'Big picture' management can benefit pork producers, say analysts

Optimizing, not maximizing pork production is what puts the most money in the pockets of pork producers, say two pork industry analysts from the University of Minnesota. The key is a "big picture" approach that focuses on quality management and recognizes the value of each link in the pork production process.

In a presentation at the 2007 Banff Pork Seminar, an annual seminar for the pork industry that attracts delegates from around the globe, John Deen and Stephanie Rutten-Ramos outlined the management factors that prevent pork producers from attaining optimum production and things that can be done to overcome those challenges.

"Optimization means system-wide management and, on a pork operation, that may mean less emphasis on the performance of individual units and more on how the system is performing overall," says Deen. "These are things we're starting to do, but still have a way to go."

Optimization of production also means an investment in records, people and methodological skills. "Because the pork industry has such a broad range of inputs which vary in quality and outcome, it is particularly reluctant to invest in the monitoring and analysis which enhance optimum production," he says. "But when such resources are available, the opportunities for improvement in swine production rise to a new threshold."

The first question one should ask when considering quality management, says Rutten-Ramos, is what defines "quality." Although quality can mean a number of things, there are eight core principles of quality management as adopted by the International Organization of Standards. They include, among others, a customer focus, leadership, involvement of people, and a factual approach to decision making and mutually beneficial supplier relationships.

There have been three general "assaults" on quality management in hog farming over the past few years, says Rutten-Ramos. One is the expansion of size and localization of responsibility. "This can create situations in which there is little communication between the different links in the production chain and input suppliers, resulting in a lack of optimization."

Another is the lack of measurement for factual assessment of quality. "We tend to get excited about savings in the sow unit and attribute them to lower weaning ages. In fact, it has been found that the savings within the sow unit are matched and exceeded by additional costs in the production system. In other words, the wrong people sometimes get the bonuses."

The third assault is a lack of management accounting. "Improvements in quality should not be assessed through standard financial accounting," says Deen. "Management accounting assesses potential improvements and is done by managers, not accountants. Those skills need to be developed in swine production."

Decisions based on quality management should be based on the "five whys," says Deen. "When there's a problem, we should be looking at not only one 'why' but a set of at least five 'whys' to discover the things that went wrong throughout the system to create the problem. Again, optimization is a matter of recognizing the links in the system and acting accordingly. It's something we're starting to do, but the opportunities are endless."

Held since 1972 in Banff, Alberta, the Banff Pork Seminar is coordinated by the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta, in cooperation with Alberta Pork, Alberta Agriculture and Food and other pork industry representatives from across Canada. Program and proceedings of the 2007 Banff Pork Seminar are available on the new Seminar Web site, www.banffpork.ca.

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