Del Monte(s) Reunite and Dauch Discusses Diversification: So That Happened

Editor’s note: Welcome to So That Happened, our editors’ takes on things going on in the manufacturing world that deserve some extra attention. This will appear regularly in the Member’s Only section of the site.

Adventures in Onboarding with Garlic 

Even though it was more than a decade ago, this editor remembers clearly a first day on the job when she was thrust into an intense conference planning meeting with no idea what anyone was talking about, and no one available to translate. She practically had to nail herself to the table to stop from dashing out the door into the arms of unemployment. 

Thankfully, the people turned out great and the work meaningful and challenging, but attention to the onboarding experience might have allowed her to focus 100% on becoming a productive employee, rather than 70% on repressing the urge to flee.  

Onboarding trauma is apparently widespread, according to a new Talogy survey of 800 industrial leaders. Respondents ranked a supportive, well-structured onboarding experience as the No. 1 “critical factor for a new hire’s long-term success.” 

An intriguing new-to-us component of the onboarding process is Realistic Job Previews. These are videos ranging anywhere from a couple of minutes to a half hour that give job candidates a real-life view of what the job involves.  

For instance, this video from Ventura Foods features an employee who is clearly a star line worker explaining the responsibilities of her role interspersed with footage of her actually doing her job.  

“A lot of people, if they’re not used to this kind of environment, it’s going to be a little bit hard, because it’s a lot of physical work,” she explains. It’s not just pressing buttons—you have to be aware of what’s going on around you and moving up and down the line to troubleshoot.” And, she adds, you have to get used to the strong garlic smell because they’re making salad dressing.  

The video explains that the technology can take a little while to learn. But the worker “likes the challenge and being in control.”  

The video comes off as surprisingly not hokey; instead, it paints a straightforward picture of what the job involves, as if a friend who works there is giving you the inside scoop.  

And, it holds the door open if you need to run from the garlic aroma before you commit to anything.

— Laura Putre

Dauch Bets on Diversification and Cross-Selling 

Nearshoring? Slimming down? Outsourcing? That’s not happening at Dauch Corp., the former American Axle & Manufacturing that last month completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of Britain’s Dowlais Group, the owner of GKN Automotive and GKN Powder Metallurgy. 

Speaking last week at the Bank of America Global Automotive Summit, Chairman and CEO David Dauch outlined the benefits he and his team see in the combination with Dowlais. There are, of course, the cost savings and synergies that are expected to total $300 million annually in a few years—in part because the two companies will be able to integrate vertically by having the former Dowlais use Dauch’s forgings while supplying it with more metal powder. Beyond that, though, the combination is in part a geographic bet, Dauch said, as well as a product and customer diversifier. 

“They’ve got very strong relationships with the European OEMs. Not that we don’t, but they have a stronger, a more lasting relationship there,” Dauch said. “And I would even say on the Asian side, where we have strong relationships, they have even stronger [ones]. So I think there’s tremendous cross-selling opportunities with the European and the Asian customers. We’re historically founded in the U.S. and our Detroit 3 is our primary customer base, so we can obviously help them in that respect also.” 

Founded more than a century ago when General Motors Corp. built an aircraft parts plant in Detroit, Dauch became independent in 1994 and initially derived nearly all its business from GM. With the former Dowlais now in the fold, GM’s share of Dauch’s sales is around 25%. Stellantis NV, Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG complete the company’s list of top five customers. 

In addition to cross-selling, a priority now is to get the most out of Dauch’s manufacturing footprint, which now spans 24 countries. 

“They’ve got a strong German engineering presence as well that’s received very favorably in the marketplace. Much like us, they’re a strong engineering and manufacturing company,” Dauch said. “I do see opportunities for improvement from an operating system standpoint in each of their facilities.” 

— Geert De Lombaerde

How to Succeed with Factory Automation 

Automakers need to get their software game in check and clean up their data, according to a new report from integrator Eclipse Automation, “The State of Factory Automation in North America in 2026,” 

The report reads like a scorecard for manufacturers’ automation projects, judging their preparedness against whether they reported achieving their goals. 

Most of the differentiators are no-brainers. Make a strong business case for automation before deploying automation. Then, push for: 

• Integration across the factory’s entire tech stack 

• Creating structured data to set targets and track effectiveness 

• Balanced leadership between IT and engineering 

• Collaboration and accountability 

• Achieving quick wins in line with long-term goals. 

The spotlight on the automotive industry kicked up a few interesting tidbits: 

• Only 30% of auto companies integrated their automation systems into their tech stack. 

• Only 15% use structured data.  

• 42% of car companies say automation enhances workers’ autonomy. 

If you’d like to read the entire report you may download it here. 

— Dennis Scimeca 

Machining Milestones 

America’s Cutting Edge (ACE), a national manufacturing and machining workforce training program managed by The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), has reached over 20,000 online students and 5,000 in-person bootcamp students. 

Recently celebrating its 5th anniversary, ACE is a free CNC machine training program that began with an online course in December 2020. It has since grown to 11 online courses and an optional in-person bootcamp which can be attended upon completion of the online training. 

"When we launched ACE, we saw a surge of people, including students, career changers and incumbent workers, ready to build skills, alongside an industry that urgently needs talent and is eager to engage," says IACMI Deputy Director of Workforce Development Justin Brooks. "ACE's growth reflects a real appetite to advance modern manufacturing. That's the foundation for rebuilding America's industrial strength, and we're proud to help drive it." 

With registrations and attendance growing each year, the program has attracted a wide range of participants, including students and current industry professionals. 

— Anna Smith

Del Monte Buys Del Monte 

You know the name and logo – Del Monte, a staple of the American food industry since the late 1800s. You might not know that behind the scenes, the Del Monte name and logo have changed hands dozens of times with different product lines owned by different corporate owners. 

Thanks to Bankruptcy Court approvals, some of that complexity is going away now that Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. has purchased most of the assets of Del Monte Foods Corp. II Inc.  

Included in the $285 million deal: 

• Del Monte and S&W packaged vegetable brands 
• Del Monte and Contadina packaged tomato brands 
• Del Monte packaged refrigerated fruit brand 

“Reuniting the Del Monte brand under one global leader is a truly significant moment for our company. Del Monte has been one of the most recognized names in food for more than 140 years,” said Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh, Fresh Del Monte’s chairman and CEO. “While the brand has operated across separate platforms for the past four decades, its heritage has always been rooted in bringing quality food to consumers around the world. Bringing these businesses together allows us to move forward with a unified strategy that strengthens the brand across fresh and packaged categories while creating new opportunities for growth, innovation, and global reach.” 

The opportunity to reunite the brands under the yellow, green and red logo arose last year when Del Monte Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors. Lower sales of canned foods, coupled with loads of debt from earlier corporate restructuring efforts, forced plans to renegotiate with creditors as the company sought buyers.  

In addition to the sale of Del Monte and Contadina brands to Fresh Del Monte Produce, Pacific Coast Producers bought some of Del Monte Foods’ canned fruits and fruit sauces, and B&G Foods (owner of Jolly Green Giant and other brands) bought the College Inn and Kitchen Basics broth brands out of bankruptcy. 

— Robert Schoenberger