[AIB In the Field] Auditor Profile: Ron McCulloch

As 2007 came to a close, AIB said goodbye to one of our faithful auditors. After 47 years in the food industry, Ron McCulloch hung up his uniform whites and bump cap and headed into retirement. During his last week at AIB, I had the privilege to join Ron on a walk down memory lane as he reflected on his successful career.

Ron’s journey began in 1960. He was a high school student looking to make some money. An acquaintance of his mentioned that Continental Baking Company (now called IBC) was hiring, so Ron applied. Little did he know that this after-school job would take him on a 47-year journey and blossom into a successful career!

During the 30 years that Ron worked for Continental, he relocated four times and filled pretty much every role in the plant, including packaging machine operator, shop foreman, plant sanitarian, superintendent and operations manager.

Ron was drafted into the Army in the late 1960s and had to put his career on hold for two years of service, including a year in Vietnam. When his term with the Army ended, he returned to St. Joseph, Mo., to continue working. This time, he enrolled in college. While working full-time at the bakery, Ron completed a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Missouri Western State College. This degree proved beneficial throughout his career, as it helped him to understand and operate automated bakery equipment and made the transition to electronic audit reporting easier.

In 1990, Ron joined AIB’s staff as the 24th auditor. Today, there are nearly 100 auditors employed across the globe. When he began, Ron’s territory was limited to Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. Upon his retirement, Ron covered 14 states providing specialized Frito, YUM! Brands and GMA/FPA customer audits.

And those aren’t the only changes that Ron has experienced in the past 47 years. When he began working in the 1960s, food industry salaries, especially at bakeries, were very competitive. The pay was good and people were clamoring to get into the food business. That situation has dramatically changed. With automated equipment and budgeting pressures, today’s food industry jobs are drastically different, and the pay is reflective of that. There are fewer people choosing a career in baking and food processing, which has flooded the market with “rookies” who need extensive training.

Ron played an important role in initiating AIB’s movement toward electronic reporting. When he began in 1990, audit reports were written by hand and sent to AIB headquarters for processing. The turnaround time from the audit date to report completion took seven to 10 days on average. With his technology background and computer science degree, Ron realized that electronic reporting would cut administrative costs, improve consistency and save the auditors’ precious time. In 1991, he was the first AIB employee to use electronic reporting and was instrumental in training the other field auditors to do the same. Today’s average report turnaround time is about two days.

As the decades have passed, Ron has noticed several trends come and go. In the ’60s, AIB auditors were known in food plants as “bug people.” In the ’70s, that idea grew and auditors were known as “bug and rat people.” In the ’80s, after the GMPs took full effect, AIB auditors were perceived as “the people who look for peeling paint and rust.” Thanks to regulatory and customer requirements and due diligence, AIB auditors are known today as “the people who check paperwork and make sure that employees and operations match plant policies and programs.”

Although the industry has made drastic strides in the past four decades, Ron doesn’t expect the changes to end any time soon. With the upcoming revised GMPs, he expects to see more paperwork and documentation required for plants to prove that their programs are effective. In light of recent food safety recalls that have gained national attention, he thinks companies will become more aware of their risks and establish prerequisite programs to control and eliminate them. The modernized GMPs will move food plants to become more proactive and self-aware and AIB auditors will be available to professionally evaluate plant programs and validate the effectiveness of employee training.

As our interview drew to a close, Ron offered some helpful advice for new food industry employees. He said, “Educate yourself to thoroughly understand your job and your company’s expectations. Don’t depend on your manager to provide all of the training you will need in your role. Be ambitious, increase your job knowledge and set a long-term goal of success.”

When you ask new retirees about their post-career plans, many rank travel as a No. 1 priority, but that isn’t the case with Ron. He’s spent the past 17 years gallivanting across the country and missing home, so he plans to stay put. His days will be divided between hanging out with his family, catching up with the latest computer technology and relaxing. Who knows, maybe he’ll even dust off his bowling ball and add a few more perfect scores to his record.

Best of luck Ron, and thank you for the lasting impact you’ve made at AIB.

The author is Publication Coordinator, AIB International.