What was essential, is now critical
Two years ago when the country went into Level 4 lockdown, the kiwifruit industry was labelled an essential business. Most recently it has been elevated to critical business status under the Traffic Light system.
As Kiwifruit post-harvest facilities gear up for harvest, not only are they facing a labour crisis, but they also must prepare Covid strategies to minimize the inevitable disruption that Omicron will bring.
Despite the labour shortages the industry faced last year, Hume Pack-ncool packed 6.7 million trays of kiwifruit through their single site facility located on Prospect Drive in Katikati.
“Although it was a tough year for labour and fruit quality, our team produced some record breaking results and unmatched growth for a facility that has been servicing Katikati Growers and the community since 1984”, says Nav Singh – General Manager - Post Harvest.
After the company increased their volume packed in 2021 by 50%, Hume Pack-n-cool have now turned their focus to automation and maximizing the available labour pool ahead of the 2022 kiwifruit harvest season.
Nav highlights that having their facility equipped with the latest technology means key staff will be critical to Hume's success this year and into the future as the industry continues to grow rapidly.
“We've installed the latest automation technology, now we will have better throughput, better efficiency, and more consistency for our Growers”.
One notable investment is the installation of the latest Spectrim™ camera grading technology.
“We will get better efficiency out of the new camera technology because with a faster and more standardized approach, we can run with minimal staff on the grading tables,” explains Nav.
With Zespri's pack plan indicating 77% of Gold fruit and 85% of Green fruit being packed into bulk packaging,
Hume have upgraded to have 16 automated bulk box fillers as part of their wider strategy to mitigate labour struggles and maximize their single site facility.
Complementing the automation further, Hume have installed 10 fruit placement machines that pack fruit into individual trays.
Nav acknowledged that stacking is one of the most physically demanding positions in the packhouse, and a role Hume struggled to fill last season.
“We’ve put in a robot which will stack three of the most dominant sizes of bulk packs.”
To cater for the growth that the industry is experiencing, additional precooling and coolstorage has been secured by the post-harvest facility.
A new 750,000 tray coolstore has been built on the Prospect Drive, site.
“This is a state-of-the-art coolstore with dolly racking and glycol refrigeration systems, and an exterior shade roof over the coolstore to stop the panels from weathering. It’s more expensive, but in terms of the cooling efficiency and building longevity, it’s the best thing to do.”
The decision to invest in automation is partly due to the labour shortages but Nav says that [the industry] still need labour to pick fruit and pack fruit.
What many people fail to understand is that there is more to this industry than just picking and packing fruit.
“Despite the investment, we still require staff to complement the automation. There are various roles and responsibilities throughout the supply chain that needs to be filled such as camera operators, automation supervisors, forklift drivers; the opportunities are endless.”
Fortunately for the business, their recent acquisition of Kauripak – New Zealand Kiwifruit 2021 Ltd, has proven a great step forward to provide more depth to their operations.
“We’ve been able to offer more people full time employment with more permanent roles. It’s rewarding to be able to ensure more staff have financial stability and opportunities to expand and grow in their roles.”
The economies of scale that these two businesses provide has meant more positions for permanent staff, whilst simultaneously allowing better utilization of seasonal staff in the packhouse through automation.
With the season fast approaching, Hume Pack-n-cool will be paying $23.00 minimum for day shift and $25.00 minimum for night shift.
“Even though the season is almost upon us, we are already planning future developments with innovation front of mind. We intend on having the most technologically advanced single site in the industry.”