See inside the Evesham Dawn Foods factory

Me & My Team

02-Aug-2023 - Last updated on 02-Aug-2023 at 09:15 GMT

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Site address​ - Dawn Foods, Worcester Rd, Evesham

Number of employees​ – 180: 85 FTE direct, 20 FTE indirect

Size of the site​ - 18,000 m2​

Number and types of lines​ – Dry 4, Frozen 2 and Frostings/icings 1

Types of products the site produces​ – Dry premixes, frozen muffins and frostings

Shift pattern​ – 5 x 3

The 18,000m2​ site in Worcestershire produces dry premixes, frozen muffins and frostings. Inside there are four dry lines, two frozen and one frosting and icing line.

The equipment is all fairly new, around three years old, with the exception of a brand new packing line which saw a significant recent investment.

The site is also home to 'Dave' – the robot arm. Dave helps the team by patting the packs, for example of flour, to settle the powder. He then takes these heavy bags and lays them onto the line so they can pass through a metal detector and then stacks them onto the pallet. Sensors tell Dave when packs are ready and indicate when pallets are full, so he can fetch a new one.

Of course, the factory also has some human workers! Employing 180 people, 85 full-time equivalent (FTE) direct and 20 FTE indirect.

On site, there are two one tonne mixers, one for vanilla and two for chocolate. The system is driven with a recipe number, which a team member (known as the mixer) will follow. There are two people on the mixer whilst it works, with one weighing smaller ingredients and another on the ‘bag dump’ for ‘intermediates’ – bags which are heavier. This person will inform the system of the weight of the material being added in. They’re then lifted and poured into the mixer by a mechanism on the machine.

Once the mix is done, the workers will peer down a hole in the floor to check that the bins below (which catch the mixed ingredients) are lined up. If they are, the ingredients will be sent shooting down into them.

The numbers on the bins are in accordance with a production plan and include details such as the batch code and how many bags are made. These will be added manually by the team members below. Two samples are taken from every mix, with one used to test the product and make sure it’s going to perform and the other retained in case of any issues later down the line.

When the bin travels to the packing line, the next person can use the information attached to it, entering it into the system for traceability. The factory is currently 90% paperless.

To tell us more about Dawn, we met with four team members, assistant team leader, Anna Danielek; plant manager, Kevin Power; Vikki Matthews, production manager; and morning shift team leader, Michal Zejmo.

Zejmo has been working for the company for 19 years. His day starts at 5:30am for setup, with the official shift beginning at 6am. It’s not called Dawn for nothing!

Commenting on how he motivates his teams, Zejmo said it’s about treating people with respect and supporting them.

Danielek has been working at Dawn for almost as long as Zejmo and helps the team leader with daily tasks such as shipments, ensuring all the ingredients are ready for delivery.

When asked about her experience at Dawn, she said: “I do really enjoy working here, I like the place – I’ve been here for 16 years, it says it all.”​

Matthews looks after the various lines, including the wet and dry. She manages a few teams within these lines who, in turn, have their own teams. These vary from smaller teams of four to bigger ones of 20, depending on the line.

Compared to her colleagues, Matthews had a slightly different route in food: “I started at Dawn nine years ago as management accountment and made the move across to operations after a few years.”​

When it comes to training team members at Dawn, Matthews said it’s all done on the shop floor. The new recruit is buddied up with one of the team members who show them how to operate the line and use a computer system. As they gain their confidence, the buddy will reduce the amount of time spent with the individual until they are completely competent in that equipment and can manage it independently. Those who are new to the business wear red hair nets – a bit like learner plates, so others know they may need some extra support.

Meanwhile, Power is responsible for the overall plant operations at Evesham, including the plant’s performance. He started in 2007 as a bakery manager at Dawn, bringing 25 years of experience with him, and was promoted into his current role in 2019.

In his position, he manages a team responsible for different functions across the plant, such as production, quality, engineering, safety and warehouse management.

Dawn operates on an ethos called the ‘the circle of excellence’ which is built on three pillars of people, customers and products.

“Here at Dawn, we believe what sets us apart from everyone else is our ‘circle of excellence’. Around that, you have three key words – at the top of that circle is people,” ​Power explained.

“We promote a safe working environment for all our team members to express themselves – their true identities – without fear of retribution.​

“We look at our customer needs, what is taking place in the marketplace and that leads our innovation in terms of market trends to give them the best products.​

“We build close working relationships with our customers, offering technical support and the best products they can buy - working with them to achieve their end goal.​

“As well as the circle of excellence, we have five core values – progress, passion, relationships, optimism and integrity. Each year our team members can nominate other team members throughout Dawn if they display one or more of these values. The CEO goes through the nominations of the value awards and then the winners are announced globally. We have had three winners here [at the Evesham site] in the past five years.”​

Enjoyed this video? You can meet the team at EHL ingredients here.​​

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