The Relationship Triangle: How Relationships within the Food Processing Facility Find Success

Gina M. Cullerton, Fsqa Manager, Clemens Food Group

It has long been an understanding of mine that the foundation of a great team dynamic is in the way leadership approaches the relationship dynamic. In my mind, there are traditionally three sides that make up this triangle. These sides are Operations, Maintenance, and Food Safety. Sure, there are other components within the triangle; however, looking at it from a big picture is how I have always thought about it in my mind.

Triangles come in different arrays due to the nature of the geometric pattern. In a perfect world, each side would be equally the same, but in most cases, this is not the reality. Each side pushes or pulls to make their angle creatively work without breaking the form. If the form were to break, then the triangle would no longer be viable, and the relationships would be in a state of malfunction. This relationship is a symbiotic coexistence that has to be nurtured in order to be successful and can’t exist without each one’s particular contributions. In the most stable of circumstances, teams that are capable of showing the ability to be fluid tend to find the most success.

This is a rather simplistic way of looking at the dynamic of the team at a processing facility, but breaking down even further is the way each team works to overall contribute to the bigger picture. Each team must contain respect, subject matter expertise, listening to understand, and critical thinking skills to be effective. The teams should not presume that they know more about how that piece of the triangle works but a willingness to understand how and what contributions each team brings. The expectations of each team should also be explained in such a manner that the overall goal is met, which is superior products that meet or exceed food safety and quality expectations of both the customer and consumer.

“There will always be some risk associated with leadership decisions, and sometimes, I believe that fear of not knowing all the possible outcomes causes leadership to fail to make a decision”

So you ask how is this very lofty but simplistic goal achieved? It is a conundrum that eludes some teams as they can’t seem to understand the purpose or goals of each of the team components. For instance, maintenance has to be able to perform preventative maintenance on equipment. Operations and scheduling have to provide the line time in order for the preventive maintenance to be completed. Food Safety needs to verify that once the preventive maintenance is completed, sanitation is able to clean, and maintenance has the equipment back together for the next production day. Now, looking at each piece separately, it seems like an easy task to accomplish, correct? What happens if operations isn’t able to give the line time to maintenance? If proper preventative maintenance is not performed, then it is likely the equipment will have a malfunction or failure at some point, therefore possibly providing a foreign material opportunity. Operations will likely take a hit for downtime as well as the possible product loss from the potential foreign material opportunity. This is just one example of how this could easily fall apart and snowball back into itself.

This can also be achieved in the mindset of the leadership of those teams. Communication and support of the teams. For me, it has always been that food safety is my number one priority. Once I have ensured that there is no food safety risk or concern, I systematically look at the information at hand to make the best possible decision I can make that will support our overall goals. There will always be some risk associated with leadership decisions, and sometimes, I believe that fear of not knowing all the possible outcomes causes leadership to fail to make a decision. This is what several colleagues of mine like to refer to as decision paralysis. This could also lead to the degradation of the triangle over time as the confidence in the team’s decision-making skills is questioned.

My mantra is always to produce food-safe, quality products that meet or exceed customer and consumer expectations. This has led to the team understanding what my thought process is and approach. Because when the orchestra is conducted correctly with precision, the triangle can be heard loud and clear.