Sustainability

At Butterball/Exceldor we are committed to environmental stewardship and social responsibility in all facets of our business. The food business is entirely dependent on the availability of natural resources and we are committed to doing our part to address the challenges of climate change and  energy and water conservation.

We have established a comprehensive framework to support our evolution towards becoming a sustainable organization, which will allow us to leverage the skills, creativity and energy of our employees and other stakeholders. The development of a comprehensive strategy with priorities, targets and supporting programs is ongoing and the focus will be on Continuous Improvement (CI) in all aspects of our business.

Our management philosophy supports an interconnection between all three dimensions of sustainability: Social, Environmental and Economic. This can be summed up as delivering sustainable profits for our  stakeholders  while making responsible choices for the environment and society.

To achieve this, we use a five-pillar framework to prioritize and categorize our sustainability efforts. The pillars are: Employee Success, Partner Relationships, Community Strength, Environmental Stewardship and Sustainable Profit.

 

EMPLOYEE SUCCESS

Creating long-lasting careers for our employees:
We believe the success of our company is based on the dedication, commitment and strengths of our people. We aim to be the employer of choice for all of our employees, which is why we are thoroughly invested in training and promoting from within, dedicated to promoting health and safety in all of our locations and committed to diversity and being an equal opportunity employer for all. We believe that the success of our company is based first and foremost on the strengths of our people.

We will  invest in  training programs to develop the skills of our team members. Training is ongoing and is continually adapted to the evolving needs of the Company and our people. We want to develop leaders from within the Organization and create long term, fulfilling careers. We also believe it is key to create a corporate culture and framework that encourages engagement where everyone can openly contribute ideas and look for ways to continuously improve all areas of our operations.

Partner Relationships:
We believe in working in partnership with our customers, growers, suppliers and other stakeholders and recognize that they are an integral part of our sustainability efforts. Sustainability requires a permanent and evolving effort and cannot be achieved without mutually successful and long lasting relationships with stakeholder partners.

In today’s reality of fluctuating commodity prices,  increasing reliance on suppliers for cost savings, product innovation ideas and supply availability, we understands that building long term relationships is just as important with our suppliers as it is with our customers.

We believe that moving beyond traditional “supplier relationship management” to become the Customer of Choice is not only the right thing to do, we believe it is the smart thing to do. The value of this comes in many forms, such as successful programs to leverage supplier cost improvements, avoiding supply disruptions and getting first access to breakthrough product or service innovations that will ultimately benefit our customers and other stakeholders.

Community Strength:
We are committed to contributing to the improvement of  the communities that we operate in. We promote sustainable agricultural and commercial practices and  participate in philanthropic initiatives. We believe that to achieve this, the most effective approach is to work in partnership with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to leverage our combined resources.  We are  focused on opportunities to promote nutrition for children and our consumers.

Environmental Stewardship:
Environmental stewardship means first understanding the impact of our actions on the health of the environment and continually working to reduce these impacts. We believe that the success of our organization is directly linked to the health of the planet and its resources. Our approach is to engage all of our employees in this effort and create  a culture where every single one of our employees is committed to continuously finding innovative ways to positively contribute to the environment. Arming our employees with Lean Manufacturing processes, tools, techniques and thinking is one way we are creating this culture. Lean Manufacturing principles are most often applied to improve products, services or processes, but we are using this proven thinking to drive environmental stewardship throughout the organization.

The focus is to eliminate waste in all its forms. We believe this is the most effective way to reduce our environmental impact.

Sustainable Profit:
It is our vision to be the recognized  leader in the Canadian  turkey industry. We believe that by doing what is right for our people, planet, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders, superior returns will be generated for all of our shareholders. Our commitment to  Continuous Improvement will not only reduce our environmental impact but also reduce costs and improve profits.