Employees at Pilgrim’s Pride Celebrate 40 Years on the Job

(KNSI) – Pilgrim’s Pride in Cold Spring held a luncheon on Wednesday to celebrate employees marking their 40th anniversary at the complex.

Dan Heinen is the second processing superintendent during the day shift. He talks about how technology has changed the nature of the work. “I can tell you in the early 80s, we did a lot of knife work, a lot of manual labor cutting down the sides with a knife. Now we have all the machines, a lot more technology. And the line speed, we’re running twice as fast as we were then,” he says.

Heinen believes his current job is the best one yet and he is already anticipating reaching 45 years at the plant. Pilgrim’s says its long-tenured employees are counted on to help pass along the company’s values to the next generation of workers as mentors.

Laura Hannah is a supervisor with the deboning team. She talks about the bond she forms with younger workers. “Personally… I guess I call all my people that are younger than me my kids. They’re my family. So, if I can mentor them like I did my own children at home, I can be pretty proud of them.”

The factory handles about 200,000 birds per day. Hannah says they did about 84,000 per day when she started. Hannah says the plant is a tradition in her family. Her parents and siblings were also employed there.

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