Top people at Fonterra’s Pahiatua plant

Fonterra Pahiatua plant manager, Glenn Broughton is thrilled the site won the medium plant award and as well as the company’s top people award.

He said the plant had a reputation for good people who all knew their jobs and had strong community involvement.

‘‘The people who work here at the Pahiatua site, are amazing.

‘‘When everyone comes back, about the middle of the month, we plan a site ticker tape parade.’’

The silverware was among awards presented each year in the Fonterra contest.

Broughton said the awards were hard fought-for. It was the second time in the 11 year history of the Fonterra Best Site Cup that Pahiatua had won.

Fonterra says the awards were always hotly contested and set the benchmark for performance in the company’s operations,

The awards measured success against assessing excellence in overall performance and achievement, recognising behaviours by looking at how a site went about achieving those results and also honouring consistency of results, said lower North Island regional manager, Tony Maclean.

Fonterra’s chief operating officer – global operations Robert Spurway said successful sites worked with their communities and were involved in sharing their success throughout Fonterra.

‘‘Everyone at Fonterra Pahiatua and within the wider Manawatu region can feel immensely proud of this result – it is not just for those working at the site, but for our neighbours, our community, local iwi and our farmer owners.’’

Broughton said there were four sites in the large site award contest and a few small ones, but most of the 40 Fonterra sites were medium sized plants.

‘‘We thought we had a good shot at the finals, because 99 per cent of the produce here meets the customer’s specs.

‘‘It was great to get both awards, and the recognition.

‘‘I said when I accepted them, it was no coincidence as it takes good people to produce a top product. It makes sense. The people and site are strongly aligned.’’

He said the site employed about 284 staff, and of them, 160 were tanker drivers.

The plant processed four million litres of milk a day during peak production, taking milk from Wairoa to Wellington on the east coast of the North Island.

The plant was undergoing maintenance and most staff were on holiday, due back at the site about now.

‘‘We plan to start processing milk on August 7.

‘‘The culture here is great. We have people here that have been at the site for 35 years.

The average is probably about 15 years.’’

Spurway said the co-operatives were, at their heart, all about people.

‘‘From the farmers who own and supply Fonterra, through to the thousands of people who contribute to our success in our manufacturing sites, sales teams and support roles all around the world.

‘‘What the Pahiatua team has achieved over a number of years in creating a strong and engaged workforce, is impressive.’’