Business South October 2020

28 | Pandemic planning pays off Planning ahead: the Oceania Dairy executive team. from page 26 DAIRY INDUSTRY Oceania Dairy Industrial Controls are proud to support Oceania Dairy. Equipment Inspections Calibration and Metrology Weld Inspection & Testing Welder Qualification Supervision & Testing Non Destructive Testing - Ultrasonic, Phase Array, Magnetic Particle, Dye Penetrant, Eddy Current, Gamma & Xray Elevating Work Platforms - 6 monthly, new commission, 5 & 10 yearly major inspections as well as HV & AE boom tests Proudly supporting Oceania since 2014 Certification Calibration Compliance DE Certification & Compliance has the most experienced NDT, Welding & equipment inspection team in New Zealand. Starting in 1991 the DE team has a huge wealth of combined experience with the latest & best equipment to use which means we are the most efficient inspection Company you can get & No 1 for service to look after your valuable assets & staff. M. 021 757 473 E. admin@detim.co.nz www.designengineering.co.nz www.surveynz.co.nz ENGINEERING NEWZEALAND OFFICIAL MEMBER ACCREDITEDLABORATORY Dunedin Timaru Chch Hamilton “We had to be pretty flexible and nimble and just adapt to what was ahead of us.” As it happened the weekend after Oceania made the call to enact their plan, the Govern- ment implemented Level Four Lockdown. “We had some trials in place to test our systems for those people working from home but in the end we just went to the live scenar- io. The office work carried on seamlessly— but at home. “Although it’s hard to measure, I would sug- gest that there was an increase in productivity over that time.” Richard says as the country went into lock- down there was a lot of nervousness amongst Oceania’s team members and uncertainty within the local community. Taking the approach that it was an essential business processing milk and producing food for babies, Oceania’s management team also provided the staff with certainty. “We felt it was really important we provide strong leadership and certainty to our staff, assuring them their job was safe, and that we’re a food industry with a strong demand for the product. Essentially we gave them a sense of purpose.” Richard and his team worked closely with a small number of people who remained unset- tled entering lockdown until they felt secure. “After a couple of weeks in lockdown it was really business as usual and we were pump- ing—albeit with the safety measures in place. “Overall people were very thankful to be essential workers and have the opportunity to carry on working—feeding the world. “We had people not even in leadership posi- tions stepping up, going above and beyond to keep Covid out.” Richard compliments the farming communi- ty who put their own plans in place, enabling the continued supply of milk to Oceania. “It was impressive to see how well people got on with it and made things happen—it was a beautiful thing to watch.” Making it work - page 30 In addition to carrying out normal opera- tions during this time, Oceania was also able to continue with key sustainability projects in regard to chemical and water reductions. Both projects will be completed later this year.