Erin Celebrates 15 Years of Service
posted on Monday, December 20, 2021
“Every single job within the company plays such an important part in animal care, and ultimately, producing food,” said Erin, who just celebrated her 15-year anniversary with Iowa Select Farms. “To know and see how we contribute to the overall mission is a great feeling.”
Erin joined Iowa Select Farms in 2006 as an accounting assistant and now works as a purchasing specialist in the distribution center in Iowa Falls. The hub of warehouse and purchasing for the entire company, Erin’s main role is to interface with our thousands of suppliers and vendors to ensure the farms are stocked with critical supplies needed for both the pigs and the people.
Erin says the biggest change she’s seen has been the rapid advancements in technology. “Back in 2006, we manually entered and passed around most of our information. It would take hours to input each farm’s month-end readings for things like medication or propane. Purchase orders were paper slips handed in by the supervisors. We’d have to match up notes with invoices that were eventually mailed in. No email, no scanning, no smartphones—everything just took longer.”
She says now everything is “at our fingertips” when it comes to inventory, and she can communicate quickly and accurately, which has helped the caretakers and managers at the farms.
Though things are normally predictable and routine in the purchasing department, the current supply chain challenges brought on by the pandemic have been eye-opening.
“I’ve learned to be patient, and to always have a back-up plan,” she said. “We have to think and be creative and work through solutions, so we don’t run out of essential items.”
Erin says the advice she gives employees who are new is to practice patience and keep an open mind. “We’re all doing small parts that come together every day that are important to the overall mission. We have to all understand those parts—and I still learn something new every day!”
Erin says her family has really benefitted from Iowa Select Farms and the generosity of Jeff and Deb. She and her husband, Scott, and two kids—Kyler (12) and Brynn (9) stay busy with their work, school, sports and church activities, and have always felt like Iowa Select Farms was a great fit.
“I love that our culture is about family and community. We appreciate the events that help us spend time together,” said Erin. “We have a crazy, busy life like most families, and events like the Iowa State Fair and Adventureland makes it easy for us to spend that quality family time together.”
“And Iowa Select Farms and the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation gives back so much, you can tell it’s making an impact,” she says. “I can’t count the number of times I’m stopped in my community by someone who wants to say thank you. It makes me proud to work here.”
Congratulations, Erin, on 15 years with Iowa Select Farms!
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