Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Curious about how the grain industry is getting better every day? Join us, as April- Hope Wareham shares, how continuous improvement is making operations more efficient, boosting safety, enhancing sustainability, adopting new technologies and ensuring food quality like never before. Hello, food quality like never before. Hello, thank you for making the Whole Grain Podcast part of your day. Welcome, my name is Jim Lenz, your host and producer of the show and the director of global education and training at GEAPS, where the mission of the Grain Elevator and Processing Society is to champion, connect and serve the global grain industry and our members At Jeeps. We work to be the global community and thought. Serve the global grain industry and our members At Chiefs. We work to be the global community and thought leader for the grain industry, which feeds and fuels the world. Thanks for listening today and for joining the network of thousands of other grain handling and processing professionals across the globe taking strategic steps to grow professionally. The Whole Grain Show will give you the competitive advantage to win at work so you can make more of an impact.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
At the time of this episode release, it signifies a two-year mark when we made the public announcement of the Whole Grain Podcast, a forum for grain industry professionals like you to connect with this educational channel that takes learning on the go. Many of you listen to the show on your drive to work and some listen while exercising. We’re excited to have you, no matter what and how you connect with the show, as we’re excited to announce that we’ve drawn listeners from 76 countries in just two years of production. We encourage you to share this resource with other grain professionals like you. Be sure to catch up on past Whole Grain podcast episodes. We also encourage you to hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcast app so you’re sure to receive the latest episode on your phone as soon as it is released. You can also connect with the show at jeepscom forward slash wholegrain. Here you can see the show notes and the transcript of the show, along with the audio player.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Now let’s get ready to explore how continuous improvement practices are supporting the grain industry. Let’s get started All right. Our guest for today is the Continuous Improvement Grain Lead for 30-plus interior grain terminals along and east of the Mississippi River. April- Hope Wareham has over a decade of barge blue water shipping and rail operations experience. She has also managed food safety for multiple grain facilities. She recently earned her Master’s of Science degree in Supply Chain Management, with a focus on grain transportation. From Michigan State University, april is also the National Executive Secretary for Women in Maritime Operations Membership Association and sits on the International Education Programming Committee for JEEPS, and that’s why everyone in the JEEPS organization is so excited to have April- Hope Wareham as a featured guest on the show. Thank you for your Whole Grain.
April-Hope Wareham:
Hey, thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
You have been so involved with Jeeps, a lot of our members are very aware of you and, if not the work that you’ve done to produce a lot of great education for the biggest event in the grain industry called the Jeeps Exchange. So we thank you for that. To allow our listeners to get to know you and to start the show with a bit of positive spirit, could you share with our listeners perhaps a mantra or success quote that you live by professionally?
April-Hope Wareham:
Yes.
April-Hope Wareham:
So you asked me to come up with this one and I honestly, I’m just going to say the first one that I thought of, even though I thought of a bunch of other ones after that, because it is something that I literally think almost every day, even though I don’t know.
April-Hope Wareham:
I think it might sound a little bit fancy, but it is a Shakespeare quote. It’s from Hamlet, which is one of my favorite plays there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. I can say it again a little slower there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. It’s a great quote for me because it reminds me that the world will always surprise you, to be open-minded and to understand that everybody has a different experience and everything that you see and find can kind of show you something new every day. And it’s a quote that I have lived by and have enjoyed literally since, like high school or college, and it’s one that always pops back into my head. So it’s just one that I had to share.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
That is a beautiful sentiment. Thank you for sharing that. I feel bad for everybody who’s a guest afterwards, because when they listen to your response and you’re quoting Shakespeare, oh boy See that’s what I was concerned about. No one else has ever put together Shakespeare with the grain industry before. That I’m aware of, at least that I’ve encountered.
April-Hope Wareham:
He was the playwright for the masses. It was just a few hundred years ago, yeah.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Thank you. Thank you. Now, April, to provide some context for our listeners, could you provide a bit more detail on your journey in the grain industry? I think listeners will find it very interesting.
April-Hope Wareham:
Yes. So I have been quite a number of places and I joke that I definitely don’t look old enough for everything that.
April-Hope Wareham:
I’ve done and everywhere I’ve been, but I can promise you I am. So I started with Cargill a little over 10 years ago and that was kind of where my career officially started. I was studying technical systems management at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, that’s in the ag engineering department there and it’s kind of a mix of ag engineering and ag business classes and in the College of ACES, so a line I represent. I had an associate’s degree already, had worked for a couple of years. I thought that what I really wanted to get into was food production, and so that’s why I studied TSM.
April-Hope Wareham:
I was only there for four semesters and two semesters in. I got the opportunity for a summer internship with Cargill in Pipestone, minnesota. It was at one of our farm service centers, which is what we called them back at that time, so grain elevator. We also did crop inputs there. So at the time Cargill still owned our crop inputs business in the United States and so you know our fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, fungicide, seed. I think we did a little bit of seed there.
April-Hope Wareham:
If I remember correctly, I might be wrong. I realized that I just really fell in love with this side of the industry. I had always thought that I would be more in the production side but I ended up being just kind of loving the place in the supply chain. That it was, that it was closer to the farmer, closer to production, but at the same time sort of at this entry point to the market where things could kind of go anywhere and be anything, where the grain could go anywhere and be anything. I really really enjoyed it, had a great time, took every opportunity that I could to learn more about the industry. I didn’t grow up in a farming family or a farming background, so just really took a lot of opportunity to learn what I could and got offered a full-time position with Cargill. So I started my traineeship.
April-Hope Wareham:
Then, after finishing at U of I and getting my bachelor’s degree, I started at Seneca, illinois, where we unloaded trucks and loaded barges up on the Illinois River and we also loaded containers at that time. So I got the opportunity to see kind of a different part of the business as well, did my traineeship in Seneca, was there for about nine months and then got sent to Scholesburg, wisconsin, where I managed that facility. I was supposed to be there for a few weeks, ended up being there for eight or nine months, I think it was, which is the way that things sometimes go and ended up managing that facility for that long. That was also a grain and crop inputs facility and during the time that I was there was when Cargill divested our crop inputs business. So I was there through that divestiture and that was another fantastic experience. So here I am, like barely a year out of college and already dealing with a huge plant divestiture and going through that, and really was a great experience for me and really showed what Cargill is and was as a company. Because they said hey, you know what, we believe in you, we believe you can do this, we’re going to give you the resources. I was definitely on the phone with lots of people every day asking a lot of questions and there were some fantastic people who were really helpful during that time.
April-Hope Wareham:
And, yeah, so after that divestiture I kind of had a few different opportunities within Cargill but chose that the next place I wanted to go was to export and had some feedback from folks Robert Taylor some folks who’ve been around Jeeps for a while probably know him and he’d been my manager or my one-up manager for a couple of years and he said, hey, I think you would really really like the Gulf and so took a chance, went down to West Wigo, louisiana. I was a production supervisor there for a couple of years, learned stevedoring, which is the shiploading process and shiploading management that’s how it’s referred to in the United States and really really loved that part of the business. I loved export so much I wanted to see another part of it. So I got the opportunity to go out to our joint venture, temco, in Tacoma, washington.
April-Hope Wareham:
I was out there for a few years, mostly as a stevedore. Superintendent was what the job role was, but it was also a production supervisor type role. So various different operations management roles, took a couple months and did a temp assignment and helped out at our Tampa facility. We used to have a facility in Tampa, florida. We did citrus pulp pellets through there with very unique for grain elevator experience and then a few years ago got asked to step into this role. This continuous improvement lead role is a newly created regional role for interior grain elevators and so ended up back in this role and I live now in St Paul, minnesota, and I helped out 31 plants across 10 states.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Wow, so that’s a great show. Thank you for sharing that.
April-Hope Wareham:
It’s a long story.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Yeah, it’s diverse in such a short period of time Kind of showcases number one your curiosity in general. Two you aren’t afraid to get after things, learn new things, educate yourself, ask questions, inquire and be open to new opportunities and new perspectives. That is really really interesting background.
April-Hope Wareham:
Absolutely. I’ve had a lot of really great opportunities.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
It’s so nice. Cargill has supported you and you support Cargill and all the team members there. Now, as we kind of move along here in the conversation, I want to provide some more information about an organization that you are involved with and that is the Women in Maritime Operations. It’s a membership association. You’re definitely committed to the organization. You offer support to others, but I bet you get a lot of return from your participation with the organization. You offer support to others, but I bet you get a lot of return from your participation with the organization as well, not just offering to others, but I’m just curious about that. If it’s okay with you, I’d love for you to take this whole grain podcast platform to share with others the work of Women in Maritime Operations. Tell us about the organization, april, and how it supports others with networking, education, any other resources.
April-Hope Wareham:
Absolutely. I would love to talk about WMOS. So WMOS is short for Women in Maritime Operations. It’s an organization that was formed when I was in New Orleans and so I got to kind of be boots on the ground. I wasn’t one of the founding members, but joined pretty soon after, within a few months, and helped kind of start it up. So it’s a very specific organization. It is geared toward women who work in maritime operations roles. So that would be women who work for companies that own, operate charter vessels or otherwise provide some kind of services on the water emergency services, engineering, essentially folks who spend time on the water, whether that’s at the terminal level or sailing. We also have a number of US Coast Guard members, some Navy as well, some military contractors and Army Corps of Engineers. So we do offer free membership to active duty military as well, which has been really, really fantastic.
April-Hope Wareham:
So the goal of WMOS is and has always been to bring women together who work in maritime operations, to educate, engage and elevate women in maritime operations, and so we are. First and foremost we’re an education organization. We have now chapters all over the country in different places. It’s not just a Southern Louisiana thing anymore. We’re in the process of getting a Twin Cities chapter started, actually, and we have very active and busy chapters in Houston area, Corpus Christi area, west Kentucky, pacific Northwest Ohio, river Valley, as well as a number of other chapters elsewhere. So we just hit over a thousand members worldwide.
April-Hope Wareham:
So we do have a few members outside of the US as well, and we do things everywhere, from opportunities for our members to spend time in a simulator for opportunities for our members to learn more about other parts of the industry. For example, we’ve done some education sessions on tanker barges for women who work only in bulk, maybe for their whole career, or who have worked only blue water for most of their career. So you can learn a little bit about a different part of the industry. And then, finally, there’s also just this huge benefit in networking. One of the reasons that Wemos was started we we sort of say is golf. We found that you know there’s a lot of things that happen out on the golf course, that a lot of the time, women in the industry and this is something we see in grain as well right, just don’t get the opportunity to go and do, because we haven’t ever had the opportunity to learn how to golf.
April-Hope Wareham:
I learned how to golf through Wemos, and now I’ve been at a number of events, whether they’re Jeeps events or other maritime specific events all over the country, because of all the places I’ve lived and that’s because of Wemos and that’s gotten me the opportunity to be in front of people that I wouldn’t be able to be in front of as well, to network with people, and that’s another really fantastic thing. So we do some of that. We call it the sporting education type things as well, as well as just general networking, which sometimes is really really important just to see somebody who kind of looks like you and might be experiencing some of the same stuff you have. Wemos has been a huge success. It was really came in at the right time.
April-Hope Wareham:
We’ve seen a huge change in the industry in the last decade and I think Wemos is a big part of that. We need it. It’s and we’re able to help a lot of people. Fantastic mentorship program as well. So just a lot of really, really cool things coming out of Wemos. We started our first junior chapter at Texas A&M Galveston this year, so just a lot of really great things. I feel like I just talked a lot about WMOS and I didn’t really take it in any particular direction, but a really, really great organization.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
I was just going to ask. I know you said mentorship program for someone maybe newer, but also I was going to inquire about post-secondary education program. So you did mention that it’s already getting started, so you were one of the early members of the organization. When did the organization start?
April-Hope Wareham:
2017. We just, we just hit seven years Yep. July of 2017.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
If I listen to you correctly, I think you said there’s a thousand people.
April-Hope Wareham:
Yep, we have a thousand members, we hit a thousand members earlier this year.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Yeah Wow, how’d you do that? How’d the organization do that?
April-Hope Wareham:
A lot of word of mouth. We definitely host recruitment events in the chapter areas where where we’re trying to grow, but a lot of of Wemos membership came through word of mouth, when one woman would join and she, you know, found that, oh my goodness, I had the opportunity to take a golf lesson and you know, I paid dues of. You know, at this time dues are $250 for a year, right, and everything is included once you pay that. So, hey, I paid my dues and I got the opportunity to learn golf. I got the opportunity to learn clay shooting. I got the opportunity to go and do a tour of a really, really cool shipyard near me that I didn’t even know existed. I got the opportunity to meet a bunch of other people who I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet otherwise, and she spreads that to other women at her company or other women who she works with, and it was a lot of word of mouth for our initial membership.
April-Hope Wareham:
For sure, we have actively taken a focus on recruitment in the past year as well, with trying to host recruitment events at our local chapters that exist, as well as taking a greater focus on what we call our seed chapters or areas of interest, which is essentially hey, we’ve got an area of interest, We’ve got a few women who are interested and they’re willing to start a chapter here, so let’s give them the resources that they need and work towards starting a chapter in this area, which is why we’ve been able to expand so quickly. So a couple of different things, but, honestly, the organization really speaks for itself and it’s been like I said, I’ve been with the organization since very close to the beginning. I was the national secretary the first national secretary that we had and I just started a second term I guess it was about a year ago now and so that will be my final term, because we do two terms of five years and so I have been able to see this organization grow from something that was kind of a, you know, small maybe we had 12, 14 people who were, you know, meeting up to just the powerhouse that it is today. That has the opportunity to really touch a lot of lives and bring a lot of people into this industry that we love, right, Because that’s really, really important.
April-Hope Wareham:
Right now we have a hard time finding workers, as it is for these types of industries, and if you can find people who are excited and who are really wanting to break into the industry and they just need a mentor. They’re really wanting to break into the industry and they’re debating what should their major be in college? They’re looking for a career change. All of that they’re coming out of the military. They’re coming out of active duty in the military and looking for a civilian side job All these types of things WMOS has had the opportunity to help people with as well.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
That is fantastic. What a wonderful organization. I hope some of the listeners here of this Jeep’s Whole Grain podcast listen to it and they may want to be involved. Or, just as good, maybe they know someone who can lead them there. So that just leads to the next question. Perhaps some of our listeners may be interested in know somebody, in being a member of the organization who can join women in maritime operations. How do they become a member?
April-Hope Wareham:
Yeah. So if a woman’s interested in becoming a member again have to work for a company that does maritime operations, right. And if you’re interested or you think you may or may not qualify as a member or just have questions, you can go to WIMOSorg, w-i-m-o-sorg, and there’s a form that you can submit for membership and there’s also a form that you can submit if you know. Hey, I’m not going to qualify as a member, but I want to keep up with what Wemos is doing. I want to get the newsletters. I want to get information about upcoming fundraisers and our upcoming golf tournament. I’ll put in a plug for that is coming up in a few weeks in October, down in near New Orleans for those types of things. You can also sign up for that newsletter on our website as well.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Fantastic. All right, that’s an important message. Now let’s kind of looking forward to our conversation here as well on continuous improvement. Let’s start by defining continuous improvement in the grain industry. What does it mean? In your role? What are some of the key areas for focus for continuous improvement at grain terminals in particular?
April-Hope Wareham:
Yeah. So that’s a fantastic question. I will say that continuous improvement kind of takes on a different flavor depending on the industry that you’re looking at. It’s going to look really differently, for example, in a large hospital system than it is in a massive protein plant, which means it’s going to look different at a grain elevator and you know. So some of the things that we see as this very, very traditional continuous improvement right, this you know, constant push for rate progression, constant push for improvement, improvement, improvement over times, over quality may not exactly fit puzzle piece into a grain elevator.
April-Hope Wareham:
However, there are a lot of things from that basic continuous improvement and lean methodology that we can use at grain elevators. So the first step that I would talk about is the word kaizen, which probably a lot of people may or may not have heard, but we use it a lot of the time in the US with regard to having a very specific process change, continuous improvement, discrete event. But the word kaizen it’s a Japanese word. It means good change and it essentially is the basis and the backbone for a lot of the modern lean methodologies that we use today. It means that change is good and that we want to try new things essentially, the basis behind Kaizen is a really good one, and it’s just listening and understanding and truly understanding the people who do the work and the job that we do. So one of the things that I really think is a huge benefit if you’re wanting to start some sort of a continuous improvement or lean methodology at your green elevators is, if you’ve got people in charge of it, bring people who’ve done the work, and I think that that makes a huge difference. And if they’re not people who’ve done the work but you say, hey, I want this person because they’ve got a really great perspective. They’re kind of an outsider, but, man, it seems like they know a lot. Make sure that that’s someone who’s willing to listen, understand, respect what we’ve built.
April-Hope Wareham:
The grain industry is literally one of the oldest industries, possibly the oldest industry in the world, right, if we’re looking at when people started storing grain 10,000 years ago, we are still doing some of the same things. So there are some things that work. So understand what we built, understand that legacy of grain operations, while also challenging ourselves and leaving room for the new and for leaving room to try new things. Grain, this organization, this industry, is always changing. We aren’t the same as we were 30 or 50 years ago. And you know we’re not going to be the same in 50 years from now. There’s going to be things that are going to change. There’s going to be new technologies that are going to become available, the workforce is changing, the way that we relate to the world is changing, and so I would say there’s so much that you can do with a continuous improvement methodology in the grain industry, while kind of really respecting that old but also kind of focusing on the new.
April-Hope Wareham:
One big thing for us over the last few years and I know that this is the case in Cargill, I also know because I talked to CI folks at other grain companies is that we’re really trying to move toward a little bit more of a data-driven focus. For many years we just kind of hey, we do what we can do, but trying to move toward understanding our mix and blend on a tighter level, because that’s what our customers want. Now, right, trying to understand hey, what does our cycle time look like? How fast are we able to dump trucks and get farmers out of here so that they can get back to the field and get back to doing what they need to do?
April-Hope Wareham:
The younger generation of farmers. They want that right. So trying to kind of get a little bit more of a data-driven approach where we can and try and upgrade our systems where we can, we can and try and upgrade our systems where we can. Well, at the same time understanding that, you know, we really need to understand that we’re not a business effort that’s going to make lots and lots and lots of money. So working with what we have is also a big part of the continuous improvement methodology that I’ve worked with in Green.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Now for someone working in the field of continuous improvement or is considering a career in this area. What are some common challenges faced when implementing continuous improvement strategies, or are there never any challenges?
April-Hope Wareham:
Oh my goodness. Well, first of all, I would not be in this job if there were never any challenges, because I would be so bored. But yeah, so I think probably one of the big challenges is the financial aspect. Right, that’s always going to be a challenge in every business that you ever work for, whether you’re working at a university or you’re working at SpaceX. Right, cost is always going to be a constraint and a bit ingrained. We tend to see that a little bit more, especially just as margins get tighter and as we kind of keep a closer eye on our pocketbooks, right, so that’s always going to be a big challenge is how can we work with what we have? How can we do something in a way that is safe and that is also really efficient, but we’re not going to break the bank and we’re not going to be doing this huge capital expenditure that maybe we want and need but don’t need as badly. So there’s a lot of cost benefit analysis that goes on in this side of the business. For that I would say.
April-Hope Wareham:
Another big challenge, especially when I was starting in continuous improvement, is that continuous improvement tends to sometimes leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, and that’s why I talked about it being so, so important to listen and understand and respect what we’ve built when starting at some sort of a lean practice in your business, because green in particular sometimes has been the recipient of a one-size-fits-all. Hey, we’re going to try this lean methodology and we’re just going to like, force it on us. And it doesn’t work right, because it was designed for a protein plant that’s running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, always doing the same thing. Or a crush plant that you know, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Hey, we have a minimum amount of oil that we need to produce for our customers. And in grain, that’s different, right? Continuous improvement literally looks different at different times of the year During harvest, for example, or during your busier season, like if you’re on the Illinois River, your busier season’s a little outside of harvest, for example, but during those busy times, continuous improvement is maybe going to look a little bit more like that. You know how fast can we get trucks through and do it safely and do it without breaking things. But continuous improvement during other times of the year might look a little bit more like problem solving or might look a little bit more like trying to use your resources in a bit more of a creative way.
April-Hope Wareham:
I think that that’s one of the big challenges coming in is that, hey, like we’ve done CI in the past, we’ve done Lean in the past, it doesn’t work for Grain Endgame. I don’t want to listen to you and instead figuring out okay, hey, there are some gems in this, how do we fit that to Grain? And that’s been one of the big challenges over the years and has been a lot of fun. We’ve messed up on a lot of things, we’ve tried a lot of things and been like man, you know what? This just is not working. We’re going to throw it out the window and try something new. So challenges, but a lot of fun when you, when you have the opportunity to try new things and throw them out the window if they don’t work that’s, that’s the best kind of job.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
So yeah, wonderful Thanks. Now, what opportunities exist for growth and efficiency gains in the grain and maritime sectors?
April-Hope Wareham:
Oh my gosh. So there is so much. It’s such an interesting time to be in food production in general. So I’m, like I said, no shame about my age. I was born in 1990. The world population when I was born 5.3 billion. The world population now just over 8 billion. That is an insane amount of growth right. We are experiencing exponential population growth and somewhere around to 10% of the world’s population is experiencing food insecurity right now, which means they are not sure where their next meal is coming from. They’re hungry.
April-Hope Wareham:
We have a lot of opportunities to be sort of this, to change that right, because we sit, we’re kind of the center of the food supply chain. We have this really good opportunity right now to create a more sustainable, more resilient food system. So a lot of what opportunities exist right now and this is something that Cargill is really focused on is trying to drive that global food security, nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. So I’ll give some example of some things that Cargill is doing to kind of meet these opportunities. So one really cool thing that we’ve been doing is we have the RegenConnect program that rewards farmers for positive environmental outcomes, so essentially rewards farmers for adopting carbon neutral strategies or regenerative agriculture practices. We also are exploring some really cool opportunities with crops like winter camelina. I got the opportunity to kind of see that at our crush plant in West Fargo a couple of years ago. It’s just this tiny, tiny little seed, but very oil rich seed and something that can also be planted off season and can help with soil quality. And we’re also doing some experimentation with pennycress, which is another crop that can be grown to as a decarbonization crop, can improve soil quality, gives farmers a cash crop and it acts like a cover crop. So that’s something that’s a little bit newer. I think pennycress has like a 30% oil content or something like that.
April-Hope Wareham:
So, again, really great opportunity for renewable fuel. And when I’m talking about oil with regard to Camelino or pennycress, that’s a great opportunity for renewable fuel. So biodiesel, renewable airline fuel, things like that. So there’s a lot of opportunities right now to kind of figure out what are the latest food trends as well. What do our customers want?
April-Hope Wareham:
Our customers who everybody from the family that’s sitting down at the table to eat dinner at night to the parent, who’s, you know, driving as fast as they can to pick up three different kids from three different practices in the evening and wants a quick meal. To our customers who are producers and who want something safe for their livestock, to our renewable energy customers and also to our worldwide customers Cargill’s in over 60 countries. We have a lot of different customer needs as well. So in general, just going back to kind of outside of Cargill and just looking at us globally, looking at the supply chain globally, there’s a lot of opportunities to serve new customer bases as people’s needs change, as people’s habits change and as we develop new trends.
April-Hope Wareham:
So there’s definitely a lot that’s going on and I know we’re going to talk kind of about innovations and future trends in a little bit, so I won’t jump on that too much. I’ll focus a little bit more on elevators specifically in the next question. But globally, I think a lot of the opportunities that we have right now as grain elevators is that we just have this really really cool time in history where we have the opportunity to figure out how can we most efficiently, most sustainably, grow the most amount of food, because the world population is exploding and we really, really need it.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Wow, fantastic, and there’s some incredible initiatives and programs that Cargill has taken on and other organizations as well, so that’s really special to hear from you Now, as a result of this conversation, you may be I think you are and it will be inspiring listeners to consider a career in the grain and maritime industries, and maybe there’s even folks in college who are listening to this and they want to know more about continuous improvement in that field. What skills and qualifications are essential for a successful career in these fields? What advice do you have for young professionals and those looking to transition into the industry?
April-Hope Wareham:
So I think one of the first things I would say is yes, this is for you. Traditionally, this is a career path that, a lot of times, people don’t even know about or don’t have the opportunity to pursue, unless you have grown up in that industry already. For example, you have a parent who worked in an elevator. You have parents or grandparents who are farmers.
April-Hope Wareham:
What we’re seeing is that we need more and more people because this is such an important industry. This is literally the career of the future. You get to feed the world. You get to figure out how to do it in a sustainable way, even if this isn’t something that you’ve heard of before or this isn’t something that you have ever considered before. We need people like that. As the world changes, as we kind of try and do more with less, like I was talking about, as we try and make a difference and as we try and feed more and more people, we need as many different perspectives as we can find, and so I think that what we really need is somebody who’s curious, wants to ask a lot of questions and interested in pursuing a career in just this really, really unique way and, as you can see with my career personally. It can take you a lot of different places and you can really get some great opportunities through that.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
I also want to jump on a question about working in continuous improvement within the industry. How does their job align with safety and sustainability efforts of an organization?
April-Hope Wareham:
Ooh, that’s a great question. So I would say that the kind of cool thing is, if you’re working in operations or you’re working in continuous improvement, you kind of get to be on the front end of those innovations and future trends. So, for example, you would get the opportunity to play around with new safety innovations. Some cool examples would be. Well, I’ll give an export example and then I’ll give an interior example. So in export, we have a really fantastic team down at our Reserve Louisiana Grain Elevator. Heather Brewer is at the forefront of that team and she worked with a company recently to create a new type of crane essentially it’s called a spider colloquially that can lift the top off of barges without people having to climb all over the barges, where we used to, and throw heavy chains. So that’s just a really cool example of, hey, you get to work with companies to develop a new technology and to hone it in and to work with it and to make it really, really cool. And it is definitely a safety innovation as well.
April-Hope Wareham:
One of the most dangerous things that we do in this industry and everybody who works in this industry knows if you work with barges, one of the most dangerous things you do is work on barges, and if you work on rail cars one of the with rail cars, one of the most dangerous things you do is working with rail cars.
April-Hope Wareham:
So another cool thing that we’ve gotten the opportunity to play around with in the US are the Greenbrier pneumatically operated rail cars.
April-Hope Wareham:
So it’s the hatches on top that are pneumatically operated. They hook up to plant air compressors and, without individuals having to put on their fall protection, climb on top of rail cars to open and close. All you have to do is, at the ground level, hook up. That same individual who would normally have been on top of the rail car at the ground level, hooks up air to the top of the hatch and opens up the hatch, and so we’ve had the opportunity to work with that company on those as well. It’s actually technology that’s used and is really prevalent in Australia, for example, but hasn’t quite hit the US yet. So if you work whether it’s in operations, whether it’s in continuous improvement you get the opportunity to work with some of those really really cool front of the line sort of safety innovation that are a lot of fun. That’s what I can kind of think of off the top of my head, but I’m sure that there’s definitely more.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Wow, that’s very exciting. Yeah, You’re kind of eliminating that human being from some of those very dangerous jobs loading grain, unloading grain. That’s great that you showcase that, because maybe someone heading into this area may not realize. I mean the grain industry. They’re innovators and Cargill certainly is and working and partnering with organizations that are looking to make those improvements and safety as well.
April-Hope Wareham:
Yeah, absolutely. I love the idea that, like my kids or my family’s kids, like if they’re working at a grain elevator in the future, they’re still going to have a job right, Because we’re not necessarily eliminating people, but they’re going to have a much safer job. Their job is going to be in a cab operating a crane, as opposed to working on a bar, which can be very dangerous, for example. So I really really love being able to do that kind of gift to the future.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Likely. We have all heard the phrase lifelong learner. I think you emulate that phrase. What value does continuous learning and professional development mean to you?
April-Hope Wareham:
So, yes, I’m a very curious person. I would say that for sure. I think one of the best things that you can do is just continue to learn, whether it’s professional development and how do I improve as a person, how do I improve as a leader? Or technical education and technical skills, because if you’re not constantly wanting to improve on those, then you’re going to be stuck in the past pretty darn soon. A lot of what we’ve been talking about with this whole podcast today and this whole conversation is just how quickly this industry is moving forward right now and how there’s so much of a need for it. I think curiosity is one of the best qualities anyone can have. I would much rather have a curious worker than a genius worker, right? I think that that’s one of the best things you can do.
April-Hope Wareham:
I am a continuous learner in a lot of ways. I love this industry. I love different aspects of it. Obviously, I’m a big part of the maritime industry as well, just because of the work that I do and what I work on. So grain maritime, but I’m also currently working on learning Spanish. My colleagues in Mexico would tell you that I’m not very good yet. They’re correct, but just always kind of trying to work on new things. I think the more that I learn about the world, the more that I learn that I don’t know about the world, and that’s an absolutely wonderful thing. So I think that everybody should always, always be looking for what they can learn next to what they can find out, and it’s a absolutely wonderful feeling to know that you will never know close to anything.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
That’s what curiosity does, or a person who’s highly curious, it’s just, it’s a continuous improvement. Hey, that’s what we’re talking about. You know personally, professionally, and there’s a whole bunch of layers to that, whether it’s academics from a traditional institution, like you got your master’s, or through associations and you’re involved in multiple ones through networking, learning new languages, to better support team members, and that’s fantastic. To better support team members, and that’s fantastic. April, we want to thank you for being a member of Gr ain Elevator and Processing Society and for your contribution to International Education Program Committee for Jeeps. We know many of individuals listening to today’s show are Jeeps members, but we also have many listeners who are not Jeeps members at this time. So, before we conclude, I’d love to start a sentence and I’d like for you to conclude the sentence.
April-Hope Wareham:
Being a Jeeps member means staying connected to the industry through friends and education.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
Wonderful concise and it says a whole lot right there. April Hope, it was a special treat having you on the show to discuss the exciting role of continuous improvement as well as your perspective on inclusion, advocacy and career development in the grain and maritime industries. Thank you for serving as a guest on Whole Grain and spending valuable time with the Jeep’s Whole Grain podcast listeners.
April-Hope Wareham:
Thank you Really, appreciate your time as well.
Jim Lenz, Director of Global Education and Training, GEAPS:
The Whole Grain Show is a production of Jeep’s the Grain Elevator and Processing Society. The Grain Elevator and Processing Society is the largest organization dedicated to advancing the grain handling and processing industry. To learn more about how Jeeps can support you, your career and your organization, be sure to visit geaps. com. That’s G-E-A-P-S dot com. If you are a vendor or supplier of the industry, the Whole Grain Podcast offers a terrific opportunity to spotlight your business. If you are interested in us developing audio ads to support your product or service, or if you and your organization want to sponsor an episode and be a featured guest, please reach out to me. Jim Lenz, director of Global Education and Training at the Grain Elevator Processing Society and host and producer of the show. Education and training at the Grain Elevator Processing Society and host and producer of the show. My email is james at jeepscom, j-a-m-e-s at G-E-A-P-S dot com. We look forward to connecting with you. Have yourself a great day and thanks for listening to Whole Grain.
