Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 18, 1993 TAG: 9307140460
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cathryn McCue
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For several days, officials at the Bedford company tried to think of a "safe" way to photograph the interior of its plant to accompany a newspaper profile of the frozen finger food manufacturer.
It wasn't possible, they concluded. The only photo the company would allow was outside the building.
"The proprietary thing just really prevented us from doing anything else," operations manager Bob Manzer explained.
Competitors can pick up a lot of information through a simple photograph, he said. It's like a written record of a company's trade secrets.
But exactly what kind of information could be gleaned from a glossy photo, especially considering the firm makes onion rings and French toast, rather than products related to national security or nuclear fission?
"I don't mean to be elusive, but we just don't talk about it," Manzer said.
During an initial interview, Manzer said Golden West Foods had only recently learned something about one of its competitors from a photo in a food industry trade magazine.
Pressed later about what Golden West Foods discovered, he would say only: "You can learn a lot about (production) capacity."
When equipment suppliers come into the factory to install machinery, they are told only what they need to know to do their job, and no more, Manzer said. Golden West Foods also has a league of lawyers to handle non-disclosure agreements with contractors and so forth, he said.
The company does not give public tours of its plant. A recent walk-through with a reporter was on the assumption she was not a spy, and not savvy enough to know what she was looking at.
Trade secrets are not unique to the food industry, Manzer said. "It's all business. It's a fact."
by CNB