Work Exchange Brings New Meaning to 'Made in China'

By Lise Cloutier

There are few experiences in life that take you out of your comfort zone, force you to think differently about the world and actually have the potential to impact the work you do every day. Recently, I had one of those experiences.

I have been with Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. (Keurig) for nine years. I am responsible for quality control in the company’s hometown of Waterbury, Vermont, where I ensure that our brewers and beverage packs are ready to be distributed to our foodservice customers. I also capture data about the lifecycle of our coffee, such as when it was roasted, where it’s headed and what time it left our facility. I know what it takes to get our products into our customers’ hands and deliver a high-quality product. Turns out – for the past nine years, I’ve only known the half of it.

Earlier this year, Keurig sent me and eight of my colleagues on a week-long trip with stops in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, where we visited our co-manufacturers – meeting supply chain partners and touring their facilities. The purpose of this trip was to give us a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into building our brewers, from design and assembly to the finished product that ends up on kitchen counters. Few companies invest in truly hands-on, experiential learning opportunities for their employees, and in addition, it is very rare to get a window into manufacturing operations – especially in Asia.

Keurig knows a thing or two about source trips: The company has been sponsoring employee trips to coffee farms since the early 1990s – giving employees a chance to learn about coffee production while meeting our coffee suppliers and their families. This year, the company decided to expand its employee experience, sending nearly 70 employees to coffee farms in Nicaragua, Mexico, Peru and other coffee-growing countries, as well as the trip I took to Asia-Pacific – a very first for the company.

This journey started for me back in December, when my supervisor let me know that I had been selected out of hundreds of employees to trek across the globe. After only a few months of preparatory meetings, we were on our way. The trip was led by Richard Sweeney, co-founder of Keurig, Inc. (which was acquired by Keurig in 2006) and lead of Special Projects in our Product Supply Group, who, over the course of nearly 10 days, guided our group to four production sites as well as one design center.

We began our adventure in Hong Kong, where we were introduced to a welcoming group of managers at the global headquarters for Simatelex, a leading original equipment manufacturer specializing in electrical household appliances for worldwide brand names, including Keurig. Later that afternoon, we arrived in Shenzhen, China to tour another Simatelex production site, where several types of Keurig brewers are manufactured. We saw the full scope of production of our brewing systems – from the plastic injection process to the tooling department. We found out that employees at this first plant are engaged by their employer to volunteer in their communities the way we do through Keurig back home, a perk I assumed was uncommon for a plant job in Asia.

These sites seemed to do everything from start to finish – from creating the molds, to making their own tools and then assembling those pieces. They even conduct their own product testing. During our last few days, we also visited a design center in Singapore as well as another plant in Malaysia.

At the Malaysia plant, I witnessed something that demonstrated this newfound respect for manufacturing in Asia. When our group arrived, employees at the plant were in the middle of production and something was not functioning properly. I was very impressed by how they quickly brought all production to a halt to be sure to thoroughly correct the issue. Everyone waited while a supervisor, floor manager and quality control team came in to assess and fix the issue.

No matter the facility or location, I was struck by the dedication and drive of the management and employees we met. Everyone gives 110 percent. It was clear that everyone cares about the quality of the product that they are creating – just like I do. I also discovered that Keurig only works with Asian manufacturers that share the same values, which include things like benefits, a living wage, fair treatment of workers, trust, responsibility and a commitment to a quality product.

When I thought of manufacturing in China prior to this trip, what came to mind were things like unsafe working conditions, lower production quality and little supply chain visibility. What I witnessed was the exact opposite, and this experience really brought new meaning to the “Made in China” label I see every day. The fact that Keurig was willing to draw back the curtains and teach us about our Chinese operations shows a level of forward thinking that is uncommon among U.S. companies with manufacturing facilities abroad.

I try to approach my job each day with pride and integrity. My motto has always been, “If you are going to do a job, do it well.” I now have an even greater appreciation for the work I do because this trip allowed me to see how my job fits into the bigger picture – how I as an individual contribute to the company’s larger vision.

Instead of taking everyday items for granted, I now see an appliance for the sum of all its parts. I think about how products don’t just assemble themselves – how everything was made by somebody. So much time and energy went into designing, building, assembling and shipping an appliance so that it could end up here for my use. I won’t ever look at my home brewer the same way again.

Lise Cloutier is Machine Operator, Quality Control at Keurig Green Mountain’s Waterbury, Vermont facility. Lise is responsible for coffee processing and sensory, tracking coffee lifecycle data and operating various beverage packaging machines. She has been a proud employee of Keurig Green Mountain for nine years.