Translations Best practice in French version Best practice in English version

DEFROIDMONT fights job-related discomfort

3. Labor relations / working conditions

Working conditions

Context

Defroidmont offers fresh and frozen products for sale through home delivery, mail order or through retail food chains. Defroidmont is anchored in its territory and defends its values and know-how. Its slogan, "Our lands have talent", evokes traditional manufacturing practices that favor local sourcing, focusing on customer satisfaction and paying special attention to its environmental impact and the well-being of its employees.

Established in Liege in 1926, Defroidmont is today based in Maroilles, France, and is under the leadership of the founding family’s 3rd generation. Among its products are the famous flamiche aux Maroilles and the Tarte au Sucre du Nord. It has established a partnership with another company of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region awarded the Responsible Economy Trophy, the milling company Moulins Waast.

Objectives

  •  Reduce appearance of muscular-skeletal problems
  •  Limit absenteeism
  •  Increase productivity

APPROACH

 

Thanks to interviews and video recordings, all employees, the director and the management have participated in work meetings to brainstorm and collectively validate the best compromise to respond to the rise in Muscular-Skeletal discomfort of employees.

The latter are now equipped with "standing seats" on the production line to vary posture. A pouring tank has been installed to limit weights that are too heavy to carry.

The employees have the possibility to change posts every hour. They work in less noisy and more luminous environments thanks to the numerous bay windows.

Relaxation areas are important places of conviviality and communication.
To avoid improper movements, the kitchen dishwashers are positioned so that they can be filled standing. A massage chair is also available to employees in the relaxation room.

 


In realizing that Muscular-Skeletal problems was a major factor, given the seniority of the employees in the company and the artisanal mode of production, Defroidmont decided to invest in industrial manufacturing processes. To this end, the management sought support from the Food Industries Cluster of CARSAT to avoid these Muscular-Skeletal problems.

This collaborative work between the stakeholders led to the validation and enrichment of the new production line.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

  •  Productivity gains of 30%: previously 70 caddies per day were produced, today that number is about 100.

Benefits

  •  Improved working conditions and reduction of muscular-skeletal problems
  •  Reduced weight to handle on a daily basis. Previously, up to 3.5 tons had to be handled.
Workforce
40 salariés (2015)
Turnover
NC
Country
France

DEFROIDMONT

159, Grand Rue
59550 Maroilles

www.defroidmont.fr/fr/

Contact

Patrick Defroidmont, Directeur Général, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 03 27 84 65 65

Mise à jour le 28/06/2016

Creative Commons Attribution This work by Réseau Alliances – World Forum Lille is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.