Hurry its only on for the month of May!

It is with great pleasure and pride we are able to announce CenturyVallen’s own Heidi Griesbauer walked away victorious last night with the Employee Campaign Chair of the Year – Private Sector award. The nominees in this category were all excellent contenders, and many were some of our best customers – and there were 15 nominees in all.

As everyone knows, Heidi was instrumental in leading the team to the most successful United Way campaign in CenturyVallen’s history, raising $50,000. Her enthusiasm and creativity made the campaign one of the most fun and exciting fundraising drives thus far.

Everyone at CenturyVallen would like to congratulate Heidi on this amazing accomplishment, and we will be watching to see what new levels of success she can attain in the coming 2013 United Way campaign.

Awesome Job, Heidi!!!

Thanks to Heidi’s dedication and hard work, CenturyVallen was also nominated in the following categories…

Best Leaders of the Way
Quantum Leap
Outstanding Campaign Committee

Find samples of the new forms below which you can download by clicking on them:

Customer Quote

Customer Order Acknowledgement

Customer Invoice

Customer Statement

Vendor Purchase Order

Vendor Expedite

Thanks for sharing in our progress! We are excited to embrace these changes for the betterment of of our customer and supplier relationships.

Our very own District Safety Coordinator, John Moore, will be a featured speaker in the Industrial Safety Seminar Series at the 40^th Annual Industrial Safety Seminar February 4 – 6, 2013 at Evraz Place in Regina. 

Since 1974, the event has grown to become Saskatchewan’s premier safety show and one of the largest events of its type in Western Canada. The 40^thAnnual Industrial Safety Seminar will feature 24 educational sessions including 4 keynote presentations, and will showcase 100 tradeshow booths making it one of the largest displays of safety equipment and services in Western Canada.  CenturyVallen is proud to once again be involved and sponsor this event. 

The Industrial Safety Seminar, although aimed primarily at business and industry, is open to anyone interested in safety. Record attendance in 2012 brought in over 800 delegates representing Safety Managers and professionals, Occupational Health and Safety Committee Members, Supervisors and interested small businesses and individuals. Delegates represent a large cross section of Saskatchewan industries, Provincial and Federal regulatory agencies, crown corporations and private companies.

John will be presenting the Fall Protection Fundamentals seminar. This presentation will focus on fall arrest fundamentals like choosing the right anchorage, care, use, limitations, compatibility, capacity, as well as the

inspection of fall arrest components. Participants will receive a brief introduction to legislation governing fall protection and the relative standards associated with the manufacturing of fall protection systems including body holding devices, anchorages, connectors and horizontal lifelines. Topics discussed include resistance to change, legislation and standards, hierarchy of fall protection, hazards associated with fall restraint and arrest systems, fall arrest components and safe practices, equipment selection, and equipment care, maintenance and inspection.

John is currently the District Safety Coordinator with CenturyVallen. He is an OSSA certified fall protection trainer and a certified fall protection “Train the Trainer”. John has instructed over 1,600 hours of certified fall protection awareness and fundamentals training and has 15 years of field hazard assessment and product implementation experience. He is a Technical Committee Member for the Alberta OH&S Fall Protection Committee. John is a Cod Jigger by birth and Western Canadian by choice.

If you’ve never seen John speak before, you are in for a real treat!

For more information, or to register, please visit the link to the event by clicking here.

If you’re like me, you’ve been rushing around buying gifts, attending parties, and making plans for the holidays to spend time with friends and family. I’ve been in a bit of a frenzy and running here, there and every where. ‘Tis the season for that sort of thing. ‘Tis also the season for giving. I struggle sometimes with buying the “perfect” gift. I want it to make them feel special. I want them to know they matter to me. I want them to know they make a difference. Hang with me here as I swing off on a tangent… I work for CenturyVallen, which I’m sure you’ve concluded by now. It struck me as odd that my latest epiphany came while standing out back in the warehouse. On Monday, December 10th I attended a gathering where CenturyVallen presented 7 people with “years of service” awards. You know the ones – most of us have received them at some point in our working lives. A handshake and a congratulations for your commitment and time to the organization…. usually accompanied by some official company document or gift.

So, why am I making a big deal out of that, you ask? I know a lot of you have also heard of Goodwill Industries. You see the ads, and you understand the basic premise of the organization. Hang on a minute though – I bet you didn’t know that for the last 4 years CenturyVallen has had 7 team members in our warehouse as a result of Goodwill’s Community Employment Program which supports people with disabilities in locating employment or volunteer opportunities in their community. 7 team members that perform value added work in our distribution center and head office. 7 team members that walk our halls and are greeted by name. 7 team members that wear our branded clothing and come to work each day as the rest of us do. As I hang in the back of this presentation and take some pictures, I’m watching their faces as one by one, Ray Bolin and Albert Brenneis call each of them forward to shake their hand and receive their recognition for the years of service they have given to CenturyVallen. As they each come forward before their peers, coworkers, management and their parents, the look on their faces tells it all. Authentic, genuine, proud. It occurs to me in that moment – that as excited as we are to give a gift that matters – their appreciation for being included as a part of our team far outweighs anything that we could ever buy. It occurs to me in that moment that I’m overjoyed to participate in this for their sake, not for my own. It occurs to me in that moment that I needed a reminder – that giving a gift that matters pales in comparison to the experience of being included and recognized in such a way that makes one realize they DO matter. It’s not the gift at all, although that’s a wonderful gesture. It is really the experience of realizing your efforts are worthy, that your contribution is valued, that your pride has been nurtured. At the end of the day isn’t that what we all want?

So, it occurs to me in that moment, that maybe I forgot “giving” shouldn’t really be based on a season at all. Maybe the season just happened to help me remember the reason behind it all. Maybe we should all look at the kindness we extend to others during the “season” of giving, and turn the season into a reason to participate in programs like this one, to see the value instead of the limitations, to embrace the possible, to recognize the beauty of the human spirit. Remind yourself that giving extends far beyond a season. Help someone else realize THEIR reason.

For more information on the Goodwill Community Employment Program please contact JLoewer@goodwill.ab.ca

Warm wishes,
Kelli

Well the numbers are in and we are pleased to announce that the employees of CenturyVallen have raised $29,354.61 for the United Way! As CenturyVallen has generously  agreed to match employee contributions up to $20K, the grand total is $49,354.61! This is a fantastic accomplishment and a very significant contribution to our communities.

We had some exciting events this year, including Getaway for United Way, Early Bird Pledge Card Draw, the always popular Bingo games and Time off With Pay (which I am sure the five lucky winners are looking forward to!). Nathan Treloar (pictured here) of the United Way was on hand to draw our lucky winners!  After pledge card donations, the events that raised the highest amounts were Getaway for United Way ($4220), Time off With Pay ($1775) and Bingo ($1258 total). Being able to plan these events was exciting, but seeing the positive morale and the participation of employees during these and many other campaign events reminded us of how supportive and caring a company CenturyVallen and its’ employees are.  We would like to thank Capital Safety and Watson Gloves as well as Brand Alliance, H&W Produce, and Gillian Lavigne (Avon)  for their support of our campaign this year.

We would like a special mention for 2 of our branches.  Firstly, for the second year in a row, the Fort McMurray branch has been awarded two very important titles. As a branch, Fort McMurray had 100% participation in pledge card donations. As well, they had the highest average pledge donation per employee! Great job Fort McMurray in attaining such success for your community!  Secondly, our Sudbury branch alone contributed $10,000 that was raised through an event hosted at the branch in partnership with our vendors.  The event was attended by customers, industry associations and members of the community.  Excellent teamwork Sudbury!!

This year, we also introduced the Coats for Kids and Families and the Put Your Workboots to Work Events. Donations of winter clothing and footwear are very important to our communities and can sometimes be overlooked. However, with this new event, CenturyVallen did not disappoint! At Eastgate alone, we have a skid full of winter wear to donate, along with several pairs of footwear looking for a new home. There have also been large clothing/footwear donations through many of our branches and these donations will have a positive impact on our community members in need!

We want to extend a special thank you to Heidi Griesbauer for being the Campaign Chair for the 2012 CenturyVallen United Way Campaign.  The results are outstanding in large part due to her efforts.  She had this to say in summary – “This has been an absolute pleasure for me. My hope is that we can all see the positive impact we have created as a company and as individuals. This year has proved successful in fundraising efforts and I look forward to next years’ campaign!”

Thank you to all for your continued support, dedication and generosity to the CenturyVallen United Way Campaign.  As Nathan’s shirt so accurately states “Change Starts Here”.

Guy Merserau and wife Donna were pleased to be joined by Jim Ferguson and his wife Barb along with Scott Rideout and wife Sandy, Tim Donovan and wife Jennifer, Dylan Lustig and girlfriend Laura Cote as well as Rod Smith and his wife Deanna – both former Fort McMurray residents, Rob Bienvenu and wife Adrienne, Lisanne Babcock and husband Ross as well as Donna Soloman from Watson Gloves.  

We are pleased to announce that the CenturyVallen Eastgate CDC was the winner of the first annual LIM Award – a global competition for Sonepar operating companies around the world.　 This award was presented to Ray Bolin (CDC Manager) during the Sonepar International Logistics Meeting in Rome two weeks ago.

The LIM Award is given to a Sonepar operating company who has successfully implemented a significant change in their logistics or warehousing operations.

CenturyVallen’s submission was based on the productivity gains we have achieved through the combination of 3 significant changes in our CDC over the past 18 months:

• Our Velocity Slotting project (moving high velocity SKUs closer to the conveyor)
• Our TWL implementation
• Our CDC Bonus system (which pays our team for high productivity)

 There were 36 submissions from around the world. 6 operating companies were chosen to present live to all meeting delegates, and the winner was chosen by peer vote.

 Join us in congratulating Ray Bolin and his Supervisors for their leadership throughout these changes, and also to our CDC Team for this award – it’s a team award after all, with everyone contributing.  To be in the company of other Sonepar sister companies in Canada and throughout the world that are logistics masters, and to be recognized at that level as #1, is an honor for CenturyVallen!

Come join us at the trade show from 7am – 3pm at the Holiday Inn in Sudbury.  Registration information can be found by clicking the event link above or by contacting the CenturyVallen branch in Sudbury at 705-222-7870.