March 2023 

“Success is about taking advantage of opportunities.”

 ~ Mike Ditka

The above quote from the successful football player, coach, and NFL Hall of Famer is especially appropriate for my monthly message. As we all know, taking advantages of “opportunities” is a great way to help your company become even more successful.

The FPSA Membership Committee, Executive Committee, and Board of Directors have actively engaged in both creating and seeking opportunities that we believe will help your business become even more prosperous. Attendees at our upcoming Annual Conference at the Loew’s Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson AZ will be hearing and learning in much more detail about an array of “FREE” benefits that are provided to you merely as being a member of the association. Let me briefly provide you with an overview of these “program opportunities” that you and your team will benefit from:

Trend Study: Critical trend information is essential in every industry. And FPSA’s latest forecasting and trend study covers all our segments: meat/seafood/poultry; pet food; bakery; beverage; dairy; and prepared foods and will be available for downloading on March 15th. Make sure that you take advantage of the this valuable information in your planning across all segments in which you operate.

Transparent Energy: In today’s volatile world, securing reliable energy costs is imperative. Savings ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars by participating in an “energy auction” where suppliers compete with each other for your business drives rates down and is another way to help with your bottom line.

Valor/180 Skills: Our online education platform has been expanded and now contains over 800 industry related skills training classes that include learning pathways that are applicable and will assist your technical, sales, and administrative staff.

P3 Cost Analysts: This new member benefit is a program that provides an opportunity to have a “free” cost analysis conducted for your company which will help you discover areas (such as utilities, telecom, waste & recycling, merchant processing and even property taxes) where costs can be reduced. To date, P3 has saved clients hundreds of millions of dollars for their clients.

Staples Advantage: This “premium member” program helps you to secure the best pricing and discounts on a variety of goods and services — not just on office supplies. Take advantage of their programs on discounts on hotels and car rentals.

Financial Wellness Program: This confidential program provides your employees with the tools and education to take charge of their finances and allows them to focus on key aspects of their personal finances.

Career Fairs: In an effort to help you recruit the next generations of engineers, salespeople, food scientists and other critical positions, we encourage you to participate in the next face-to-face hiring event taking place on April 5th at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Additional hiring events at a variety of schools are being scheduled for this fall.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me at or at 703-663-1200 with any questions regarding how I, and the FPSA team, can assist you in taking advantage of the programs and services I have mentioned above. And, of course, you can learn more details about our member benefits by connecting to www.fpsa.org.

Sincerely,  

David Seckman
FPSA
President/CEO