Business

HMPS Produces an Industry-First

The intricate merging of two processes spells significant savings and prospects for the packaging industry at-large. Proudly Australian machine builders HMPS Group (HMPS) began in 1980 and have since evolved into specialists in the Design and Manufacture of Automated Processing and Packaging Solutions. Over the years, the company has solved complex packaging challenges and their most recent success story was no exception. In a recent industry-first, HMPS designed and developed a case packer and sleever in one footprint for Real Dairy. Real Dairy is a 100% Australian owned and operated company, employing more than 250 people across Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. The company produces their own speciality cheese products and supplies these to retailers across the country. How it Works Adam Read, Sales Manager at HMPS Group explains that this first-of-a-kind machine offers a small footprint, enhanced efficiencies, and long-term cost savings. “This system – the HMPS5000 – can handle pre-glued sleeves in 2, 3 and 4 cell trays at up to 180 tray/minute for the 2 cell trays. With minimal change over it can also operate as an end load cartoner erecting, loading and hotmelt sealing primary cartons.” HMPS supplied two complete units for this project, allowing Real Dairy to handle up to 360 trays/minute. “Our team developed and commissioned this machine within a 32-week period. Combining two machines into one is extremely complex but rewarding – particularly for the end-user”. Speaking to the process, he explains that products are transferred onto HMPS’s specially designed merge system from preceding processes, where two lines of product are merged into one line for loading into the HMPS 5000 sleever/ cartoner. “Generally, these tasks would be handled by two different style machines, and in this case, we had to figure out how to fit four machines into two machines.” Upon […]

Fonterra, NZX and EEX confirm GDT strategic partnership

Fonterra has confirmed the finalisation of the strategic partnership with New Zealand’s Exchange (NZX) and the European Energy Exchange (EEX) to each take ownership stakes in Global Dairy Trade (GDT) alongside the Co-op. As announced in February 2022, the partnership was subject to the approval of Boards, clearance from relevant competition law authorities, and finalisation of transaction documentation. With those approvals now received, Fonterra, NZX and EEX each hold an equal one-third (33.33%) shareholding in the global dairy auction platform GDT as of 30 June 2022. CFO Marc Rivers says the confirmation of the strategic partnership is an important milestone for Fonterra and global dairy participants. “The move to a broader ownership structure marks the next step in the evolution of GDT – giving it a presence in prominent international dairy producing regions, with greater participation expected at GDT events. “It will bring more participants and transactions, stimulating further growth of risk management contracts available on financial trading platforms. “This creates opportunities for the growth of financial tools to better manage price volatility – which is something many industry participants, from farmers through to customers, are exposed to,” says Mr Rivers. GDT Chief Executive Dr Eric Hansen said: “The GDT team is looking forward to working with EEX and NZX as strategic partners with strong interests in dairy and established reputations as regulated exchanges to enhance GDT’s role as an independent, neutral and transparent price discovery platform.” NZX Chief Executive Mark Peterson says the strategic partnership will strengthen GDT’s market reach benefiting New Zealand dairy farmers and customers. “At a time of geopolitical and macroeconomic instability, GDT’s vision to expand its global reach and provide better transparency in dairy commodity prices, is more important than ever for dairy market stakeholders,” says Mr […]

NZ’s apiculture industry honours outstanding achievements

New Zealand’s best honey producers have been named at the Apiculture New Zealand National Honey Competition as part of the industry’s annual conference in Christchurch. The conference hosted more than 750 delegates from the apiculture industry at the Te Pae Convention Centre, Christchurch on 30 June and 1 July. The National Honey Competition, held the day before the conference, featured products across a range of honey categories from creamed honey to chunky honey and cut honeycomb. The 2022 Supreme Award winner was Timaru-based Jarved Allan of The Mānuka Collective, who took away the award for the second year in a row. “There was consistently high quality across the board,” said head judge Maureen Conquer. She said the judges were impressed with the quality of honey, that is improving every year, and it was very difficult to choose the winners. The honeydew honeys, in particular, were of much higher quality this year, said Maureen Conquer. All entries were blind tasted, and an international scale of points was used to determine the winners across 12 main categories. For the first time the honey tasting was opened up to conference attendees and a People’s Choice award given. This section boasted an interesting range of flavours including thyme, pumpkin and lavender-infused honeys. Hawkes Bay beekeeper Robyn Gichard’s liquid honey proved to be the favourite in this category. The Apiculture New Zealand Conference also was an opportunity to celebrate other successes within the industry with awards presented to those making outstanding achievements in apiculture science, innovation, sustainability and photography. Dr Linda Newstrom-Lloyd (and the Trees for Bees team) was awarded the Peter Molan trophy for exceptional contribution to apiculture science for their work on strategic plantations of bee feed that will maximise bee health and survival. Canterbury-based family-owned business Heathstock Apiaries received the ApiNZ Sustainability […]

New Image acquires Nutrimetics from Tupperware Brands

New Image Group has acquired skincare and cosmetics brand Nutrimetics from Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) for an undisclosed sum. Nutrimetics is a natural fit with New Image’s portfolio of health and nutrition products says Graeme Clegg, founder and chairman of the privately owned New Image Group. “Nutrimetics is such an iconic brand with a proud 54-year history that has seen generations of women and men benefit from its incredible skincare and income opportunity. In the future, as part of New Image Group, it will be available to so many more people globally through our independent consultants.” New Image Group has two subsidiaries – New Image International, which covers the global direct selling retail sales channel, and NIG Nutritionals, which takes care of all manufacturing and packaging in New Zealand for New Image International and its other customers serving domestic and international sales channels. Rod Taylor, CEO of New Image International, says as Tupperware had decided to divest its beauty business units, he and others formerly associated with Nutrimetics saw it as an opportunity for New Image Group. “After we had completed extensive due diligence, we were delighted our offer for the whole business was accepted,” Mr Taylor says. “A recent Nutrimetics’ conference on Australia’s Gold Coast confirmed our enthusiasm is well founded. “We have plans to bring in new business systems to Nutrimetics and to increase the sales and marketing support for our independent consultants and grow revenue. ” The acquisition includes Nutrimetics Australia, Nutrimetics International New Zealand, Nutrimetics Manufacturing and Nutrimetics France.

Infor nets 7-year SaaS deal with New Zealand seafood giant Sealord

Infor CloudSuite F&B to play a crucial role in steering Kiwi success story towards gains in sustainability, cost efficiency and supply chain traceability Infor, the industry cloud company, today announced that Sealord, one of the largest seafood companies in the Southern Hemisphere, has selected Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage (F&B) and Infor Supply Chain Planning (SCP) in an initial seven-year, multi-tenant SaaS agreement to enhance productivity, improve forecasting and better measure sustainability. The cloud-based platform provides day-one functionality gains as well as continuing to adapt and improve into the future. As an asset-intensive business, Sealord is also looking to incorporate a stronger and modernised asset management solution to cater to its end-to-end requirements. These include purchase and commissioning, maintenance and asset management, and tracking from both land and sea-based users. Along with reducing risk and improving efficiencies across the business, Sealord’s focus on promoting positive sustainability practices resulted in the selection of Infor CloudSuite, built specifically for their F&B industry, to establish specific carbon and other sustainability measures, such as sea temperature and plastics usage monitoring, to enable and improve reporting, management, and progress on sustainability goals. Sealord CIO Matthew Dodd said Infor was selected as it was an ideal fit as a strategic partner. “Infor has incorporated deep industry-specific features that are purpose-built within Infor CloudSuite F&B which align with Sealord’s business processes and operations. This results in a close fit solution out of the box. Ultimately, we were looking for a strategic long-term partner to work with, so not only do we value the decades of Infor development that have resulted in strong food-manufacturing capability, but we also appreciate that Infor and Sealord share similar visions for people and culture,” Dodd said. “We needed to address growing business and security risks associated with our legacy systems. Infor will […]

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Dairy sector looks to the future with new workforce plan

The dairy sector has launched a new workforce plan setting out how it will attract, retain and grow the farm workforce in the next decade. The Great Futures in Dairying plan is the sector’s strategy for shaping dairy farming as a competitive career option through a range of workplace and technology advances. “Dairy farms employ 37,000 people on-farm. The success of dairy is critical for those working in the sector and to New Zealand as a whole,” says DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle. “New Zealand is facing significant social changes which will require many businesses to work harder to attract and retain staff. These include an ageing population, increasing urbanisation, wider career options, lower fertility rates and technological change.” Dr Mackle say these trends mean the dairy sector needs to be forward-thinking and develop fresh ideas to attract and keep the right staff. “Farmers are resilient and practical people, and we know they are focused on finding solutions to this challenge.” The Great Futures in Dairying plan is led by DairyNZ in partnership with farmers, Government and farming sector representatives. The plan identifies three key focus areas to make dairy a competitive career option. “As a sector we firstly want to shape up to ensure we are attractive in an increasingly competitive labour market. We are looking at a range of initiatives, including piloting an induction experience for new dairy staff and developing clear career training pathways for people to progress into more senior roles,” says Dr Mackle. The second focus area – change the job – looks at embracing new technology and strategies to improve workplaces. Smart cow collars, milking cup removal technology and flexible milking are some initiatives proposed to provide staff with a better work-life balance. “Lastly, we want to look in new places – […]

Boosting productivity and reducing environmental harm

Dairy Holdings has been on a journey to significantly reduce the amount of water and nitrogen fertiliser it uses as part of a five year strategy to limit environmental impacts – while improving productivity. Precision-ag technology company, CropX, has recently partnered with Dairy Holdings to help it meet those targets. Since implementing its strategy in 2017, Dairy Holdings has reduced water use by one third across its 60 farms spanning 20,000 hectares. This has been achieved by modernising irrigation systems, introducing water meters to measure annual consumption, and installing soil moisture monitors to guide irrigation decisions. Dairy Holdings has also reduced fertliser use to well within the new nitrogen cap regulations of 190 kilograms per hectare (kgN/ha) at an average of 172 kgN/ha for the 2021/22 season. Despite these big cuts in water and nutrient inputs, pasture growth has, in fact, improved. This has resulted in a massive 90% decrease in the quantity of purchased supplementary feed per year. Underlying all of this positive change has been a need for Dairy Holdings to understand, in precise terms, what is happening in the soil of its farms. This allows farm managers to make informed decisions about how much water and nutrients to apply to the land and when, to enable optimal grass growth with minimal inputs. Initially, as part of its irrigation upgrades, Dairy Holdings installed soil sensor tapes below the ground under the irrigators, which farm managers could monitor daily to inform irrigation decisions. But this system required more active management, was very time consuming to use, and often led to inconsistent results. Dairy Holdings needed one, standardised, automated, online, easily accessible, and transparent soil moisture monitoring system with data captured from across all of its irrigated farms. This would guide optimum water […]

South Island dairy farmers embrace a dynamic future

Over 420 dairy farmers gathered in Oamaru on day one of the South Island’s largest dairy sector event – SIDE 2022 – to build their skills and discuss solutions to challenges facing the farming sector. The SIDE theme is dynamic and SIDE chair Anna Wakelin opened the event by saying that farmers across New Zealand are taking control of their futures and standing up for positive change. “We’re on the right track. It’s tough, but we can be proud of our low carbon footprint, our innovation and progress, and our work which supports communities through the bad times and the good. “It’s staggering that just 11,000 dairy farms contribute almost $21 billion to New Zealand’s economy,” she added. The first keynote speakers farmers Geoff and Justine Ross of Lake Hawea Station shared their story of how they became New Zealand’s first carbon positive certified farm. The couple developed 42 Below vodka, then later left their Auckland home to farm in Otago. They applied their knowledge of marketing and branding to their farming businesses and visited their international customers to understand their needs. “We saw an opportunity to create carbon positive wool produced to the highest animal welfare standards, using a new shearing model based on care for the sheep, which fashion brands would be prepared to pay a premium for,” Geoff explains. “Having to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is creating a lot of anxiety amongst farmers, but we can also see this as an opportunity.” The couple are excited about the opportunities to reduce emissions by using voluntary native carbon credits, asparagopsis seaweed, vaccines, selective breeding, changing stock diets, and other emerging technologies. Justine finished with the message that farmers can contribute to finding climate solutions, and that they should be brave and share their stories with the world as […]

McCain heats up on climate targets

The McCain Foods Timaru plant is doubling down on its climate targets by reducing its demand for heating fuel and eliminating its CO2 emissions generated by of the burning of coal. In alignment with McCain’s objective of avoiding coal consumption by 2025, the Timaru plant is converting its boiler to operate from coal to domestically sourced woodchips, which will help McCain reduce its carbon emissions by approximately 30,000 tonnes per year. Successful trials began in May 2021 in line with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) requirements to prove the concept. Final commissioning will be completed by June 2022. McCain Foods Engineering Project Manager Lenard Smythe said this joint initiative was a positive step forward and an opportunity for McCain to continue innovating to reduce its carbon footprint. “It’s important for companies to take initiative and lead the way when it comes to climate action. It’s in our best interest to save our environment and continually improve our practices to reduce our impact in terms of emissions. “The Boiler Conversion project is only one of many initiatives McCain is working on to achieve our sustainability targets,” Mr Smythe said. In recognition of the project achievement in meeting the News Zealand Government’s sustainability objectives, McCain has been awarded GIDI (Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry) funding on a co-investment basis. “Our positive relationship with the New Zealand Government on climate has positioned us well to keep leading in the space,” Mr Smythe said. The New Zealand Government will ban new coal boilers by 2022 and has proposed to phase out existing coal boilers by 2037. McCain Timaru is also focused on recovering waste heat from the fryer for use elsewhere in the facility, which will further reduce total energy consumption by more than 37,000 GJ/year and reducing the fuel. This recovery […]

Farmers continue to deliver, despite the odds

Today’s primary sector report shows New Zealand dairy farmers have overcome the odds – despite rising input costs, labour shortages, fewer cows and less production they have still delivered for our national economy. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said MPI’s Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries report projecting the dairy sector will be worth $21.6b this year – trending toward $24b by 2026 – is a significant milestone for farmers. “Farmers really are being challenged right now. Input costs and staff shortages are testing our farmers as we head into the busiest part of the year, when the impacts of stress will be felt the most. Farmers are also delivering on environmental work and implementing policy changes on farms too,” said Dr Mackle. “So to hear that their work is truly delivering for New Zealand – and there’s a bright future for our food products – will buoy farmers as they refine their farm systems to continue delivering product that’s in demand.” The report said farm management and advancing technology will help deliver increased on-farm productivity. “Cow numbers are falling but the work being done by farmers to improve dairy cow genetics and adopt new technologies is expected to pay dividends. It’s a signal that our on-farm productivity can continue to thrive, thanks to advances in farm management practices. “Importantly, this bodes well for work to be done for climate change solutions. We are actively exploring technology solutions and today’s report sends a positive message just how well our sector does that.” More importantly, Dr Mackle said the report is a reminder of the value of New Zealand’s primary industries to our national economy. “The work our farmers do daily to deliver a world-class product that is low carbon footprint continues to be sought-after,” says Dr Mackle. “We know […]

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