McWilliams receives National Driver ‘All-Star’ award

 Sept. 24, 2024 — Congratulations to Customer Sales Representative Joseph (Matt) McWilliams from our Consumer Brands team! Matt was recently honored as a Driver All-Star by the National Private Truck Council (NPTC) at its annual conference in Orlando, Florida.

Matt McWilliams, center, recently
received a Driver All-Star Award.

The National Driver All-Star awards are given annually by NPTC to private fleet truck drivers who demonstrate high performance standards against their peer drivers throughout the country. Drivers are evaluated on customer service, safety, adherence to company standards, regulatory compliance and community service.

Matt joined our team five years ago and is responsible for customer routes in the Shelbyville, Missouri, area.

While Matt says he’s focused on working safely every day and knew he was performing well, he admits winning the award caught him by surprise.

“It was really nice to hear (I won the award),” said Matt. “My boss asked me to join a conference call, and everyone started congratulating me. I was shocked.”

Two teams achieve 1,000 days safe

Sept. 9, 2024 — A big congratulations goes out to two of our teams that hit a tremendous safety milestone over the summer.

In recent weeks, production teams in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and distribution center teams in Marshall, Minnesota, celebrated the achievement of reaching 1,000 days without an accident or injury.

The team in Pottstown, Pennsylvania achieved
1,000 days without an accident or injury.

Our facility in Pottstown makes the pie tins and lids for our desserts, while our distribution center team in Marshall includes a cold-storage warehouse, dry-storage warehouse, material distribution center and employee story.

Both teams celebrated during a luncheon with company leaders.

“I would like to stress that every member of this team is what I call a ‘safety-engaged employee,’ ” said Jay Blegen, who leads the Marshall team. “I’ve personally seen safety callouts from most of the team; that’s what it’s all about, never being afraid to call out a safety issue when you see it.”  

“This accomplishment is really about the people,” said Ted Schilling, who leads the team in Pottstown.

The distribution center team in Marshall,
Minnesota, achieved 1,000 days without
an accident or injury.

“They deserve the credit. They’re the ones working safely every day. They work safely, and they’re always watching out for each other.”

At Schwan’s, our goal is to make sure everyone goes home in the same shape as when we come to work. We focus on four principles:

• Working safely is a condition of employment.
• Everyone is responsible for preventing accidents and injuries.
• All accidents and injuries can be prevented.
• Employees have the right to stop unsafe work.