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In 2020, we ran a series of local leadership blogs with a focus on Leading Through COVID-19  That series was designed to inspire and support a sense of togetherness as the region moved through the initial brunt of that challenge.

Now a little over a year on, we are taking the opportunity to reflect back on some of those interviews and revisit some of our local leaders and organisations. We're interested in finding out what's changed, what their outlooks are, and what's gone back to 'normal'.

In this interview, we chat with Andy Leonard, CEO of Proper Crisps. We last interviewed Andy in April 2020, when Proper Crisps were facing changes in demand, managing physical distancing guidelines in their factory and ensuring their production team felt appreciated and respected whilst other parts of the business were working from home.

Let's see what difference a year makes...

How are things going now, one year on?

Logistics challenges have worsened since we last spoke, both inbound and outbound shipping capacity constraints as well as significant cost increases. These challenges look likely to remain well into 2022.

Consumer buying patterns are trending in a similar way to COVID times, for example online continues to grow. Consumers remain prepared to spend on a "permissible treat”.

The absence of lockdowns has significantly improved team cohesion.

What have been the biggest changes for Proper Crisps due to the pandemic? Were any of these changes a surprise?

Logistics challenges have probably been the biggest change, which flows through to reviewing supply chain planning, inventory levels, storage facilities, staffing requirements, etc. It has forced us to plan further ahead than ever before. The significance and long period of the supply chain challenges have been unexpected.

Has the impact of the pandemic led to new opportunities or business innovations?

COVID has certainly led to a more thorough review and assessment of factory automation options, predominantly due to labour challenges. A small volume of offshore manufacturing is being considered to reduce supply chain challenges.

How has the engagement of your people changed?

COVID has confirmed the value of people interacting face to face. Staff satisfaction has been higher working from the office than home, as well as increasing team morale for our superb production people when the whole team is on-site.

Knowing that technology is there as an effective backup is comforting. COVID lockdowns certainly forced a trial run and ironing out all those systems.

Wellbeing and staying healthy has been at the forefront of everyone’s mind, i.e. staff sickness has a different lens than previously.

What are the biggest challenges facing your industry moving forward and how do you feel they can be managed?

Cost increases are rampant currently. Managing those costs and maximising the value of our product will be key over the next 6-12 months. Staff retention will be crucial when borders re-open as young people consider potential OE travel.

Over a year since the country went into lockdown, the vaccine is being rolled out globally and our borders are slowly starting to open up with our neighbours (with mixed success). What’s your future outlook for Proper Crisps and your industry?

Quality New Zealand food will be in high demand worldwide, with strong consumer demand for premium food products continuing here in New Zealand. The snack food trend of “less, but better for me” will grow further.

Improved logistics and travel options will result in getting the product to world markets faster and more efficiently….we hope!

And in a fast-growing company with increased complexities, managing burnout in people will be super important.


Enjoyed this interview? Read more from our COVID-19: One Year On interview series here.

In 2020, we ran a series of local leadership blogs with a focus on Leading Through COVID-19. That series was designed to inspire and support a sense of togetherness as the region moved through the initial brunt of that challenge.

Now a little over a year on, we are taking the opportunity to reflect back on some of those interviews and revisit some of our local leaders and organisations. We're interested in finding out what's changed, what their outlooks are, and what's gone back to 'normal'.

In this interview, we talk to David Johnston, General Manager, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kuia. When we interviewed David last year, he shared some challenges Ngāti Kuia were facing around supporting staff and their whānau. He also spoke about the benefits of a collaborative approach across all iwi of Te Tauihu (Top of the South), as well as relationships across iwi, government, and community organisations. 

What difference does a year make?

How are things going now, one year on?

Tēnā rā tātou katoa e ngā whānau whānui o te Tauihu o te waka ā Māui.

He moana pukepuke e ekengia e te waka
A choppy sea can be navigated by a waka

How our world has changed in the last 12 months. Although we have come through this relatively well compared to what has happened globally, my mind and thoughts turn to India and other countries that are still being severely impacted.

In terms of Te Tauihu, I am heartened by the collective efforts and continued collaboration across our iwi, government, councils, businesses and communities.

Iwi in Te Tauihu have set up a collective entity Te Kotahi o Te Tauihu Charitable Trust which is led by the CEOs and GMs of each Iwi entity. Our respective Iwi chairs have given us the challenge of working together with others to create the best conditions for whānau to thrive. This includes:

 

This is just one example of kotahitanga (working collectively) that we are seeing in Te Tauihu.

What have been the biggest changes for Ngāti Kuia due to the pandemic? Were any of these changes a surprise?

There have been no real surprises in terms of how we do things as a result of the pandemic. If anything, Iwi type organisations are well placed given our operating models and focus across multiple measures. Where cultural, people and environmental measures are just as important as economic.

Twelve months on, we are even more focused and determined. There is a sense of urgency to help whānau and to work with others in a way we weren’t before. Navigating our new way of working and keeping to a plan has been both rewarding and challenging, especially trying to keep ahead of everything.

As an example, our Iwi completed a significant Hauora (Wellbeing) research project that was officially launched at Te Hora Marae on 22 May 2021. This report sought to investigate the underlying reasons for disparities and inequities in Hauora for whānau. This research will now help guide us as to which areas to focus on to support the wellbeing of whānau.

Has the impact of the pandemic led to new opportunities or business innovations?

Ngāti Kuia was already looking at new opportunities and business innovation prior to the pandemic. Covid has just delayed this from happening however we are now moving at speed.

We will be opening a new Kānuka Processing Facility in July at Titiraukawa, our centre of excellence.  In this facility, we will process kānuka sustainably harvested from whānau lands using the best of traditional and contemporary methods.

Our earlier trials of kānuka related products have gone well. We will be looking at exporting products once the facility is fully operational.

We are also focusing on pursuits that are best for our whenua and environment which includes organic practices and identifying the health benefits in everything that we do.

How has the engagement of your people changed?

Many whānau who live outside of the rohe just want to come home. For this, they need jobs and somewhere to live.

Ngāti Kuia has grown quickly in the last 12 months.

As part of this, we have recently taken on 15 students who have 2 days paid work experience, and 2 days training per week over 12 months. This is part of developing our tribal economy and providing training and jobs for whānau. Students will complete a level 3 Horticulture qualification via NMIT. In turn, this will help establish an organic native research plantation and learning space with mātauranga Māori at the centre of this initiative.

What are the biggest challenges facing your industry moving forward and how do you feel they can be managed?

Across all sectors, I have noticed that everyone seems to be very busy. Whilst the opposite of this is not ideal I’m hoping that we are all working on the right things and not heading to burnout.

I hope we all have learnt lessons from Covid including being present and appreciating each other more. In our day-to-day at the office, we are more proactive managing annual leave, quite flexible with sick and whānau leave, and operate with a high trust model.

Over a year since the country went into lockdown, the vaccine is being rolled out globally and our borders are slowly starting to open up with our neighbours. What’s your future outlook for your business and industry?

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa
Let us keep close together, not wide apart

This whakataukī speaks to the importance of keeping connected, and of maintaining relationships and dialogue so that we can keep moving forward together.

At this present time, our neighbours in Melbourne and Fiji are experiencing a new wave of community Covid cases. We hope that we are not impacted overly by this. We should not underestimate the freedom we have been able to enjoy relative to others, however, we are but one case away from another breakout.

I think there is greater tolerance and mutual respect in our society, more than at any other time in our history. We can especially see and feel this through examples like the recent decisions by Nelson and Marlborough Councils about establishing Māori wards.

When we look back in time 20 years from now, I hope we will be proud of how we overcame these challenges and how we were all the better for them.  That the decisions and actions we took have had a positive ripple effect both locally and globally. And, that we’ve heard the call of Papatūānuku and are taking up the challenge to ensure that our mokopuna have inherited a planet and world that is better from our collective efforts to care for her and our people.


Enjoyed this interview? Read more from our COVID-19: One Year On interview series here.


Photo: Tim Cuff

In 2020, we ran a series of local leadership blogs with a focus on Leading Through COVID-19  That series was designed to inspire and support a sense of togetherness as the region moved through the initial brunt of that challenge.

Now a little over a year on, we are taking the opportunity to reflect back on some of those interviews and revisit some of our local leaders and organisations. We're interested in finding out what's changed, what their outlooks are, and what's gone back to 'normal'.

In this interview, we talk to Doug Paulin, CEO of Sealord. We last interviewed Doug in May 2020, when Sealord was facing challenges around people safety, productivity, market reduction and dealing with peoples' fears relating to COVID. Let's see what difference a year makes.

How are things going now, one year on?

What a difference a year makes. When we last spoke, like the rest of New Zealand, we were in the middle of a crisis. There were a lot of unknowns and the uncertainty made it nearly impossible to predict future impacts to the business.

Thanks to our hard-working people and the ability of our company to quickly adapt and respond to the situation, Sealord operated incredibly well. We achieved a significant net profit result of NZD $29.3 million for our financial year and we also won a 2020 COVID-19 Response Award from Seafood NZ for outstanding leadership and for the wide-ranging support we provided to New Zealanders.

A  year on, things are going well for Sealord. Although, we are certainly navigating a number of challenges related to the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 globally (as noted below).

What have been the biggest changes in your business due to the pandemic? Were any of these changes a surprise?

We have been dealing with changes in food safety regulations from some parts of the globe, due to differing interpretations of World Health Organisation food safety guidelines, which has resulted in some export challenges. This was a surprise!

As well as that we are now starting to see significant challenges within our supply chain. The surprise is that demand has remained and it is the delivery that is turning out to be the harder part to execute.

Has the impact of the pandemic led to new opportunities or business innovations?

We’ve invested in a new modern workplace by Microsoft (Sealord online world), so that all our people are connected online to Sealord including our fishing crew and factory workers.

It became apparent during the crisis last year that we needed to communicate quickly and regularly with all our people, in a very easy and accessible way. In turn, this new intranet and document management technology has allowed everyone at Sealord to be much more connected with video, photos, story-telling and numerous ways to provide feedback and engage with the business. Whilst early days, the launch and feedback has been positive.

Sealord’s retail range of tinned tuna and salmon, as well as our coated frozen products, became even more popular. As people ate at home more, the benefit has been that a number of consumers tried our product for the first time, had a great experience and have remained purchasers even though life in NZ and Australia has mostly normalised.

We have been able to take advantage of the swing to retail supermarkets in the USA and we are producing more products for customers such as Costco.

How has the engagement of your people changed?

Working from home during lockdown for our office-based people was hugely successful. Since then, we’ve introduced the opportunity to work a day from home and other flexible work arrangements (in addition to what we already offered).

We already had a significant wellbeing programme in place but this has become even more important. For instance, our Christmas gifts to staff last year were focused on wellbeing, with things on offer like gym memberships, Wilson Abel Tasman trips, Fitbits, contributions to bikes and so on.

What are the biggest challenges facing your industry moving forward and how do you feel they can be managed?

Like many businesses, we’re having supply chain issues freighting our product around the world. We’re also struggling with recruiting people into seagoing and seasonal manufacturing roles, due to New Zealand’s surprisingly low unemployment rate and the lack of people from overseas on working holiday visas.

Over a year since the country went into lockdown, the vaccine is being rolled out globally and our borders are slowly starting to open up with our neighbours. What’s your future outlook for your business and industry?

Regardless of vaccinations, we can’t see that COVID-19 and the impacts internationally will be disappearing in a hurry, particularly as new variants emerge. It will be something that we learn to live with and manage. For instance, Sealord is looking at investing in electronic temperature checking at our entrance to speed up our site entry process. We currently manually run this process.

In terms of our markets, I think there will be a rebound in foodservice once people are released from lockdowns in other countries. They will have more money and be sick of eating at home - so I’d say we can look positively to the future in Seafood, but it does come with the warning we aren’t out of it yet.


Enjoyed this interview? Read more from our COVID-19: One Year On interview series here.

Whakatū | Nelson

Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara | Wellington

Ōtautahi | Christchurch

Waiharakeke | Blenheim

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