Ryt-way recognized with “Community Partnership Award”
Ryt-way believes
in empowering our employees. Five years ago, we began offering free
on-site ESL classes in cooperation with the Lakeville School
District’s Adult Basic Education (ABE). These classes have proven
successful in improving the lives of our employees and are still
offered today.
Beyond the ESL program, Ryt-way management further recognized the
potential win-win of offering more job-specific training to our
employees in the hopes of preparing them to move into higher paying
positions in our Company. We again partnered with Lakeville ABE to
create a Work Skills Training Program to teach employees
job-related terminology as well as reading, math, and communications
skills needed to be able to advance within our Company. Those who
complete and successfully pass this course receive company-sponsored
incentives. Many have also been rewarded with a promotion into
higher paying positions within our Company.
Ryt-way was honored for our Work Skills Training Program by The
Minnesota Literacy Council* at their 2010 “Sharing the Power”
Conference. For more information on this award program or the
Minnesota Literacy Council, please check out their website at
www.themlc.org/sharing.
*The
Minnesota Literacy Council is a statewide, nonprofit organization
dedicated to improving the basic English and literacy skills of
adults and children. Our mission is to share the power of learning
through education, community building, and advocacy.
Ryt-way Industries LLC receives SQF 2000 Level 3 certification.
Ryt-way Industries LLC of
Lakeville Minnesota is the first US Company to achieve SQF2000 Level
3 certification for shelf stable foods. Level 3 is the highest
standard to be certified by SQF and is a significant achievement and
testament to the food safety and quality systems in operation at Ryt-Way
Industries. SQF 2000 certification ensures that Ryt-Way’s food
safety and quality management systems comply with international and
domestic food safety regulations. This assures suppliers and their
customers that their food products have been produced, processed,
prepared and handled according to the highest possible standards, at
all levels of the supply chain.
The SQF Level 3
certification takes the HACCP model developed for food safety and
applies it to food quality as well. The requirements encompass all
areas of the business from ordering/receipt through processing and
shipping as well as pre-requisite programs such as sanitation,
maintenance, calibration and others.
“Working to certify to
this standard has improved our already robust food safety and food
quality systems” according to members of the Quality Department at
Ryt-way. “Many of our customers have mandated the requirement. All
our customers can be assured that the high standard of SQF Level 3
is being applied to their products.”
Visit
www.rytway.com for more information on
Ryt-way Industries LLC
Visit
www.sqfi.com for more information related
to the SQF certification.
Wind Point Partners has acquired Ryt-way Industries
Lakeville, Minn. — August
13, 2008 — Glenn W. Hasse has announced that Wind Point Partners has
acquired Ryt-way Industries, which is headquartered in Lakeville,
Minnesota.
Mr. Hasse started the
Company on May 1, 1965.
Since then, Ryt-way has become
one of the nations leading contract
manufacturers and packagers serving the food industry. Its
capabilities include recloseable
pouches, cup and bowl lines, and multiple fill on horizontal and
vertical packaging lines, in addition to batch or continuous
blending systems, cup wrapping, and planning and purchasing project
support for products such as
ready-to-eat cereals and meals, snack foods, crackers, mixes and
convenience foods.
According to Mr. Hasse,
“Wind Point’s experience in the food industry together with their
strong management team, which includes the existing management team,
leaves me confident that Ryt-way will continue to be an industry
leader going forward. One of the primary considerations in deciding
to sell to Wind Point was their commitment to expand the business
and to continue to conduct operations out of Lakeville with the
existing employee base.”
Ryt-way employs
approximately 635 full-time employees and uses up to 200 contract
workers as needed. No financial terms
were disclosed. Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc. served as exclusive
financial advisor to Mr. Hasse on the transaction.
Wind Point Partners®
is a private equity investment firm with approximately $2 billion in
capital under management. Wind Point focuses on partnering with top
caliber executives to acquire middle market businesses where it can
establish a path to value creation. Additional information about
Wind Point is available at
www.windpointpartners.com.
40th Anniversary Message
This month Ryt-way
will celebrate its 40th Anniversary. Even as I say
the words they are difficult to imagine.
When you begin a business
enterprise of any type there are so many things to think about
and do on a day-in-and-day-out basis that it would be untrue to
say that each and every thing happens according to some master
plan. As you can tell from reading the Newsletter articles that
detail Ryt-way’s growth and development, the last 40 years have
been filled with both successes and failures, with good
decisions and not so good decisions, with well conceived,
executed plans and with happenstance. Although there has been
much hard work there has also been a fair amount of fun along
the way. Such is the life of all businesses that survive for
any length of time.
There are way too many
things that contribute to a successful business enterprise to
include in this article however I want to mention the one thing
that I believe to be the most important. That is to
never forget about all the
people who have come, stayed or departed along the course of the
journey, who have contributed to and are continuing to
contribute to that success. I include among them my
wife Kay, my son Tim, my parents, my family, my friends, and all
of Ryt-way’s Employees both past and present.
Thanks to all of you,
Ryt-way is proud to be celebrating its 40th
Anniversary. Let’s hope that together we celebrate many more.
Glenn Hasse, President/CEO
The Kellogg Company, recently received an
AmeriStar Award from the Institute of
Packaging Professionals for the design of
Drink ‘n Crunch
in November, 2004.
Ryt-way Industries, LLC. participated in the design phase of
the project and assisted The Kellogg Company in the
commercialization of this new item. Drink ‘n Crunch is an ergonomically designed vessel with two
cups, one inside the other. Fresh milk is poured into the
outer cup, and cereal is in the inner cup for the ultimate
portable breakfast!
A Ryt-way Industries, LLC. representative attend the awards
presentation as a participant in the project.
The best movies of the year are
awarded the Oscar. The AmeriStar Package Awards honor the
best packages of the year. Winning an AmeriStar Award is
truly a mark of distinction. The AmeriStar Awards program
rewards the innovators, the achievers, and the packaging
profession as a whole.
