk was stacked up this high with these files and so so so the the turnaround is a little bit you know I I’m taking a lot of credit for something that really was just needed to be sorted out and then get them off the books so

Anthony Codispoti: but I know that safety is a huge priority for you oh absolutely even continuing today so talk talk more about that it wasn’t yes I understand sort of like administratively there were just you took a different approach to kind of cleaning these things up but then talk more about the how the safety component is such a big priority for you today

Kelly Walding: well it the the the real key to it is culture you have to establish a safety culture and you have to have people have to believe that you really do care for for their health and well-being and you know and they’re not and then I’m I’m just not trying to keep them safe so I save money at work comp I mean you know and I that’s as another thing is I by HR people as we went on I said now you know we want to reduce our work comp cost I said but that is not what drives safety I say we drive safety work comp costs will be uh is an offshoot of it so I say our priority is to be safe and take care of people and don’t worry about the work comp costs I said we we’ve got a program in place so but people got to understand that we are going to take care of them and people understand that you know we’re going to provide work for them the the biggest thing I did was somebody had a bad arm instead of sending them home until their arm got better I said okay we got one arm work for you come on over here and we’ll you know accommodate whatever hours you can and you know and that helped the person that wanted to work in that helped them but the person that wanted to go home realized you know no sense in mess around with it they’re making it work anyway I mean you know so like I say it’s game and ship in a way but like I say people ought to recognize what you’re doing and why you’re doing it and if you really really truly is for the for their safety and well-being people will respond

Anthony Codispoti: so talk us through how you got from sort of those beginning days to ownership opportunity

Kelly Walding: that’s kind of a funny story too but um a year after year after I was there in 94 um Ed O’Hillsky’s son Danny who was a vice president of sales Danny and I worked together I was uh anyway he come up and said Ed wanted to sell part of the company to him and I and uh and I would be president of the company and he made that proposal and you know and here again it was uh one of the tougher things I did a great opportunity to go back and own half of the company and da da da and uh Mr. Knight I told him I was talking to him and he said what can I do to I said no this is not a bidding war this is something I gotta decide what I want to do and and I this this is a I told the story a hundred times to my kids and everybody and I don’t know if anybody believes or not but I play golf and I went out and played 18 holes of golf uh and decided I’ve got to make a decision because I promised Ed I would do that and uh I got to the 18th hole and I said if I make par I stay if I bogey I go to Des Moines and I

Anthony Codispoti: birdied the hole so put it on your golf

Kelly Walding: show yep so so I stayed and uh and then I went in and I told Mr. Knight uh uh Dick um I said Dick I said I’m gonna I’m gonna stay here I said I like I like it here and I said we’re we’re just starting and we were just Dick give me pre-reign I mean he really did he just let me walk in and uh and I had made some management changes and I met some others I was just starting to build a team and I really wanted to see it through so um so I stayed and then Dick turned to me he said you know he said I’m I’m gonna start thinking about the discussion he said why don’t we figure out how to set you up as a partner and uh so about six months later 95 I become a a partner in the business and uh we worked through some things and in uh 97 Dick decided uh uh Dick lost a daughter and uh to cancer and uh it really took the wind out of his sails basically and Dick was he said you know I’m he Dick had he was a vice president with Swift he had plenty you know plenty of uh resources to retire on he said he basically I chip chair and chance I give him some things that we worked out through and I took ownership of the company until 2009 so

Anthony Codispoti: okay and um what is maybe the thing you’re most proud of that you put in place during that time

Kelly Walding: well it’s it’s going to be the safety program in our safety culture there and uh but the the other thing we when I first come we were struggling to kill 12,000 hogs a day and uh we and I told the Hormel company who we supplied material to I said I know you guys invest X dollars I said I’ll guarantee you we’ll go to 16 and uh and the I had a uh he turned out to be one of my best friends but uh uh he was a vice president over at Hormel he said okay and he got that through and they uh and we we made our number to 16 run as smooth as heck and a few years later I said let’s uh you do this and we’ll go to 20,000 and we did and we’re capable of killing 22,000 right now they the market share they want us the sales department feels comfortable at 19 six and that’s what we’ve processed the day so but uh but we we could kill 20,000 easily and 22 is a stretch but it can be done so

Anthony Codispoti: okay so I’m an outsider to the industry I love pork products I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes kind of walk us through it you guys are buying hogs from farms that are raising them they come to you live and the the slaughter and everything all the processing takes place there at your location that’s correctly we

Kelly Walding: actually Hormel has they buy the hogs the and they deliver it to the to the livestock and at that at that point we take possession of them and we process the hogs we through the slaughter floor and we they then go into a cooler where they’re chilled overnight down to 40 degrees and then the next day they are uh uh cut into primal cuts, loins, bellies, ribs, all various parts of the hog and what we’ll do there if it’s fresh pork we will put it in a Hormel box and ship it and ship it to their dock and they’ll take it right to the customer if it’s processed like they got to take a belly and and smoke it for bacon they do sausage, do spam those type things we’ll ship the raw material across the wall to them and to their plant and they’ll And then they’ll take it on for further processing across the wall.

Anthony Codispoti: So they’re right next door.

Kelly Walding: They’re right next door to your plant Yep. Okay. See I don’t know if you want the quick history on that is Hormel built this beautiful slaughter floor processing floor in 1985 two years later they went on a major strike and it’s it’s it’s well chronicled in history, but anyway They settled a strike finally they got And they decided not to open up their slaughter floor again. They shut it down and just a processing site.

Well Dick another fellow with Hormel knew Dick Knight very well and they got together and decided to lease the facility to him and he could put together a labor crew and a team and they would run it and Sell the material back to Hormel. So that’s how that come into being Okay Talk to me about spam.

Anthony Codispoti: I see you’ve got the hat on We were joking a little bit before we went live that that word means something different to some folks Especially younger folks who think it’s junk mail, but tell us tell us about the spam product

Kelly Walding: Well, it’s actually it’s a shoulder shoulder ham is what the raw material that goes into it was now They’ve taken out their other trimmings in it, but they’re all lean cuts. They’re all quality cuts You know people think oh, it’s all the all-pulter head meat and all that stuff that they throw into it Oh, no, it’s it’s quality cut meat. It’s a very I mean their reputation is on spam and they go to to great length to To keep the quality levels, I mean we have to deliver the meat at a certain temperature we have to Deliver that certain lean requirements. I mean there’s several Quality issues that we have to meet in order for them to accept the problem or accept the product If the if it’s not at that quality level, they’re rejected and they’ll claim us for it. So So they’re they’re very strict on that.

I would you know, they’re strict. They have good quality requirements for all the product I believe me I I’m not saying this for self-satisfying, but it’s Hormel company It’s probably one of the top quality companies that in the meat industry that there is I in and you can ask many people in the industry That I think they’ll echo the same but but they but spam is There it’s it’s their top deal. They they they know that their reputation would live and die on spam

Anthony Codispoti: It’s a good quality product or good quality meats that go into it It’s shelf-stable, which I think is probably a big part of the appeal especially in some of the locations where it’s popular Right.

Kelly Walding: It’s you know in Guam is the highest per capita Consumer consumption of spam Hawaii is right behind it Philippines all that whole Asian area is a big on spam and in in England we have Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota has a letter from Dwight ice hour thanking Hormel for helping send Spam over to England to help people survive through the through the blackouts and everything That’s cool.

Anthony Codispoti: You’ve talked about how Hormel Probably has the highest quality standards in the industry which obviously Being a major supplier for them you guys have to make sure that your quality standards match or exceed theirs Talk to me more about the importance of quality there at QPP

Kelly Walding: Yeah, it you know, and that’s that’s another thing that was you know as I said when I first come at we were making Struggling to make 12,000 process 12,000 hog today We were also struggling to maintain a reputation in the community and with Hormel as far as you know if there’s something went wrong it was QPP’s fault and We weren’t doing the quality standards and and You know what personally I did was replace the QC manager when I come aboard and then we made some some changes When when I first come there it was Hormel’s quality people and our quality people you know it was like this You know and it was never good enough and they were they were too tough. I mean this is and so So in that that took not months but years to to try to you know get that coordinate because you know the The the Austin guy over the if you weren’t making his yields in his plant it was because the quality of the the raw material was Not satisfactory. So so we had to fight that a little bit and we so what we did is just do good record keeping We did good quality checks and if we had we had a conflict with our customers for over the quality We we showed them what we demonstrated our QC checks We demonstrated what their checks were so I mean it’s hard to explain the whole process but the Call a hormone have a high quality standards force us to do the same and force us to try to figure out how we can How we can deliver that on a consistent

Anthony Codispoti: basis can be good partners with each other exactly and improve that communication So that they understand that hey here are the things that we’ve been doing And did we miss anything? No, okay, then you know, let’s revisit the process and and so you can kind of work collaborative Right.

Kelly Walding: Yeah, so it is a battle and you know and I would segue into another little part that I like to mention is when we come there and it is this one like I said, I put together a good management team and But the Austin community if there we had a lot of immigrants a lot of Hispanics and everything and if there was something wrong in town Well as the QPP people and that was their mindset there and so we had to change that and and I we have I mean they We were the large our Planet were the largest giver to United Way our employees We beat the Hormel plant and and I can we set up daycare centers and So we did a lot of stuff that the community started to realize hey This is a good company. They have good people and that that was a turnaround So but that took that took some years to so but

Anthony Codispoti: so the daycare centers that you set up Was that specifically for employees or was that for the community at large?

Kelly Walding: No for for employees?

Anthony Codispoti: Okay And I I know that there was another initiative that you’re really proud of where you offer Free primary care on site to your place is that right?

Kelly Walding: Yep? Yeah, we were the the first in his industry to do that We it’s it You know it made a lot of sense and we’re it’s I’m pretty proud of that too But we were leaders in that and it’s worked out.

Well and continues to work out well and our people get some you know the benefit by it is the the our Their employees get good care and they come to work and and they’re appreciative of it and so

Anthony Codispoti: Is that just for the employees does it extend to family to family to okay? Mm-hmm, and when did you initiate that? Oh?

Kelly Walding: boy It’s been a while, huh? Been a while. Oh, I’m gonna guess 15 2015 I really Had me the last track so

Anthony Codispoti: yeah, that’s great Kelly I know that you place a strong emphasis on Both operational improvements and it kind of goes hand-in-hand with you know automation Can you maybe talk through a specific? Innovation that you introduced and how it impacted daily operations Hmm

Kelly Walding: Well, I really You know I think Some of the things we I can tell you the biggest thing that we did the biggest influence We’ve had an industry from automation or from a efficiency standpoint is I I We they had a hemp program That come out the government did and a hemp program is where you kind of do they the traditional slaughter floor has I think two Four five I think six USDA inspectors online and What we did is streamline they they offered us to To be a pilot to be streamlined or inspection process where we trained our own people to go online with like one or two inspectors oversight and From that we were able to take our line speed up from 1100 an hour to 1325 an hour and I was the a lot of the industry Just stayed away they didn’t want to take any chance on it because you know Hey, so something gets through and our inspectors don’t catch it and it gets to the consumer Then they’re gonna blame us and that we were trying to get by government inspection and that type of Scenario, but we we put our own people in we did I hired two veterinarians did extensive training And they do a better job than it than the government did it quite honestly, but anyway it allowed us to ramp up our speeds we we got the program through and That’s 2000 it started in the year 2000 is when we first and we were the first plant to do it. I made several trips to Washington and a lot of the criteria that is in the program right now is what we put in and it’s And right now it’s under scrutiny the About two years ago the Union say hey, they can’t go that high of speeds. It’s dotted on so the USDA stepped in and now they’re doing a big study We’re leading that study we had them in and they had a team from California come in and look at the ergonomic side of it And and so that’s that’s an ongoing thing right now.

So the they haven’t The hemp program has not been through the final rule stage yet for 25 years It’s been going on but that’s a government program. So but why is it called him? I knew you say that and I meant to write it’s an acronym.

Anthony Codispoti: Yeah, you have to do with

Kelly Walding: the Yeah, it’s it’s it’s it’s a you look it up. It’ll tell you but it’s an acronym.

Anthony Codispoti: Yes Okay, and then I believe it was 2009 Kelly that you transitioned into a different kind of role with QPP

Kelly Walding: well Not really I took on some three other partners And my vice president of finance Him and I we were We’re still best of friends and I just wanted to have him have part of the the action and then our plant manager and and our QC kid that I brought along that was the right age to be poised for to take that at some point So I brought him on board here again. It was just is you know, I Wanted them to stay as long as as I stay and I wanted to encourage him and and it was a team building thing And so, you know, I saw I brought him as his partner and it was a great move and I It worked it worked out well

Anthony Codispoti: And so at what point did you kind of transition from being day-to-day president to now your role as senior advisor?

Kelly Walding: well, I I Step down as president. I think in 19. I think it was and but I was still chairman Oh, I don’t we give ourselves titles, but I was still the boss But I stepped down as president and I still I Cut back a little bit on work, but I was still pretty full-time and right up to this last July and I decided I had a good discussion with The the president then and you know, I said, you know, I’m gonna be around if we have issues and stuff I’ll be around to help Problem-solve and things like that. I said, but you know, I just don’t Feel right to sit back and be the owner and and not having the input So I said, oh, I see let’s and I and I should back up a little bit the president He actually was saying, you know, I’d sure like to be on The owner some days it’s a good to happen.

He’s you’re getting a little impatient, but anyway I thought it was a good time. So I this last July I stepped back from that and we’re still transitioning how my role in it and How how it’s all gonna work? They we have some bargaining Union contrast come I’m a pretty good bargainer. So I’ll probably be involved with that and I don’t know we’ll see how We’ll see how it works Okay

Anthony Codispoti: What do you think the future looks like for QPP?

Kelly Walding: Oh, I think it’s very good. I mean Hormel has They used to have a slaughter plant in Fremont that they No longer have they they oh god, I’m not gonna think of the name now But they’re the company that bought it. They had a contract with Hormel to supply raw material.

Oh, that’s not going very well Yeah, I don’t know how it’s going. I should but anyway, we were getting the bulk of that the Raw material to supply so we’re the biggest source that Hormel has got for raw material for pork So I think that’s gonna be a Forever thing because Hormel is a very large company and they need pork products are one of their their main main roles So so I think from that standpoint and I think our management team Is strong? I hope you know, I hope that the president continues to we got you got to look at Succession and all that but in our labor force. We have a great labor force. We have our management team Very little the only turnover we have any it really is retirement. So I mean we have a strong management team in We were there who are very Well respected in the community now I everything everything is good. I don’t have any, you know or You got to deal with the unions and the government and we have a good relationship with both so

Anthony Codispoti: It sounds like you guys are able to process just a tremendous amount Pork there. Has there ever been any consideration to either expand the current facility footprint or to look at Opening up another facility an additional one.

Kelly Walding: Well, actually we have okay and back in 2005 We have another plant in the elderly Minnesota’s 20 miles away that I Talked Hormel into they wanted to expand and anyway I won’t go in the long story there, but we got some government programs. We built the plant there and there we We do custom packaging we do Boning we make special cuts and we employ about 500 people there So and now Nate Nate that do prep the president not the new but the president He was we just had a discussion and quite honestly I kind of Oh 2015 I kind of turned that over to Nate and said okay you run this part of the business I wanted to see kind of look how he how he rolled so I Didn’t pay a lot of attention to select foods. I went over there quite often but anyway long story short is that Nate tells me now their their capacity is there or they’re Pushing to they want to build on or he really wants a new location or another location So he’s discussing that with Hormel from wherever that goes. He’ll take that. I’m not that’s not my bailiwick Fun stuff Kelly.

Anthony Codispoti: I’d like to hear about a serious challenge that you’ve experienced in life either Personal professional maybe a combination of the two how you got through that and some lessons that you learned going

Kelly Walding: Well, I got it I Got a great great one 2009 Our nursing staff We had employees Come up to the nurses And that’s another thing about our safety program our nurses were there for the employees. They didn’t I mean they just They took care of the employees so anyway our employees were coming up and they’re complaining about their legs pain being heavy in the legs and So and and these symptoms they seem to be running through the plant or you know, several people were coming up and and the nurse said there’s something going on here and come to me and I Said well I says We called the our local clinic and a doctor I respect dr. Johnson and kind of explained things to him and He really didn’t have any good answers and so he suggested we call the Department of Health and so and Everybody oh god. We can’t bring in Department of Health and you’re gonna be able and I say yeah, we are and so we did we brought in the Department of Health and They they come in with a team they went through everything we couldn’t figure out what was going on and so We I’m trying to think of the the sequence of events but Anyway, we They they wanted to take everybody’s blood test and test their blood and and do all that and Then there was one particular area the headbench area was where it seemed that most of the bulk of employees were coming from that had had these symptoms and so We and so before we brought the Department of Health in I Said we’re gonna have employee meetings and we’re gonna be there employee in a plant tell them what’s going on So we did every lunch break in every department. I got up and said hey for something going on We don’t know what but the health department is coming in and they’re gonna do some research we’re gonna find out what it is and we’re gonna keep you people informed and and we did that and then I Health department come in as they’re doing blood checks and Then So then I got up and I saw well the scenes like the area is a headbench Is most problems that we still don’t know the cause is but we’re researching it and we’re gonna come up with what’s going on and but anyway and headbench if you don’t want to work there, you know, we’ll find some place for you and You know and This was at the peak when they had people there and I told Turn to my people or my managers. I said, you know, I said, I’ll be surprised anybody shows up work tomorrow I said why in the hell would somebody come in when there’s some more series disease going on and why would they work here? And I says but I says, you know, I said we got to be as honest we can and I said this turns out to be some Some are false or something we got to say hey, this is what we did and so so But my proudest time the next day there was not one person that did come to work in that headbench not one and I was pretty proud so Take the story on they they come up with a fact we This is gonna be hard to hear but we we blew brains It was we saved brains in order to save brains You put an air hose up the cavity back of the head of the hog and blew it and the brain matter would come out and Brains and eggs are of The eat that in a cell so but anyway, they they really believe this the they it’s called Progressive inflammatory neuropathy syndrome Pins was the name the doctor from Rochester that this is a funny side note the doctor from Rochester Lost something but and this Department of Health were fighting over who gets the name the disease and it’s written up in the The New England Journal of Medicine So but anyway, they said they said they think that aerosol Brain matters what’s causing it it gets in into the nervous system and da da da and I said okay I said that’s the last time We ever blew brains in quality pork and will be never happened again. So we shut that down Things seem to resolve themselves. I mean it took months Those symptoms went away for symptoms went away.

We had one person that had impacted their kidneys and had had some So continuing side effects, but most other people recovered Some just you know here again. We went to work comp. We did settlements. We give them a Fair settlement and they moved on and some people stayed with us and we we worked through it and so but the fact that we had Over a thousand people having blood checks telling we got a mysterious disease going on and Nobody quit and I just I and I think that’s what I Because we’re all family and we treated them we told them right up front right away was going on We didn’t try to hide anything there wasn’t you know nothing that could bubble up that say oh god They didn’t tell you this so we told them everything and you know, that’s that’s how you do is hit it head on

Anthony Codispoti: I’m gonna say you can’t control when a crisis is gonna hit right there’s so many variables so many unknowns But once it’s there once once you’ve got a situation How you respond to it speaks volumes to everybody around you about your character your employees your managers your suppliers your customers everybody hears about how this played out and I mean, there’s some people who probably would have kind of stuck their head in the sense You know don’t don’t tell anybody don’t tell anybody until we know what this is we can get our arms around it We can control the narrative you were like no no no We got to be honest with people we don’t know what this is yet. We have to tell them what we know So that they can make their own choices as we’re working through this and I think that’s tremendous.

Kelly Walding: I was on CNN Is that right? Yeah? A great story or that just the nurse that actually Herner nurses Carol Bauer and her nurses, you know, they’re the ones that’s brought it to our attention and so the nurse the CNN come to town and want to interview and Carol was sitting right beside me and they were asking questions They’re asking people.

Hey your employees and in this net and they’d ask her some medical questions Well, we got when we watch CNN just showed me And but the nurse or the real hero the story I felt so but

Anthony Codispoti: Well, they can edit the way they want, huh? So you’re not retired Kelly You’re still around you’re still working through the transition But as that transition sort of progresses and you back away increasingly from the day to day How do you want to spend your free time?

Kelly Walding: Well Travel I love to travel, you know, and I’m currently in Florida. So I spent no winners in Florida here I Used to fly back at least a week or two every month, but I don’t anymore now. I stayed down here I’ll get on some zoom calls and stuff like that.

But basically I’m Transitioning down here. I play I love to play golf. I play pickleball But I want to travel I travel a fair amount, but I I do want to do that and you know, I I’ve Got some buddies that asked me about maybe, you know Working with them a little bit in this tree. I kind of I’ve shied away from it because I Will lead you to Hormel and stuff. I don’t want to you know, get into any Company secrets or anything like that. So I you know, I probably will stay away from from doing that I I’ve had some opportunities to do that. But I I’m 72 years old. So why not just sit back and travel and play golf and and have a good time So what’s top of the bucket list?

Anthony Codispoti: What’s the place that you’re most excited to travel to?

Kelly Walding: Well, I want to go to Vietnam for one and I want to go to Australia and I want

Anthony Codispoti: Okay, there we go Yeah, we’re so good targets to that Well Kelly, I’ve just got one more question for you But before I ask it, I want to do two things first of all for everybody listening today I know that you love today’s content because Kelly has been a great cast So please hit the like share or subscribe button on your favorite podcast app Kelly also want to let people know the best way to get in touch with you. What would that be?

Kelly Walding: Oh My my email I guess so It’s K. Wadding that quality pork processors Dot net there you go.

Anthony Codispoti: So last question I have for you Kelly is you know, you’ve got Wow, such a rich history in this industry. You’ve seen a lot of things You’ve seen the progression of how this industry has evolved you’ve been at the forefront of a lot of the changes That have taken place. What do you see? Maybe are some of the big changes that are still coming in the next couple of years?

Kelly Walding: Well, I think you know, it’s it’s the It’s the big companies on you know, you have us you have Smithfield now That’s their own by the Chinese now Chinese are gonna go public with them and whether they expand or not Tyson Tyson has had some real issues and really The direction of these of the JBS is in the Tyson’s and Smithfield where they take the industry is Gonna be interesting I I Not I’m not sure You know that the the Automation the the industry is catching up with automation. It’s been behind for years, but it’s catching up now So automation is gonna allow I mean it’s gonna change the whole complex of what the Processing how you process a hog period so and so it’s It’s pretty interesting. I just don’t know if that’s gonna consolidate the plants if they’re gonna go specialize it in especially as plants or You know how how it’s gonna go But that’s there’s gonna be a lot of changes coming in and the the big the big guys are gonna dictate that

Anthony Codispoti: The big companies they have the resources They’re gonna kind of set the pace for what’s happening with some of the new robotic automations that you guys You said the industry is kind of lagged in but now it’s starting to catch up Right and then there’s some

Kelly Walding: there’s some real room for some Automation in like say the I think I feel the industry’s been slow to go to that and Now that it’s coming to them. I think you’re gonna see there. They jump in there with both feet

Anthony Codispoti: They’re probably gonna help a great deal with safety.

Kelly Walding: I would guess to absolutely absolutely I think you know, and then I as I say I I think We were leaders a long time ago when it comes to safety and doing a safety culture and stuff But the industry’s got it they understand that and I don’t I don’t think we’re unique anymore In our safety culture and what we do and what we practice. I think you know and I’ll be a little jaded and say the industry understands it that if you’re not safe it costs you money too, so So

Anthony Codispoti: well, hey if you can do the right thing and have it help the bottom line at the same time Then it just kind of helps move things along even faster.

Kelly Walding: So win-win, so yeah, absolutely Well Kelly, I want to be the first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today I really appreciate it.

Kelly Walding: Thank you.

Anthony Codispoti: I enjoyed joy talking Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspire Stories podcast. Thanks for learning