David Hendricks talks to several executives to learn the latest developments at Corby Distilleries Limited, a leading Canadian manufacturer and marketer of spirits and imported wines.
English emigrant Henry Corby set up a grain mill in 1840 in Bellville, Ontario, and began distilling whisky in 1857, incorporating as Corby Distillery in 1859. In 1890 his son took over the business, bottled whisky under the family name, and began importing scotch from the UK. A little more than a decade later, the family assets were bought out and the company evolved several times over the next century. In 2005 Corby Distilleries became affiliated with Paris-based Pernod Ricard SA, the second-largest spirits company in the world (Pernod Ricard owns 51 percent of Corby’s voting stock and 46 percent of its total equity).
In July 2009, Patrick O’Driscoll, with 25 years of experience in the spirits industry, became president and CEO of Corby Distilleries and Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd., a Pernod Ricard subsidiary that owns the largest distillery in North America, in Walkerville, Ontario (a district in the north end of Windsor founded in 1859 and developed by Hiram Walker, another historic Canadian distiller). Additionally, Corby operates a smaller bottling facility in Montreal and has headquarters in Toronto and sales offices across Canada (Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Montreal and Halifax).
Through its affiliation with Pernod Ricard, Corby distributes across Canada such leading international brands as Absolut vodka (the number two vodka in Canada), Chivas Regal and Ballantine’s Scotch whiskies, The Glenlivet Single Malt Whisky, Jameson Irish whiskey, Beefeater gin, Malibu rum, Kahlúa liqueur, Jacob’s Creek wines and Mumm Champagne. These brands, together with Corby’s portfolio of owned brands—which includes the Wiser’s family of Canadian whiskies (Canada’s number one whisky family), Polar Ice vodka, Lamb’s rum, McGuinness and Meaghers liqueurs, Seagram coolers and Royal Reserve whisky—provide a combined company brand portfolio that approaches 25 percent share of the Canadian spirits market.
A recent $15 million, three-year upgrade to the Walkerville facility has just been completed. “It’s an improvement project that helps us become significantly more competitive in Canada and in North America,” says Hiram Walker’s vice president of operations, Jim Stanski. “It was a broad-ranging plan that enveloped every corner of the company. In the distillery, we improved energy efficiency as well as environmental projects, which we’ve been pecking away at for a long time, but this investment from our parent company allowed us to complete those. It showed that they had confidence in the plant. We made significant changes in a relatively short period of time and achieved major improvements in the bottling area as well as ‘drain and fill,’ the area where we do our preparation for maturing Canadian whisky.”
That facility currently has three ISO certifications: 9001, the quality standard; 14000, the environmental standard; and 18000, the health and safety standard. It’s now pursuing 22000, the food grade standard. “These certifications make us more competitive and underpin the quality of the products we produce,” Stanski adds. “Another major project has been the implementation of Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne software system last August. It’s fair to say that if you look at our plant in terms of its level of technology and processes, in our industry it’s probably second to none in North America. It’s easily a world-class facility in many ways; we’re very proud of the Walkerville site.” As a result, Hiram Walker & Sons produces brands that are of the highest quality and able to compete not only in the Canadian market but internationally as well.
CEO O’Driscoll adds, “Of course, our Montreal plant is much smaller, but it gives us the flexibility to do a lot more of our boutique brands in smaller runs—the brands that need more manual work, specific bottle shapes and so on. So we don’t have to compromise the efficiency of our larger, volume-oriented plant in Walkerville with the smaller-volume items. The Montreal plant will also be certified in ISO 9001, 14000 and 18000 by the end of 2010. Corby has been doing a lot of upgrades in Montreal over the years and has upped the game substantially in recent times. Montreal is also a great vehicle for brand innovation, because it’s perfect for bringing out smaller runs of new brands, such as our recent launch of Lamb’s Black Sheep spiced rum.”
Vice president of human resources Paul Holub explains the link between a major employee development program and the company’s portfolio of excellence. “We’ve spent a lot of effort improving the skill sets within our sales force, increasing the capability of our front-line sales people, especially in the area of key account management. The reality in Canada is that our customers are changing, their expectations are changing, and we have to make sure that our sales ability aligns with those expectations. On the marketing side, we’ve been fortunate that our majority shareholder, Pernod Ricard, has an excellent training center in Paris, with world-class marketing programs, so we’ve been sending our people there, to build the capabilities of our marketing department. They’re not only sharpening their marketing skills; they’re also getting a global perspective of the international brands that we market and distribute.”
“Of course, with these investments we also have to measure the improvement and see how employees are feeling about the business,” says O’Driscoll. “So we’ve invested a lot in employee engagement surveys—we’re on our third one now—to be able to really understand how engaged our teams are with the strategy of the company and to measure the areas we need to develop further. Then we’re able to put into place programs that facilitate continuous improvement.”
Holub adds, “In the survey itself, we’re focusing on major areas that encourage employees at all levels of the company to feel empowered to make decisions and take actions. Also, collaborative teamwork is encouraged across the company. We want employees to feel that they have opportunities to grow and develop. And we want to create an environment where they’re recognized for doing good work and are respected as individuals.”
O’Driscoll summarizes, “We have a very strong position in Canada. We have several brands on strong growth trends. The vision is to strive for market leadership in the product categories that we choose to compete in. This company has gone through a lot of change, especially in the last five years or so. Change has been fundamental; it’s all positive, and it will continue because as an organization we thrive on it anyway. We’re striving to build on the high product quality that we’ve always delivered, as well as the efficiencies and competitiveness of our manufacturing base. It’s an exciting Canadian company, and I’m very proud of what we do.”www.corby.ca
