| 17 Hawke’s Bay: Progressive Meats REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T T Richard Loader Recruitment a key focus Progressive Meats processes 800,000 lambs and 8000 cattle annually. BXFOODS EXPERIENCE OUR WAY Procuring & exporting premium Hawkes Bay lamb to the world. Give us a call on 06 835 8288 or visit www.davmet.co.nz to find out more Proud to be working alongside Progressive Meats for over 30 years. The nest quality lamb In the world from New Zealand Founded in 1981 by Craig and Penny Hickson, Hawke’s Bay lamb and beef meat processing company Progressive Meats remains proudly family owned and operated, with career development, leadership training and recruitment a key focus. Based in Hastings and employing over 400 staff, Progressive Meats is a toll processor working with several local export companies who source livestock throughout Hawke’s Bay, as well as the East Coast, Poverty Bay, Wairarapa and the Manawatu. While the farmer relationship is vested with the export companies, Progressive Meats’ focus is on what it does best providing a high-quality slaughter, processing and cold storage service. “Each year we process 800,000 lambs and 8,000 cattle,” says Progressive Meat’s General Manager Karsten Wishnowsky. “We slaughter the animal, process it, package it, blast freeze or chill it to requirement, and then store it for a short time till it is loaded out onto export containers for transport to port. The relationship we have with the exporters is absolutely critical to the success of our operation, and the size of those businesses means we can have a direct relationship with the owners.” While the beef plant operates a single day shift operation throughout the year, the lamb plant operates a double shift all year round, with both plants shutting down for a couple of weeks over Christmas for maintenance. Progressive Meats broad range of roles includes stockmen, a halal slaughterman, butchers, meat inspectors, bandsaw operators, boning staff packing machine operators and packing staff who pack and label the products. “Our butchers, slaughtermen and boners are very highly skilled, and it takes a significant amount of training to reach the required level,” says Karsten. “We have recently introduced an apprenticeship programme to develop our butchers and boners right from the floor level, and also to attract school leavers, so that they can earn either a New Zealand Apprenticeship in Slaughter Floor Operations, or New Zealand Apprenticeship in Export Meat boning. We are twelve months into that programme, so there are no graduates yet but we are getting closer.” Leadership is another key area of focus and Karsten observes that in the past the industry has drawn its leaders and managers from staff moving through the ranks and transitioning into a leadership position without necessarily being provided the training to go with it. “Over the last couple of years we have put some more structure around all of that and actually developing people by giving them the leadership skills they need to do their jobs effectively. We also use professional training providers to support us with leadership training and personal development, to grow our own team leaders, supervisors, and department managers.” Karsten says that as a family business, much of Progressive Meats’ recruitment still comes from word of mouth through existing staff, families and friends, but he also acknowledges the importance of drawing new team members from the local schools. “We sponsor the Graeme Dingle Foundation, which is a leading Child and Youth Development Charity. They are well connected to the schools and coordinate Expo Days that attract manufacturers and businesses like us within Hawke’s Bay. We will attend with a boning trailer and put on demonstrations. “We also do assembly presentations at High schools talking about the importance of the industry. We are part of a major New Zealand industry which can lead to career opportunities of national and international significance and that it is something that should be attractive to people. “As an industry we are always improving and we focus on being a little bit better every day.”
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