COLUMN: Carillon Flashback, June 9, 2011 – Taking the plane beats a three-hour commute

A three-hour commute to work would hardly be seen as desirable. It’s why HyLife believes the company’s purchase of a plane to whisk up to nine employees to the hog processing plant in Neepawa is not a luxury, but a sensible solution.

“It’s a school bus for us. We don’t view it as a luxury for our company,” said Ron Schellenberg, vice-president of transportation and logistics at HyLife. “We view this as a tool, like every other tool our company has.”

When the economics of sending all those people and the loss of productivity that results are weighed, it became a conscious decision to make a change, Schellenberg explained.

The time HyLife’s employees are saving under this new arrangement is remarkable. The three-hour drive each way is substantially more than the 45 minutes the 10-seater Piper Chieftain is in the air for every flight. The airplane was purchased by the organization (formerly known as Hytek) in October.

Not all HyLife employees opted to drive home every day. Some did, but others elected to stay overnight at the residence the company purchased in Neepawa.

Leaving at 5 a.m., and trying to rush back home by 8 p.m. is not sustainable. Schellenberg said.

The commutes began in March, 2008, when HyLife, after facing rejection for a large proposed processing plant in Winnipeg, headed to Neepawa and purchased the Springhill plant, an operation previously owned by a consortium of 16 Hutterite colonies. They renamed the branch HyLife Foods.

The plant grew tremendously in short order. Within a year, it boosted its capacity from 300,000 pigs to 940,000, and the number of employees followed suit, from 300 to 550 today.

Due to this rapid growth – with more to come – HyLife settled on bringing over some of their experienced staff from the La Broquerie headquarters. Initially, just a few individuals headed out, but by last year, eight to 15 people were at the plant on a regular basis.

Guy Baudry, senior vice-president and general manager of HyLife Foods, is one of the integral players who have spent considerable time in Neepawa since 2008. Like many of his co-workers, he often stayed in the community during the week rather than return to his La Broquerie home every day.

“This (plane) was very much a welcome addition to our travels,” said Baudry. “Our team has been growing at HyLife Foods, and this has allowed us to take more of our HyLife team from southeastern Manitoba to Neepawa. For us, it’s total convenience.”

Late Monday afternoon, Baudry, Schellenberg, pilot Caleb Thiessen, Andre-Michel Audette, Sheila Kolesar, Mitch Tetrault and Denis Tetrault met The Carillon when they arrived at Steinbach Airport. The same employees do not always make the travel to Neepawa.

Life without the aircraft was a hassle for the HyLife employees who were asked why more of them didn’t move closer to Neepawa, like a few have done.

“A lot of us had planted roots in our community and were committed to our company,” Schellenberg said. “It was a sacrifice that I was willing to make, but it was only short-lived.”

On rare occasions the HyLife team must drive to Neepawa, because their plane is down for repair. Pilot Caleb Thiessen said when the plane is back in service, his passengers don’t often forget how much better they now have it.

“They appreciate the flying a lot more when they get to come back.”

– with files from Ian Froese