By Denise Allabaugh
PITTSTON TWP.
A new line of drinks from Nature's Way Purewater Systems has helped the company double its workforce.
The work also created an issue for the company - it needed to train supervisors fast.
Enter Misericordia University, which made Nature's Way its first client in the Center for Adult and Continuing Education's new corporate training program for regional businesses.
The program helps equip workers with skills such as effective coaching, conflict resolution, understanding the legal side of management, fostering positive motivation in the workplace and optimizing performance through time-management techniques.
The training is proven to lead to better employee morale, increased employee retention, improved productivity and fewer legal issues, said Joseph Grilli, D.P.A., director of corporate and institutional recruitment for Misericordia University.
"We did some research and we found that employees who go to school while they're working are more loyal to their company, they're more productive and they're happier on the job," Dr. Grilli said.
At the Grimes Industrial Park, Nature's Way President and CEO Sandy Insalaco Sr. showed bottles of flavored spring water quickly rolling through production lines.
In addition to other spring water products, workers now produce cases of Sparkling Ice flavored spring water for the Preston, Wash.-based company Talking Rain. Workers produced about 580,000 cases in October and are hoping for 750,000 cases this month, Mr. Insalaco said.
Launching the new line of soft drinks allowed his company to double its workforce by adding more than 50 employees since July. The company now employs more than 100, Mr. Insalaco said.
"We hope to be their number one supplier. We're extremely close to that right now and we just started in July. We hope to produce 8 or 9 million cases for them a year, maybe 10 million," Mr. Insalaco said. "We're looking for the high-end products. That's the niche we're looking for. We've been very successful in growing for the last couple years."
Nature's Way has become a major provider of private label bottled water on the East Coast.
"We got hit with this opportunity where we had to double the workforce and we had to get supervisors in fast. We didn't have a lot of time," Mr. Insalaco said.
Mr. Insalaco said when the managers finished the training, they had more confidence, they were better able to handle day-to-day problems that arise on the production line and they appeared to be happier. The program creates good leaders and will help him move his company forward, he said.
"I've seen a change out there and I'm really pleased," Mr. Insalaco said. "They got their certificates on a Friday at the office and the following Tuesday, we hit a new high in production: 37,000 cases in one day."
The new program offers customized employee and management development training programs for small, mid-size and large businesses as well as nonprofit organizations. The new program helps workers improve themselves, Dr. Grilli said.
"We did some research and we found that employees who go to school while they're working are more loyal to their company, they're more productive and they're happier on the job," Dr. Grilli said.
He said the program was formed after talking to Mr. Insalaco about what employees' needs are.
Mr. Insalaco is most well-known throughout Northeast Pennsylvania for the 14 stores in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Monroe and Wayne counties named after his family. He was the former general manager and chief financial officer of Insalaco Supermarkets and his first job was working in the family supermarket business. The family's supermarket chain was sold in 1993 to Penn Traffic, which formerly operated Bi-Lo Supermarkets.
He also has been a big financial supporter of Misericordia University, where two buildings bear his name: the Sandy and Marlene Insalaco Hall and the Insalaco Center for Career Development. He has been the president and chief executive of Nature's Way Purewater Systems for the last 12 years.
In today's competitive business environment, Mr. Insalaco said he felt it was more important than ever to invest in his company's workforce "so they know they are an important part of the future success of the company and the products they produce."
"We also are hoping the program with Misericordia will help us increase employee retention throughout the company," he said. "This type of program will enable our employees to grow with the company and be a part of it long-term."
Contact the writer: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.comGETTING WITH THE PROGRAM: For more information about the Misericordia University Center for Adult and Continuing Education's corporate training program, call 674-8183 or email Christine Slacktish at cslackti@misericordia.edu.