Bolthouse Farms
For more than a century, Bolthouse Farms has been known as the innovation leader in growing and distributing carrots and high-quality, innovative branded products. Headquartered in Bakersfield in California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley, Bolthouse Farms is one of the largest carrot growers and distributors in the U.S. This role was recommended to me with my research background and pursuit to create actionable insights for industry.
I. Situation
Context
Product research is a large part of creation and distribution to continually test products and make sure there a key to consistency among overall output. I was referred this role by one of our faculty while attending CSUB to get hands-on experience with research in industry given my pursuit of the sciences/methodologies with an industry focus. Although one of my first roles, it was great exposure to the field I had a passion for in research and methods for companies.
Getting started
Our day-to-day practiced were Compile & analyze (statistically, mathematically and / or graphically) test results and prepare& communicate reports.
The presentation of results is this important and something that I benefited from through thoughtful communication of analysis to stakeholders, management, and other technologists. While statistical methods was a task of its own, presenting the right information was the most impactful toward our goal.
II. Task
Focus Area
• Conduct analytical tests on food / beverage / ingredients to evaluate the product
• Ensure product specifications and regulations are met
• Support projects with laboratory analytical work
• Conduct product development of bench top prototypes in lab and assist with commercialization scale-ups in pilot plant
• Provide technical assistance to cross functional team members when necessary
Methodology
Given that this role was centered around products, we constantly were testing product to make sure not only product was up to par with standards, but that correct regulations were being followed from production to sale.
· Compile and analyze data (SPSS, Excel)
· Designate statistical methods (t-test, Excel, correlations)
· Code and report data for communicative reports (Office, Salesforce)
Job Focus
A critical part of this role was to be ready for any analytical or research work whether it be consumer facing or stakeholder initiatives. Something that I gained from this role was the transformation from scientific research in academia to actual product insights in how we could improve, change, or pursue other avenues and a lot of these business goals would begin with the research team.
III. Action
My Role
As a Product Researcher, my contract role was to aid and assist the Senior Research Technologist as an experienced innovative team player and participate in:
(1) ideation
(2) laboratory, pilot, and production scale experiments
(3) analytical work to support the R & D activities and provide technical assistance to other departments
My Process
While our role as a product researcher focused on market research and science behind product and distribution, we also were able to help with insights on enterprise tools centered in analytical work, which was impactful to see how we could make certain work more efficient.
My Approach
Coming into this role, it was very different from what I originally was used to. The change from academic centered research and methodology to using those research processes in industry. The overarching goals is immediately changed that of the company or business initiative to consistently test the product. Coming into this role I really became a student of the company and my mentor in research approach, delegating, and even strategizing workload.
IV. Results
Learning
Something that any job will teach you to always be on your toes and be welcomed to adversity in the workplace. During my time, we were met with large wildfires in the Southern California region, meaning that most of that smoke and pollution would be carried into our valley which affects growing as well as manufacturing things like juices.
Our research turned completely product focused in order to maintain brand and rule out manufacturing errors caused my environmental hazards.
Takeaways
Again the biggest takeaway from this experience had to be that critical shift from academic research to industry and product research. Although similar in structure, the overall timelines, pursuit, and gathering of information were very different and I was able to really see a bit of my future with research within industry.