Diamond V Mills, Inc.

A flood of opportunity┬áAfter 65 consecutive years of sales growth and scores of product additions, Diamond V Mills has become a global player that saw its mettle tested when a flood struck its main manufacturing facility, as Keith Regan learns.  ┬áBy the time the Cedar River crested at a record level of more than 31 feet above flood stage on June 13, 2008, some nine square miles of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, lay under water, including many manufacturing facilities in the cityÔÇÖs industrial area.  Among the flooded facilities were the headquarters and the sole manufacturing facility for Diamond V Mills, a global leader of natural feed ingredient products that enhance the nutrition and performance of all types of animals, including production livestock and companion animals. The Diamond V plant was far from alone in being knocked out of commission by the flood. Large parts of the city were without electricity, gas and other basic services. City Hall and some of the communityÔÇÖs police and fire facilities were flooded and inaccessible. Just eight and a half days after regaining access to its manufacturing facility, Diamond VÔÇöwhich makes products that are sold in 45 countries around the worldÔÇöwas the first manufacturer in the city to be up and running again, a time frame that is testament to the companyÔÇÖs employees, partners, and its long history of being a good corporate citizen, says CEO and president John Bloomhall, who is also the grandson of Diamond VÔÇÖs founder. ÔÇ£From a challenge standpoint, it was like trying to put a giant jigsaw puzzle back together,ÔÇØ Bloomhall recalls. ÔÇ£All the utilities were damaged or disrupted, and all the vendors and suppliers in the area were impacted as well. And we werenÔÇÖt the only ones in that situation.ÔÇØ Nearby plants run by Quaker Oats and others were also scrambling to get back online, drawing on the same pool of machinery vendors, electricians, plumbers and other trades people. Although normally run in a consensus-driven way, Diamond V quickly adopted a more military-like philosophy in the days after the flood. ÔÇ£We put key executives in charge and made it very clear to everyone that they had the authority to make decisions,ÔÇØ Bloomhall adds. Moving quickly to begin recovery effortsÔÇöplanning work started before the floodwaters had even crestedÔÇöpaid off as the actual work got under way, according to Mike Goble, vice president of operations and the executive who was tasked with overseeing the recovery and reactivation of the manufacturing facility. ÔÇ£We did a lot of work with vendors and partners to start getting the plan in place, start getting equipment on order even before we had been let back into the facility. We had diagrams, schematics, part numbers on everything in the facility and knew some of the things we would need, so by the time we got back into the facility, we were a little ahead of the curve. That had a lot to do with us getting online in eight and a half days. If we had waited and got in line after the fact, it would have been a lot longer.ÔÇØWith floodwaters in the manufacturing facility reaching nine feetÔÇöjust below the ceiling tiles in some placesÔÇömuch of the electrical infrastructure had to be replaced or repaired, as did an extensive amount of the sensitive process-control equipment used to run the heavily automated facility. Communication was a major part of the recovery effort. The firm reached out to customers worldwide through its sales force to let them know of the disruption. As a result of the heroic recovery efforts, no customers were left without product during the ordeal. The company also communicated with its 170 employees to ensure that all were safe and to emphasize that no one would lose a job or even miss a paycheck as a result of the flood, no matter how long the plant remained down.The facility returned to 100 percent capacity by July 3, 2008. A month later, the company held a ÔÇ£celebration of miraclesÔÇØ party for employees and other constituents. ÔÇ£We have a manufacturing process thatÔÇÖs exclusive and proprietary,ÔÇØ says Bloomhall, ÔÇ£so we canÔÇÖt just go anywhere to get our unique product produced. There were steps we could do outside, such as packaging and warehousing, and we had a lot of friends and customers help out with these aspects whenever they could. But because weÔÇÖre the only ones who can make the product, it was absolutely critical to get the facility back online. And to do it under those conditions was nothing short of miraculous.ÔÇØThe company also had to be flexible. ÔÇ£It was a very fluid plan,ÔÇØ Bloomhall says, ÔÇ£and what we planned to do each day depended on the parts and people available; by noontime that whole plan might have to be changed. There was never idle time. If we couldnÔÇÖt do something, weÔÇÖd move on to the next thing, knowing we could bring it all together in the end.ÔÇØEven as the flood and recovery efforts were taking place, Diamond V was also busy building a new, second manufacturing facility, also located in Cedar RapidsÔÇöthough well away from the banks of the river. That $25 million plant is soon to be brought online, boosting the companyÔÇÖs output capacity by 50 percent. The new facility will feature a number of improvements on the current plant and state-of-the-art features, including additional automation schemes and streamlining that allows more production to be done in less space. ÔÇ£We spent a lot of time focusing on how we could improve the process and utilize new technologies to further build and maintain confidence in our products. In the end, all those decisions were based around quality and trust in the final product,ÔÇØ says Bloomhall.Those products include natural feed enhancements for dairy and beef cattle, swine, poultry, companion animals and even fin fish being raised in aquaculture settings. After 65 years of sales growth, Diamond V has no plans to slow down. ÔÇ£Our plan has us doubling our sales in the next five years,ÔÇØ says Bloomhall. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs part of our core values to continue to grow the company and find the best and most passionate people, put out world-leading products, and have the programs in place to support the products, our people and our customers. Our customers are agricultural farmers and producers, and there is huge risk every day in their businesses, from weather and diseases to commodity prices. We work with them to find ways to reduce that risk.ÔÇØ  ÔÇô Editorial research by Alan Iodice