2008

Award Recipient

National Institute of Standards and Technology • U.S. Department of Commerce

Baldrige National Quality Program

Cargill Corn Milling North America

Cargill Corn Milling North America (CCM), a business 

unit within privately held Cargill Incorporated, began 

operating in 1967 when Cargill, an international provider 

of food, agricultural, and risk management products and 

services, acquired a small corn-milling plant located in Cedar 

Rapids, Iowa. CCM manufactures corn- and sugar-based 

food, including whole-grain corn meal and corn oil; animal 

feed; and fermentation products, including ethanol, dextrose, 

and acidulants (substances added to food or beverages to 

increase their acidity). 

More than 2,300 employees work across CCM’s headquarters in Wayzata, Minn., nine manufacturing facilities, 

and 11 distribution terminals located throughout the United 

States. Over the past four decades, CCM has grown from 

processing 10,000 bushels of corn each day to processing 

more than 1 million bushels of corn each day. 

This is the second time in four years, and the third time 

overall, that a Cargill business unit has received the Baldrige 

Award. Cargill’s egg-processing business—first called Sunny 

Fresh and now known as Cargill Kitchen Solutions—received 

the award in 1999 and 2005. 

Partner of Choice

CCM’s vision clearly is focused on its more than 3,000 

customers. Its purpose, “to be a partner of choice of the 

customers we serve,” and mission, “to deliver distinctive 

value to customers,” drive its organizational culture. 

CCM is focused on customers and maintains a strong 

commitment to its values—Demonstrate Integrity, Be Injury 

Free, Expand Customer Focus, Be Innovative, Develop Talent, 

Promote Collaboration, Demand Accountability, and Strengthen 

Communities—yielding outstanding financial and market 

results. For example:

•	CCM’s earnings after tax, a key financial goal, nearly

tripled from 2003 to 2007.

	 •	CCM’s selling, general, and administration expense per

gross profit—the cost of doing business—improved from 

about 35 percent in 2005 to 30 percent in 2008, exceeding 

competitive benchmarks by at least 5 percent between 2005 

and 2007.

	 •	Between 2002 and 2008, CCM’s compound annual

growth rate with key customers increased significantly. For 

example, sugar customers increased 44 percent, corn oil 

customers and ethanol customers increased 28 percent, and 

dry-corn-processing customers increased 20 percent.

Everyone in the organization, from technical service 

representatives to CCM’s president, is a “touch point” for 

listening and learning about customer requirements and 

expectations. Among the successes are the following:

	 •	From 2005 to 2008, CCM maintained an error-free

delivery rate of about 99 percent.

	 •	Complaints per shipment declined from approximately 0.3

percent in 2005 to less than 0.2 percent in 2008—even as the 

number of shipments has increased by 18 percent since 2003.

	 •	Customer incidents, including rejections and complaints,

per 1,000 shipments declined from 10.5 in 2005 to 3.3 in 2008.

	 •	CCM has received numerous awards from customers,

including “supplier of the year” from Coors Brewing 

Company in 2007 and from Frito-Lay and H.J. Heinz in 2008.

Highlights

•	 CCM’s team-based culture and matrix organization foster

an environment of cooperation, communication, skill 

sharing, and leveraging of diverse ideas. Since 2006, CCM 

has saved more than $15 million from ideas generated by 

employees.

•	 From 2005 to 2008, CCM maintained an error-free

delivery rate of 99 percent or above.

•	 CCM’s operational reliability effectiveness rate, a ratio

between actual production and commercial demand, is at 

95 percent, three points shy of the world-class benchmark 

of 98 percent set by the Society of Maintenance and 

Reliability Professionals.

•	 Using methods such as real-time and predictive monitoring

of equipment health, stringent maintenance, and careful 

energy usage, CCM was able to maintain steady per-bushel 

costs from FY 2006 to FY 2008 even though energy costs 

increased by 50–80 percent, chemical costs rose by 30 

percent, and maintenance costs increased by 10 percent.
Driving Continuous Improvement

To remain successful and find ways to continuously 

improve business processes, services, and products, CCM 

places a high priority on well-trained, engaged, and innovative 

employees. All employees are provided with the tools and 

training needed to do their jobs and are empowered to

make decisions based on CCM’s values. With its team-based 

culture, every CCM employee is a member of at least one 

team, fostering cooperation, communication, skill sharing, 

and leveraging of diverse ideas. CCM actively identifies and 

develops future leaders through discussions of career and 

developmental plans, training, and mentoring.

CCM has established a variety of methods to improve 

performance, including a process used by many Cargill 

business units called Idea to Innovation, or i2i, to capture 

and track improvement ideas. “Idea mentors” help advance 

feasible suggestions through the process. Employee teams also 

use a nine-step Best Practice Model to plan, evaluate, analyze, 

and refine work processes. Process Development Groups 

facilitate collaboration and sharing of knowledge to increase 

the effectiveness of the improvement process. The CCM 

scorecard—posted monthly on the employee Intranet—keeps 

everyone in the organization informed on performance in 

four key categories: engaged employees, satisfied customers, 

enriched communities, and profitable growth. Among the 

achievements are the following:

	 •	Since 2006, CCM has saved more than $15 million from

ideas generated by employees. 

	 •	From 2004 to 2008, scores from CCM’s Employee 

Engagement Survey (EES) showed that overall employee 

engagement increased from 37 percent to 65 percent. 

	 •	Sixty percent or more of employees agree that they

“enjoy day-to-day work activities” and that “Cargill offers

development opportunities to build valuable skills.”

	 •	Employee turnover at CCM is about 8 percent, well

below the industry average of 12 percent reported by the 

Bureau of National Affairs.

CCM employees are supported by senior leaders who are 

visible and who demonstrate the CCM value of integrity. 

The leaders make regular plant visits, interact directly with 

employees, and empower employees to be both innovative 

and entrepreneurial. To improve their own performance, the 

senior leaders receive feedback on their effectiveness through 

the EES and “360 degree” feedback ratings from peers, 

subordinates, and supervisors. Results from the EES show 

that more than 60 percent of employees agree that leaders are 

effective, and more than 80 percent agree that supervisors “act 

with integrity and in an ethical manner.”

Safety is No Accident

In a 24/7, 365-day-a-year manufacturing environment, the 

safety of CCM’s people, products, and facilities is paramount. 

CCM strives for a safety standard of excellence rather than 

just compliance and has an explicit goal to be injury free. To

reach this standard, CCM uses a proactive, employee-driven 

approach called behavioral-based safety to examine and analyze 

at-risk behaviors and create plans for improvement. Other 

safety processes include monthly inspections at all facilities 

and monthly meetings of managers and employees to review 

safety statistics, address safety issues, and plan safety events. 

The results? Take a look:

	 •	CCM’s measure of safety awareness stands at 92, well

above the world-class standard of 85 set by Behavioral Science 

Technology Inc.

	 •	CCM pays strict attention to food safety requirements,

including implementing a preventative approach known as 

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, and product-security 

and raw-material receiving procedures.

	 •	Since 2003, CCM has received a superior food safety

rating from the American Institute of Baking.

All CCM facilities are networked and include computerized systems to control production and distribution, 

troubleshoot equipment and processes, and monitor energy 

usage. Keeping these technologically advanced systems up and 

running around the clock is vital to CCM’s competitiveness 

and safety. The company’s commitment to manufacturing 

excellence ensures that this happens and helps it achieve 

impressive operational results. For example:

	 •	CCM’s operational reliability effectiveness rate, a ratio

between actual production and commercial demand, is at 95 

percent, three points shy of the world-class benchmark of 

98 percent set by the Society of Maintenance and Reliability 

Professionals.

	 •	Energy usage declined 7.9 percent on a BTU/bushel (a

unit of energy needed to process a bushel of corn) basis from 

2005 to 2008.

	 •	From 2006 to 2008, CCM maintained steady per-bushel

costs although energy costs increased by 50–80 percent, 

chemical costs rose by 30 percent, and maintenance costs 

increased by 10 percent.

To ensure that CCM is prepared for disasters—including 

severe weather, spills, or personal injury—an emergency

action plan details chains of command, actions, notifications, 

and requirements for resuming operations. While regular 

drills are conducted, CCM underwent a real-life testing of 

its plan after severe floods in June 2008 shut down its Cedar 

Rapids, Iowa, facility. CCM quickly implemented disaster 

recovery processes, rebuilt the plant, assisted employees and 

the community, and minimized operational and customer 

impacts. CCM employed its workforce through the entire 

period, demonstrating its commitment both to its employees 

and to the community in which it operates.

For more information:

Cargill Corn Milling North America

15407 McGinty Rd. West MS62

Wayzata, Minn. 55391

Telephone: (952) 742-4144

Fax: (952) 742-6965

E-mail: cornmilling2008/mbnqa@cargill.com

Web site: http://www.cargill.com