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Summary

A driven National Milk Hauling Manager with extensive job experience and educational background.  It is with high confidence and excitement that I'm  pursuing this opportunity to be hired and professionally fulfill the job responsibilities of the National Dairy Pool Operations Manager position. 

Work experience

National Hauling Manager

Jan 2014Present
CROPP Cooperative, La Farge, WI

Management of a twenty-five million dollar hauling budget and relationships with forty contract milk haulers. Supervision and coaching of two Hauling Coordinators and one Logistics Coordinator with responsibility of structuring, optimizing milk routes, and daily contact with milk haulers.  

Hauling & Quality Manager

May 2000Jan 2014
CROPP Cooperative, La Farge WI

Hired in 2000 by the Production Department to coordinate all milk route structure and management of hauler relations across the United States. Other responsibilities included scheduling milk routes into plants in our newly East Coast region including routes in ME, VT, NY and PA.

In 2002, I was moved into the Dairy Pool Department and my job developed into two basic areas of both farm hauling and farm quality. I continued coordinating all milk routes across the United States. Additionally, I  arranged quality testing at labs, advised dairy farms on milk quality, entered farmer quality data , entered hauling cost data and communicated with milk handlers' field staff across the country. In the years to 2014, we built the Hauling and Quality Department by hiring Hauling Coordinators, Quality Coordinators, and Administration Staff for processing quality data and hauler invoices. By 2014, I was managing, and coaching six employees.

Lab Technician

Apr 1997May 2000
Milk Specialties, Boscobel WI

Formulated ingredient usage in calf milk replacer and other bagged livestock feed. Lab duties included bacteria plating, petri-film testing, and Mojonnier fat assays on finished product. Nutrient and physical properties testing of ingredients were performed.

Milk Hauling Driver

Apr 1992Apr 1997
Setterlund, Martin and Kinch, Avoca WI

During this period of time, I was an "at home father" while working as a part-time Milk Hauling Driver on weekends. The last years from 95 to 97 I worked full time as a Milk Hauling Driver.

Membership Services Specialist

Jan 1989Apr 1992
Foremost Farms, Baraboo WI

After graduating from college. I was hired by this milk handler to troubleshoot quality issues on member farms, prepare dairy farms for regulatory inspections and procure nonmember dairy farms to ship milk to the cooperative.











Herd Manager

May 1981Sep 1984
Kretchmer Dairy Farm

Managed family's 200 cow dairy operation and became experienced in all phases of dairy herd management, including: operation of milking equipment,  mastitis control and other herd health issues, ration balancing and breeding. 



Qualifications

  • Great understanding of CROPP principles and mission
  • Excellent communications skills in dealing with hauling relationships, milk quality relationships and milk handler field staff relations. 
  • Over 10 years experience managing both the Milk Hauling and Farm Quality Departments at CROPP    
  • Experienced in supervising up to six people while managing the Hauling and Quality Departments
  • Accomplished in problem solving in situations involving hauling issues and farmer quality issues
  • Extensive knowledge of hauling routes structure and current plant locations   
  • In depth knowledge of quality testing relationships with labs (I negotiated most of them)
  • Extensive knowledge of federal and state regulatory rules
  • Successfully applied continuous improvements protocols to Hauling and Quality departments
  • Effectively collaborate with Production, Regional Pool Managers, Quality, and Accounting Departments at CROPP
  • Accomplished in the use of Outlook, Word, Excel, Access and Power Point
  • Great understanding of CROPP milk handling relationships
  • Experienced in the operation of dairy plants

Education

Bachelor of Science, Dairy Manufacturing

19841989
South Dakota State University

Major Coursework included:

  • Dairy Microbiology
  • Food Microbiology
  • Dairy Chemistry
  • Formulating Ingredients for Finished Product Batches
  • Raw milk and Dairy Product Testing 
  • Dairy Product Processing
  • Dairy Farm Management

Dairy Products Processing Training at South Dakota
State University Dairy Plant included:

  • Operating pasteurization and separator equipment
  • Operating cheese, butter, ice cream and fluid milk processing equipment
  • Cleaning and sanitation of equipment 

Internship

  • Four month processing plant internship at Jackson Ice Cream plant, Denver CO 

Major Achievments



2000-2005 Quality and Hauling Manager

Department directed 

  1.  Implemented farmer PI program and worked through struggles in test results and provided advice to farmers on this new quality test.
  2.  Implemented changes in quality premium structures related to Standard Plate Count, PI Count, Somatic Cell Count.
  3.  Implemented Work Improvement Program for farmer quality and independently created the framework, tracking, and  reporting still operating today.

Self directed

  1. Created and implemented a hauling cost database. Prior to my employment hauling invoices were signed by production staff with little or no verification mechanism. After self appointed project was complete the department had ability to store costs. on individual load basis giving the department ability to forecast hauling costs in future years on on going basis.  
  2. Created reports on needed basis for farm quality evaluation. 

2006-2014 Quality and Hauling Manager

Department directed 

  1. Initiated Lab Pasteurized Count farm testing and collaborated with labs starting this testing program.
  2. Worked with milk handlers and field reps in responsibilities associated with trouble shooting quality issues with PI and LPC   
  3. Worked with staff vets to organize Johnes and BLV testing program.
  4. Worked on software project to optimize milk routes using mapping software.

 Self directed


  1. Made available many trouble shooting guides for milk quality.
  2. Worked with milk handlers and field reps to advise in trouble shooting quality issues with PI and LPC.
  3. I recommended and finished a project working with a consultant group Dairy.com to analyze hauling costs in our Midwest region. The consultant group concluded we were not significantly over paying or underpaying our Midwest independent contract milk haulers.

2014-2016 National Hauling Manager

Department directed

  1. Provided advice to task force to bring over pickup cost only to the farmer side of business. Delivery costs going forward will be on transportation side of business. 
  2. Participated in Midwest task force advising for best location for processing investment
  3. Involved with the project to decide to  install Raw Milk Chiller at Millersburg, OH transfer station
  4. Participated in Mideast task force advising best locations for silos and reloads to optimizing full loads leaving for East Coast or Midwest milk regions. 

Self directed

  1. Upon my recommendations we hired a GIS specialist to further our technical capabilities to make it possible for creation of hauling metric measurements, easier optimization of routing and better hauling cost reporting. This was a replacement position for the former East Hauling Coordinator.  I'm managing the department and performing daily duties of the Hauling Coordinator for Northeast hauling regions to make room for this technology to help the department.
  2. Created a reporting mechanism for establishing hauling regions. This enables the department to project volume in every major hauling region looking forward at a 3 year glance. The structure uses our current farm milk projections and triggered and confirmed farms in a database. 






References

Jim Wedeburg

Dairy Pool Director

Jeff Kragt

Senior Director of Production

Jill Stefonek

Budget, Forecasting and Costing Director

Larry Hanson

West and Mountain Regions Pool Manager