The Wet Noses Natural Dog Food Company is picky, even by the exacting standards of the specialty dog food industry. They only choose ingredients for their dog food that humans can eat. The company’s motto says it all: “If you wouldn’t eat it, don’t feed it to your dog.”
Achieving that goal requires great attention to detail and a commitment to efficiency, accuracy, quality, and serving the customer. So, it’s little surprise that the company also is an adherent to the tenets of continuous process improvement and Lean Six Sigma.
Wet Noses, which has grown rapidly in the last two decades, is implementing a World-Class Operational Excellence program that uses Lean and Six Sigma tools and other methods to deliver quality, manage costs, increase productivity, deliver world-class safety and improve both customer service and employee engagement.
Putting the program in place “differentiates Wet Noses from our competitors,” Robert Prystash, the company’s vice president of operations, told Pet Food Processing magazine.
The company provides an excellent example of how Lean and Six Sigma can work for small businesses, especially one that is focused on growth. Wet Noses is reaching that goal with high process standards, a commitment to train and retain employees, and by meeting the demands of their customers.
Who is Wet Noses?
Based in Monroe, Washington – about 25 miles northeast of Seattle – Wet Noses creates private label dog food and treats for retailers in the United States and internationally. The company also sells its own brands under Wet Noses, Doggy Delirious, and Best Homies.
Every product they make is manufactured in a certified Safe Quality Food Level III facility, meaning it qualifies to manufacture human-grade food. They make their products without artificial ingredients, GMOs, corn, wheat, soy, or preservatives.
On its website, the company proclaims: “We make the best damn dog food, for real.” They take an egalitarian approach, saying every dog – not just “fancy dogs” or “good dogs” – deserve “the good stuff.”
Rapid Growth For Baking Company
Wet Noses has come a long way since Jasmine “Jazz” Galligan founded it in 1998, deciding to make the baked peanut butter and molasses training treats she gave her dogs to other people around Seattle. What hasn’t changed is the commitment to using human-grade, organic ingredients.
Rather, the issue has been scale. As the treats became more popular, Wet Noses had to grow. It went from a 4,000-square-foot warehouse space in 2005 to 15,000 in 2009. By 2012, Wet Noses had expanded into a 30,000-square-foot facility.
The baking company also benefited from the release of more stringent guidelines for pet food manufacturers in the first decade of the 21st century. Wet Noses already had a mindset of high quality, so rules such as testing critical control points every 15 minutes and tracing the origin of ingredients fit into the company culture.
The company now operates out of an 87,000-square-foot facility with 70 employees and a variety of product formats, including baked treats and dog food; enrobed treats; dehydrated treats and dog food; jarred wet pet food and toppers; and frozen pet food and toppers.
Using Lean in Food Manufacturing
Galligan eventually brought in a CEO to help the company grow. That person, Johnni Rodgers, is experienced in the consumer packaged goods industry. She and other leaders at the company have made process improvement part of the company’s successful growth.
A focus on process is needed because Wet Noses has such a wide variety of products produced in the company’s facility. Challenges include managing ingredients, storage, and scheduling.
But Prystash told Pet Food Processing that employees “manage the complexities flawlessly day in and day out.” The company also has empowered employees and created clear paths for them to learn new skills and take on more responsibility. That focus on training and retention of talented employees is also a focus of Lean and Six Sigma methodology.
Rodgers said the goal of the company is to expand its reach while maintaining a high-quality standard for its products, adding that she is “excited about how well Wet Noses’ values and processing standards align with where consumers are going. With the strategy we have in place and the talent we have onboard, it will be a matter of time before Wet Noses is a household name.”
