Milling & Baking News - May 9, 2017 - 28

I.A.O.M. Review X

Elevated importance of safety
stressed by Ardent Mills c.e.o.
NEW ORLEANS - The milling industry's emphasis on product safety
as well as the safety of the employees who work in flour mills has never
been greater.
At the 2017 International Association of Operative Millers (I.A.O.M.)
Conference and Expo in New Orleans,
a powerful message about this topic
was delivered by Dan Dye, chief executive officer of Ardent Mills, the
United States' largest flour milling
company, in his keynote address to
the hundreds of millers gathered at
the event, held April 10-14.
"It's great to see safety is an industry issue," Mr. Dye said. "It's important to all of us. Everyone wins when
you have a safe workplace and safe

'It's our obligation to
share and learn from
each other when it
comes to safety.'
- Dan Dye,
Ardent Mills

products. It's our obligation to share
and learn from each other when it
comes to safety."
Mr. Dye said when Denver-based
Ardent Mills was formed four years
ago, the company established four
values: trust, service, simplicity and
safety.
"I've heard some people say that
safety is a priority, but I want to take it
further and challenge each of us to say
it's more than a priority - it's a value," he said. "There is a difference. I
believe values bring us together, while
priorities often times divide. A priority for one group may be profit and the
other group may be productivity, and
those are very different things."
Mr. Dye said earlier in his career,
before he joined Ardent Mills, he received a phone call, ironically after
getting out of a safety meeting, that
forever changed the way he looks at
safety.
"It was 12 or 13 years ago when I
got the call none of us want to get," he
said. "I was told that one of our employees at one of our facilities died in
a grain envelopment accident. It was
a very hard and difficult time for me.
As a company leader I said to myself,
'What can I do to make a difference?'
28 / May 9, 2017 XMilling & Baking News

What could I have done different to
have prevented that?
"I took it as a personal challenge to
make safety more of a priority. I came
to the conclusion that day that safety
must be a value to the very core of
who we are as leaders, fellow team
members and workers."
In closing, Mr. Dye challenged the
milling industry to do the following in
an effort to improve product and employee safety:
* Take ownership for personal and
food safety. "If you each do that, you
will make your facilities safer I guarantee it," he said.
* Take advantage of continuous education. "We have to continue to talk
about and educate and train and discuss safety issues," he said. "We have
to train people so they understand
the risks in the workplace and risk in
products if they don't follow key operators' policies and principles."
* Thoroughly examine the best process and practice policies in your everyday operations. "While you can't
just boil down safety to policies and
procedures, we should constantly be
reviewing and updating our manufacturing practices and policies to make
sure they make sense and are easy to
understand and can be executed flawlessly in the plant."
* Embrace innovation and technology. "A lot of our facilities are older,
but that doesn't mean we can't innovate and use newer technology within
them. We need to look at technology
as it continues to advance and create a
safer workplace and safer products."
New leadership unveiled
Officers who will lead the I.A.O.M.
for the next year were elected during
the association's annual conference
and expositiion in New Orleans.
Stephen Doyle, vice-president of
King Milling Co., Lowell, Mich., was
named the 113th president while Jeff Hole,
director of milling at
Grain Craft, Chattanooga, Tenn., was elected
vice-president. He is in
line to serve as president in 2018-19. David Doyle
Jansen, plant manager
at Siemer Milling Co., Teutopolis, Ill.,
was elected treasurer and is in line to
serve as president in 2019-20.
Mr. Doyle, who has been an active

member of the I.A.O.M. since 1987,
said the theme for his presidency is
"Education is the key." He stressed the
importance of the development and
training of a new generation of millers
to replace the anticipated 50% of the
workforce that will retire within the
next decade.
He served on the I.A.O.M. board
of directors from 1997-2002, representing the Wolverine District. He
also served on the district's executive
committee for two terms. Mr. Doyle
is the third member of his family and
fourth employee from King Milling to be elected to the I.A.O.M. executive committee: his father, Roland
M. Doyle, served as president from
1978-79; his brother, Jim, was president from 2005-06; and superintendent and head miller Oscar J. Nelson
served as president from 1954-55.
Mr. Doyle is a native of Lowell. He
received a bachelor's degree in milling science at Kansas State University
in Manhattan. Following graduation,
he returned to Lowell to work at his
family's mill, King Milling Co., where
he has worked for 30 years. In the past
decade, he was actively involved in
two major expansion and modernization projects at King Milling Co. Mr.
Doyle is a past president and member of the Michigan State Millers Association. He also serves as chairman
of the Lowell Historic District Commission and is past president of the
Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce,
Lowell Lions Club and Lowell Area
Historical Museum.
Mr. Hole, an active member of the
I.A.O.M. since 1994, will
be responsible for overseeing preparations for
the association's 2018
conference in Atlanta.
While serving as
I.A.O.M. vice-president,
he also will be president Hole
of the International Milling Education Foundation (I.M.E.F.), a
philanthropic partner of the I.A.O.M.
that funds a variety of educational
programs related to the grain milling
industry. Mr. Hole has served as the
chairperson for the Central District
and on the I.A.O.M. board of directors
from 2006-12, representing the Central
District. He has been on the Employee
Relations Committee since 2011.
Mr. Hole is a native of Wichita,
Kas. He received a bachelor's degree in milling science and a master's degree in agribusiness at Kansas
State University. Following graduation in 1994, he joined Cereal Food
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Milling & Baking News - May 9, 2017

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