At L&P, we’re inspired by our colleagues who go above and beyond to enhance our businesses. This month, we’re sharing stories of women at L&P who have improved our products and processes with their creativity and leadership.

Meet Claudia Ortega. Claudia has been with L&P for 17 years. She started as the Quality System Manager at Mary Ann Industries in Villa Rica, GA. She is now part of the Leggett Business Systems Office (LBSO) Quality Management Systems (QMS) team as a Senior Quality System Continuous Improvement (QS/CI) Coordinator.

The LBSO department provides Quality Management System audits and training for several of our Leggett branches. As a result of the pandemic, the LBSO team had to develop ways to perform audits and training remotely.

“Claudia was instrumental in helping develop the remote training materials and process for delivering this training,” says Jeff Howery, Director of Quality Management Systems. “She has continued to expand the program with new offerings and materials to meet our branch’s quality system needs.”

We talked to Claudia about this project, the challenges the LBSO team faced, and how the new training has improved our business.

Can you tell us about the audits and your goals for making these trainings remote?

The main objective of audits is to verify that our branches conform to a series of requirements to guide processes and that they implement them in a way that helps improve operations. A management system audit consists of three main activities: Process observations, interviews with plant personnel, and review of evidence and documentation. These three activities needed to be conducted using remote methods of communication because it was important to perform a complete evaluation of those systems. The goal was to ensure the audits provided valuable and useful information to the branch concerning their process’s effectiveness and management system.

How did you work through the obstacles of doing remote audits?

First, we revisited how we planned the audits. It was necessary to be flexible and have more work done before the audit date to confirm logistics and infrastructure needs with the facility. For example, we inquired whether the branch could do video or voice calls.

We developed a document explaining how the remote audit process would work and a pre-audit checklist for the branches to complete and submit to plan the audit agenda. This document helped us understand the capabilities and constraints the branches may have and plan the audit accordingly. The branches have been very receptive, and although it has been challenging, the process has been effective and helpful in assessing conformity and effectiveness as well as identifying opportunities for improvement.

What were your challenges with taking training remotely, and how did you work through it?

The challenge related to training was adapting a program developed to be performed on-site to a remote format that was both manageable and helpful for the branches and the participants. The duration and content of the training were two of the main things that needed to be adjusted.

We restructured the content to flow better in the time allocated to complete the training. We also developed activities to assess the participants’ understanding and provide opportunities for participation and interaction. Although it has its limitations, it has provided the opportunity to bring branches from different locations together. It has also become more accessible because participants can enroll and attend training without leaving their branch.

We also developed tools such as templates, tables, and flowcharts to provide branches with examples and guides. We distribute a quarterly training calendar, and the branches enroll participants in their selected topics. The response has been great! They have been very receptive and interested in improving their systems, which is the focus of these webinars – to create content that would help the branches enhance their management system and, as a result, the effectiveness of their operations.

Thank you, Claudia, for exhibiting our value of taking ownership and raising the bar!

At L&P, we’re inspired by our colleagues who go above and beyond to enhance our businesses. This month, we’re sharing stories of women at L&P who have improved our products and processes with their creativity and leadership.

We’d like you to meet three members of our Human Resources Information System (HRIS) Configuration Team – Ashley Woods, Krystal Baker, and Lyn Eivers.

Ashley Woods is based in Jefferson City, MO, and has been with L&P for two and a half years. Krystal Baker lives in Joplin, MO, and has been with L&P for five years, and Lyn Eivers is based in Meath, Ireland, and has been with L&P for one and a half years. These women have an average of 15 years of experience implementing various Human Resources (HR) systems and have been instrumental in the successful launch of our HRIS system, LP CORE.

Being on different continents, the team only has a few hours daily to focus, collaborate, and train. In July 2022, the team had the opportunity to meet in person at the project kick-off. This time together helped them bond and foster a sense of trust and camaraderie.

Each of the women has a strong HR foundation built on practical experience, which helped them navigate the global complexities of our business with skill and efficiency and helped make the launch of LP CORE a success. We asked the team some questions about this project, the challenges they faced, and how LP CORE has improved our business.

What challenges did your team face while building LP CORE, and how did you overcome them?

We had a lot of listening to do at the start of this process. Early stakeholder engagement in the implementation phase identified a communication barrier. We were able to lean on L&P’s Translation Services team, including Liliana Cano-Montoya and Freda Ge from our Asia Pacific (APAC) region, for invaluable support throughout the process. The HRIS team translated the system into six languages for go-live to assist every level of HR employee.

Our team offered different learning solutions for every learning style, utilizing Teams training and written guides in all languages, and built online learning courses in the Learning Management System (LMS).

One of our core values is to be easy to work with and provide excellent customer service. Our team covers multiple time zones, so there is always one of us online to help the global HR community. Another way we overcame any challenges is by keeping a sense of humor – we all had great fun working together on the implementation.  

How did you approach building the HRIS and problem-solving as issues arose?

We are passionate about data and finding solutions. We spent hours building and testing configurations before presenting a solution to the L&P stakeholders. We also stayed agile; requirements changed daily, so new technical solutions had to be created to meet the latest needs. Our knowledge and experience with our previous organizations encouraged L&P to be open-minded and receptive to new and improved processes. 

How has LP CORE improved our business?                          

We delivered an HR solution that is now the recognized system of record for employee data globally. Data Security was always at the forefront of our minds as we configured and developed the system, ensuring authorized access was granted and approved prior to Go-Live. In addition, workflow approvals in the system have now reduced the number of paper/digital forms within the business and are fully auditable. Real-time reporting now allows data to be extracted and analyzed centrally. Going Live with LP CORE is only the start of the team’s journey – we are now busy preparing for new modules and continuous improvements.

Thank you to Ashley, Krystal, and Lyn for your dedication to our business and for showing what it looks like to do great work together!

At L&P, we’re inspired by our colleagues who go above and beyond to enhance our businesses. This month, we’re sharing stories of women at L&P who have improved our products and processes with their creativity and leadership.

Meet Linda Parker, Controller for U.S. Operations within Home Furniture! Throughout her 25 years with us, Linda has enhanced our businesses by improving efficiency and introducing new forms of standardization. We asked her some questions about work, mentorship, and how she overcomes challenges.

What is a day at work like for you?

Every day is different. At the start of a new financial period, I might field questions related to the previous period and start preparing forecast material. That morphs into the Finance and Accounting team preparing forecasts that I review and consolidate. After the forecasts are consolidated, I provide financial explanations to our Home Furniture group’s management.

Sometimes, I work on different analyses for Home Furniture’s management team so they have the financial information they need to drive our business forward. I also work with branch management on accounting and internal control issues.

How have you enhanced our businesses?

There are two enhancements that I am most proud of. The first relates to my tenure in overseeing the compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We had an issue where we needed to revise our physical inventory procedures, and I visited branches to see what the pain points were. I assembled a team across L&P to help solve the issues, and our process changes resulted in annual savings of approximately $1M+ for the company.  

The second enhancement relates to standardizing accounting processes for Home Furniture. Standardization allows team members to easily cover for each other when there is a personal emergency, makes process changes easier because the team is executing the task the same way, and helps reviewers find the information they need to perform a good review. This work was already in process when I joined the Home Furniture team, but I found additional areas where we could improve our efficiency and accuracy in financial reporting.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Implementing procedures to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act were challenging because compliance guidance kept changing and there was no roadmap on how to comply. There was also stakeholder resistance to these changes, and it was difficult to ensure that we had minimal impact to our operating locations. I found that the best way to tackle these types of large-scale projects is to break them down into pieces, use the best information available, and overcommunicate.

Process changes cannot be completed in a vacuum. I try to involve subject matter experts whenever possible. I learned very early in my career that, when converting locations to L&P systems, you need to involve representatives from all areas of the process so that you do not have unintended consequences. A change that makes sense for one area may cause problems in another. 

You’ve served as a mentor at L&P to plant accountants. What has your mentoring experience been like, and why do you think it’s important to be a mentor?

Each plant accountant on my team wants different things out of their career. As a mentor, my job is to listen to what their career goals are and help them achieve those goals – whether that’s progressing to a more advanced role or learning more advanced accounting processes. It’s very rewarding to see individuals achieve a career milestone or grasp a complicated accounting concept that they thought they couldn’t grasp.

I’ve benefited from some outstanding mentors – like Bill Weil, Joe Franklin, Megan Dawson, and Mike Carter – who have helped shape my career at L&P and enhanced my understanding of the manufacturing environment. I think it’s important to be a mentor so that there is someone who can be a sounding board for problem solving, help with identifying career opportunities, and be a source of technical knowledge. I also learn from our plant accountants!