We’ve Finalized Our FY24 Corporate Priorities
Earlier this summer, we announced five corporate priorities for fiscal year 24 (FY24). When they were announced, we delayed finalizing them until the fall based on the ongoing strategy team work associated with our new plan to Raise the Bar.
We’re excited to let you know that we have now finalized our FY24 Corporate Priorities by adding one additional corporate priority: Value-Based Sales Planning. More to come on what this is all about below.
Similar to last year, we are creating Corporate Priority challenge cards for everyone in the organization to use throughout the year as a reminder about how you personally are contributing to the achievement of our annual priorities.
Your physical challenge card is on its way to you in the mail. Keep your eye out for it and when it arrives, please spend a few minutes filling it out. It might seem silly, but research shows that people who take the time to write down their goals are 42% more likely to follow through! We encourage you to keep your card someplace where it is top of mind throughout the year.
From here on out, we will provide you with quarterly updates for each corporate priority here in our Co-President’s Corner. Let’s dive in:
Raise the Bar – Heaven Hill’s Strategic Plan
As we mentioned before, dedicated strategy teams associated with components of Raise the Bar have been working together this summer to determine next steps for implementation of this strategy. We have made great progress and are excited for where this refreshed strategy will take us in the years ahead. With some of the components of the strategy we are chartering new territory, but most are already building on a strong foundation in each respective area:
- Grow Our People: Our Human Resources leadership has defined a five-year roadmap and will continue to own this part of the strategy.
- Simplify the Portfolio: The team has conducted some fantastic analysis and identified clear paths to maximizing our portfolio’s potential. More to come on this soon!
- Optimize Tech and Process: There are several ongoing projects including IFS, work in ADP, the HH Production System and a new AI council, launched last week.
- Build Brand Equity: Brands are in full brand-planning swing, utilizing a new brand planning process. Get ready for some amazing brand activations in FY25.
Since the Spirited Commitment remains a foundational part of the strategy, we also recently launched a Spirited Commitment focused team to continue intentionally weaving the Spirited Commitment into Heaven Hills’s daily fabric.
Value-Based Sales Planning
Value-Based Sales Planning was added because Heaven Hill is in the midst of a really significant shift in terms of how we measure success for the business and what we are striving to achieve. The first change in this evolution will transition our sales goals from the measure of volume to value, also referred to as Net Sales Value (NSV). This shift in focus will have broad impact across the organization, not just in our sales planning process. It is an important step in driving focus to our high-value, premium brands that are so critical for future growth. We have been working on this for about a year and the team has accomplished and learned so much. We are now heading into FY25 sales planning and are so excited for the continued momentum in this area.
Samson & Surrey
As we move through our second year as partners with Samson & Surrey (S&S), we continue to make strides and learn together. A big team has been working on integrating S&S depletion data with ours and converting data operations over to IFS. We are deepening collaboration in manufacturing as it pertains to engineering and safety with the crucial help of VP Operations, Samson and Surrey Enrique Gomez. Our distributor partners couldn’t be more bullish about the portfolio, and we only expect this to increase as inventory on Tequila Ocho expands and the sales and advocacy teams get even stronger. Last but not least, mid-September we are headed to Oaxaca, Mexico, home to Mezcal Vago, for Samson & Surrey’s upcoming all-hands meeting.
Heaven Hill Springs Distillery
There is so much to be said for progress on the new Heaven Hill Springs Distillery. The project team is still targeting to open Springs’ doors by the end of 2024! The building is coming to life before our eyes as we track progress and hit major milestones including the fact that this summer, all 10 fermenters were lifted into place and as of last week, our state-of-the-art beer still, that is 60ft tall, has been installed.
IFS Reimplementation
Transitioning to IFS Cloud is no easy task. The IFS team is doing an amazing job taking into account each detail that is needed to successfully complete this project. The team has a new interim project manager, Claire Noltemeyer and project and IFS operations have moved to Director of IT Business Solutions Sarah Simon’s team. The project team is currently targeting November 2024 as a go live date, hoping to be fully operating prior to Heaven Hill Springs Distillery’s grand opening. The team is very open to feedback and asks that IFS users continue maintain an open dialogue with their functional owners.
Heaven Hill Production System
When it comes to operations, you’ll hear two main terms: Future of Manufacturing and the Heaven Hill Production System. We want to take this opportunity to define the two. The Future of Manufacturing is our Ops Leadership Team’s vision for next-level production. To execute that vision, the team will utilize the Heaven Hill Production System, built on our Spirited Commitment core behaviors and ingrained in the operations employee experience from the beginning. The Heaven Hill Production System has been rolled out in our Bardstown Plant and will continue to be rolled out at other production facilities throughout the fall.
