Jan. 30, 2025
Ferris State in your Community: Logan Rosneck using his Biochemistry degree to oversee yogurt production
Having an open mind about his path to a career in the sciences is bringing unanticipated dividends for Logan Rosneck, a 2021 graduate of Ferris State University’s Biochemistry program.
Rosneck is a processing platform leader with the General Mills/Yoplait plant in Reed City, supervising the department that batches and adds ingredients to the yogurt, so it is ready for packaging and distribution.
But that wasn’t what he expected to be doing when he started his education at Ferris State with an eye on Pre-Pharmacy studies or a medical curriculum.
“The pharmacy school was the major reason I chose to study there,” he said. “I was a working student and when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, that ended the work position I had at that time. I had grown up in Grand Blanc, with my father being a paint shop superintendent at a General Motors truck plant. With that familiarity in manufacturing, I got a job with Ice Mountain on their production floor. It was good to have that opportunity and outlet as part of the progression to my current role with Yoplait’s Reed City plant.”
Logan was an exemplary Biochemistry student, achieving cum laude status while completing his closing courses as a quality execution group leader at Leprino Foods in Remus.
“I moved into a management trainee program for operations supervision the summer before my graduation in December 2021,” Rosneck said. “My courses were online, but I was doing a great deal of additional learning on the job, in the use of centrifuges, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopes and other lab equipment to analyze fat content in the cheese product. After I graduated from Ferris, I became a production supervisor and gained a holistic view of the operations at that facility.”
His two years of supervisory experience brought Logan to consider and accept his current role as processing platform leader with the General Mills/Yoplait plant.
“I supervise the department that batches and adds ingredients to the yogurt, so it is ready for packaging and distribution,” Rosneck said. “As a processing platform leader, I have a role in production where between 1.2 and 1.4 million pounds of raw milk comes to us each day. That calls for tracking the big picture and backing up our dairy strategist as we create cream for our production and distribution to other manufacturers. At our facility, it adds up to 150,000 gallons of yogurt and just under 100,000 pounds of cream that is generated daily.”
Rosneck is comfortable with his role that applies his scientific learning from Ferris State to new management and leadership experiences on the Yoplait manufacturing floor.
“I am technically inclined in my job to the production process, but that means I have more than 40 direct reports from the floor in a variety of roles,” Rosneck said. “As a platform leader, I collaborate with engineering when equipment issues arise and am part of the liaison team meeting with state inspectors when our plant is up for review. A lot is going on in my workday, and it can often call for phone conversations after work into the evening, but I like it nice and busy.”
One of the unusual opportunities that came Rosneck’s way as he was starting his career involved a review of job openings at the plant in Reed City.
“My father was still working at General Motors Truck Assembly Plant in Flint and living in Grand Blanc,” Rosneck said. “He had started to express interest in finding a job closer to Evart, where he grew up. I started looking around for jobs in the area. There was a need for a Plant Technical Manager at Yoplait and referred it to him. He applied and got the position, and I came to Yoplait about two years later. It has been very rewarding working with my father.”
Though he is only several years into his career, Rosneck is also keeping his eyes open for a chance to give back, due to what he gained from his Ferris State education and the following opportunities.
“Work has its demands, but I would really like to help other students gain field experience as they work toward their degree,” Rosneck said. “Yoplait, being part of General Mills, is a cog in a very big corporation, so I am still in a mode of thinking what might be the best way to fashion that opportunity. I know I am fortunate to have chosen Ferris State because I really appreciate what my degree has allowed me to experience and accomplish.”