Lorna Lewis — a manufacturing leader
INNOVATOR, facilitator, organiser, counsellor, financial advisor, mother, friend, team builder, an all-around woman of excellence. Those are the words to describe Lorna Bernadette Lewis, former group operations manager at Salada Foods Jamaica.
The woman leaving behind a blueprint for success has had a career spanning 24 years overseeing the production of one of Jamaica’s most iconic brands — Jamaica Mountain Peak.
Surprisingly, Lewis started out dreaming of becoming a medical doctor while attending Merl Grove High School. After successfully completing her A’ Levels at Excelsior Community College, she matriculated to The University of the West Indies where her path was redirected to a degree in chemistry. Following graduation, she taught the sciences at St Jago High School for two years and then did a three-year stint teaching chemistry at her alma mater.
Manufacturing was to call soon after as Lewis did a brief stint at Bureau of Standards Jamaica. She then obtained a position at the Seprod Group of Companies where she was employed at the central laboratory. Lewis was to quickly ascend the ranks from quality control inspector to quality control officer, to supervisor, and then to quality assurance manager.
The experience she garnered at Seprod Manufacturing Group of Companies took her across all the plants — from grains and cereals, to feeds, fats and oils, soaps and detergents.
Speaking on the challenges of women in manufacturing, Lewis said: “It’s a very interesting field, but you have to be willing to work hard if you’re looking to enter a manufacturing company. I always tell young women you have to be twice as good as the men, but I find because of our intuition and our dedication we do quite well in manufacturing.”
Her love and dedication pulled her through because after a brief stint of unemployment due to redundancy, Lewis landed the job as quality assurance manager at Salada Foods in September 1996.
There, her advancement report over the 24 years spans from quality assurance manager to production manager to group operations manager.
Lewis has been an invaluable asset and contributor to the development of several products during her tenure at Salada Foods, which local and international customers now enjoy. In fact, she is credited for her lead in the development of the widely enjoyed Jamaica Mountain Peak 3-in-1 Coffee and instant ginger tea products.
“Although I crossed over to production, I had the opportunity to aid in product development. I am proud to have developed Salada’s 3-in-1 coffee product, having been able to apply the spray-drying technology. It is still on the market 10 years later. For it to have lasted so long is an achievement because a lot of products enter the market and don’t survive,” noted Lewis.
According to Dianna Blake-Bennett, general manager of Salada Foods: “Her work and legacy are the building blocks for new innovations and growth for the company for which I am excited to lead.”
Blake-Bennett worked alongside Lewis for over four years.
“We have had an excellent working relationship. She has been kind over the period to share her knowledge, experience and candor, for which I am grateful. She is also very spiritual and has a competitive spirit,” said Blake-Bennett after the company had a retirement ceremony for Lewis.
On Friday, July 3, during her official au revoir retirement celebration at Salada Foods’ headquarters, Lewis spoke candidly about the skillset of the group operations manager.
Lewis also offered words of encouragement to young women thinking of entering the manufacturing space, whether as entrepreneurs or as employees of a company.
“Although it’s not popular to have women in manufacturing I think it is an advantage, especially in this environment. In terms of decision making, you have to be firm, you have to be precise, sometimes even no-nonsense. In leadership I’ve always had an open door policy, so the young women and men with whom I work could always walk in and share whatever problems they had,” she said.
As Lewis closes the door on this chapter of her career journey she shared these final sentiments: “Success is not accidental, it is intentional. You really have to take decisions and you have to stick to them. We have to be intentional in our decisions, intentional in our activities and expect to get the success that we truly deserve. Work hard and then you will garner the success that is due to you.”
