RDO-Calbee employees win top productivity award from Calbee

Calbee Foods Co. of Japan has awarded its top productivity prize to employees at its United States joint-venture RDO-Calbee Foods.

Along with the recognition, the Boardman, Oregon company received a 500,000 yen prize, which is $6,000.

Calbee Foods’ officials said the purpose of the contest was promoting productivity in their Japanese operations. They extended the contest to include company affiliates overseas.

RDO-Calbee Foods’ entry into the contest was performance improvement after installing new cutting equipment in its Boardman production line.

The new equipment improved the quality of the potato cuts, said Gene Jensen, RDO-Calbee president. The change not only improved the efficiency of the Boardman operation, but also reduced waste in the Japanese plants that import RDO-Calbee’s product. The waste reduction provided a significant cost savings to the Calbee Foods operations in Japan.