The Dirt - July 2011

Dos Gringos

The Dirt - July 2011



Hola!


A belated “Happy Independence Day” to all! We hope everyone enjoyed a nice, relaxing long weekend with family and friends.


California Floral Convention, La Costa, CA

La Costa Resort
As summer heats up – looks like Mother Nature finally found that “On” switch -- it’s time for some serious Fun ‘N Sun, and we look forward to seeing many of you at the semi- annual California floral convention running July 20-23 in the La Costa Resort in Carlsbad. I’ll be in the Dos Gringos booth with Marco Rivera and Rich Fruman on Friday the 22nd. We’ll have plenty of California-grown items to show, and we’ll be happy to discuss the latest and greatest innovations meant to keep us Number One in freshness. Grower Bunches and our Just Add collections are great florist items; check them out as well. Because we’re Dos Gringos, we like to think the “Sun” in Fun ‘N Sun is all about Sunflowers, so we’ll be showing off at least some of the most impressive varieties this summer.



See a Promo Video of Rene van Rems at IFE last month! (from flowersandcents.com)

http://www.flowersandcents.org/index.php?topic=4117.msg43570#msg43570



Take a Tour of Dos Gringos


While you’re in town for the show, don’t miss a guided tour of our operations in Vista. Joan Saunders will be meeting and greeting clients throughout the four-day show; if you’d like to set something up ahead of time please reach out to her at
joan.saunders@dosgringos.net.

Can't make it? Take a Virtual Tour on our site! (Click here)


Total Quality Management
TCM1

This month features more work with our Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative. Many of you know that we’ve rolled out the program company-wide with the immediate goal of elevating customer service at every level of the organization. Our primary objectives are to:

• Fully understand and then satisfy our customers’ requirements;

• Establish a culture of “zero defects” and a passion for continuous improvement;

• Dissect critical processes to improve workflow;

• Use customer satisfaction as the ultimate measurement of quality.


We’ve created a Quality Council to steer our TQM work, and we’ve built eight Quality Improvement Teams to do a deep dive into key business processes, including raw material intake, grower standards, the cold chain process and sales forecasting. We’ve had some breakthroughs related to better-defined standards on our receiving docks and throughout the plant. Much more to report in the coming months…



TCM2



Other Happenings
On the family front, our own Gabe Gill (Plant Manager) will be married this month at the San Diego Botanical Gardens. Congratulations and best wishes, Gabe and India. I’m also getting a chance to recharge the batteries a little this month. A week off with the family included a 15-year anniversary celebration for Melissa and me. Fun fun!




We have a winner!


Signing off

Jason Levin
President & Chief Gringo


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