MICHAELS UPDATE
Welcome to Seeka’s 2015 staff letter. This is a new initiative to improve the communication flows about the things that are happening in your company. The quarterly updates and emails out into the company when there is a special event or interest item will continue as normal. The recovery from the Oakside fire has been a signifi cant focus. We were extremely lucky. While Rural Fire Service did a tremendous job, actually our people were on the ground helping to coordinate with the fi re fi ghters to ensure minimal damage. Harmin Williams, Ra Wilson, Malcolm Rowe and Lance Tasker are all thanked for their eff orts through the night, along with Campbell Wood who serves in the fire service.
The insurance claim has been accepted by NZI and our teams are working with the loss adjusters and engineers to get the site fully functional as soon as possible. The demolition crews are on site and clearing the deck and the White House is being set up as the new coolstore operations control point. Matters like IT networks, computer equipment and forklifts are all being attended to. The combined eff orts mean that we are likely to be able to run the site with minimal impact on the company or its growers.
The season has now started and Seeka supplying growers are starting to get the early fruit maturity clearances. Processes around harvest meetings and operations are commencing and it’s really important now to remind everybody about safety. At this time of the year people start to work longer hours, there is a lot of movement, and a lot of new people settling into new seasonal roles. It’s really important to ensure that if you are in an operational area that you are alert to the safety risks around you. You must make sure that you and the people around you are safe and if you see something that you are not sure about or consider unsafe then take action.
Kind regards
Michael
NEW STAFF UPDATE
With new staff for our kiwifruit and avocado operations, and the addition of Glassfields, we welcome a number of new members to the Seeka team, along with the range of skills they bring to our business.
Jeff O’ Brien, Acting Commercial Manager - Glassfields Mt Wellington
Jeff is very much involved in the standards and processes at Glassfields, particularly for delivering good quality fruit at a great price, and he regularly contacts Sumifru in the Philippines to ensure we maintain a high quality standard. Jeff has previously held change management roles at Fonterra, Fletcher Building and Stevenson Group.
Brad Marshall Fresh Market, Produce Sales Assistant - Glassfields Mt Wellington.
Brad is responsible for the fruit side of our wholesale market. This includes selling fruit at Glassfields on behalf of growers and suppliers, along with ripening some fruit lines. Brad sells papaya, pineapple, avocado, mandarin and apples to stores in Auckland and the Waikato region, and is looking to expand the selection of varieties he can offer clients.
Michelle Sun, Sales Support Assistant - Glassfields Mt Wellington
Michelle is responsible for preparing orders for customers coming into the Glassfields store to purchase fresh produce. She has many years of experience in retail service, particularly in the produce sector.
Hine Kearns, Quality Controller - Glassfields Mt Wellington
Hine completed her masters in biological science at the University of Auckland where she developed a particular interest for the produce sector. Hine is responsible for checking incoming fruit shipments from the Philippines (Sumifru), looking for any defects in pineapple, banana and papaya. She is also responsible for checking quality of Glassfields fruit in comparison to competitors, and regularly reports this information back to Sumifru.
Manuel De Gouveia (Diggs) Site Manager - Glassfields Christchurch
Manuel (Diggs) oversees all operations at the Christchurch warehouse, including ripening operations, managing customer relationships along with developing and growing the business in the South Island. Previously,
Diggs was an account manager at Turners and Growers, Christchurch where he was responsible for tomato sales.
Christina Kuru, Warehouse Supervisor - Glassfields Mt Wellington
Christina is responsible for quality control and presentation of fruit, whether it is coming into the warehouse or going to the retailer. Previously, Christina worked at Turners and Growers, Food Stuffs and Market Gardens giving her a sound understanding of the produce business.
Kate Bryant, Supply Chain Manager - Head Office
Kate has taken on a new role within Seeka, as Supply Chain Manager. For the past 17 years at Zespri, Kate held various roles in fi nance, project management and most recently, planning supply management. Kate brings a wealth of experience and is looking forward to learning about the industry from another perspective of the supply chain while also broadening her experience with other produce.
Elliot Reid, Coolstore Manager - Totara Street
Elliot is a Bay of Plenty local with 15 years’ experience in the fresh produce industry, including coolstore management for both bananas and kiwifruit. Elliot has experience in banana ripening and was formerly national banana operations specialist for Turners and Growers. Outside of work, Elliot keeps busy with his two children.
Samantha (Sam) Rogers Health and Safety Manager - Head Office
Sam has worked in health and safety for the last 8 years; most recently as Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand’s senior health and safety advisor and prior to that for Fonterra as the health and safety advisor for the Canterbury region. Sam holds qualifi cations in health and safety including a graduate diploma in occupational safety and health from Massey University. Outside of work Sam is married with a seven-year-old daughter
and lives on a lifestyle block where she and her husband run a pedigree Hereford stud in conjunction with a larger 150 acre block on the Kawhia coast.
Jenni Kettle, Internal Auditor - Huka Pak
Jenni is taking on the role as internal auditor working alongside Barbara Goodall. For the past 14 years Jenni worked as a customs officer in Tauranga where she assisted companies with import and export requirements. Jenni also worked closely with Zespri in order to develop and maintain their export scheme.
Andrew Weatherley, Client Relationship Manager - Huka Pak
Andrew re-joins the Seeka team after running his own business for the past eight years. Previously involved in client relationship management and orchard leasing, Andrew grew up in Te Puke and has a sound understanding of the kiwifruit industry. He will have a client base throughout the central Bay of Plenty region.
Campbell Wood, Client Relationship Manager - Head Office
In the kiwifruit industry since 2006, Campbell has held various roles in orchard management and within post harvest. Campbell holds the 2011 BOP Young Fruit Grower title and was granted a Zespri scholarship which enabled him to spend nine weeks in Latina learning about the Italian kiwifruit industry. Within the Seeka team Campbell is responsible for both conventional and organic growers in the Te Puke and Tauranga region.
Jess Gifford, IT Helpdesk Administrator - Huka Pak
Jess has spent three years studying towards a Bachelor of Computing Systems (BCS) at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. Previously, Jess worked at EOL (a wireless internet company), in a helpdesk role. She also has four-and-half years’ experience at Comvita as a helpdesk administrator. Jess recently spent 2 months travelling through England, France, Switzerland and Germany.
Levi Ryland & Brandon Cross - Orchard Cadets
Levi and Brandon have joined Seeka as part of the new three year cadetship programme. Levi and Brandon have iwi ties to the Ngai Tukairangi Trust, one of the Maori grower entities that pack with Seeka. They begin by learning orcharding techniques including pruning, girdling, thinning and vine training, and will then move on to packhouse, coolstore, marketing and other operations.
Tony Curtis, Packaging Truck Driver
Tony is the driver for the Seeka truck and trailer. On a day- to-day basis he is busy moving bins, packaging and fruit between packhouse sites and orchards. Tony has completed his class 5 driver’s licence and prior to joining Seeka, he was the owner/driver of his own truck for two and half years.
GLASSFIELDS
Glassfields is Seeka’s newest business component, with operations based in Auckland and Christchurch. Glassfields provides ripening and distribution services to supermarkets along with wholesale market services to
independent retailers. It holds exclusive New Zealand rights to import and distribute Sumifru bananas, pineapples and papayas from the Philippines, and provides banana and avocado ripening services as an extensive part of its business operations.
Ray Hook, General Manager Retail Services, ensures that he and his team provide seasonal and fresh produce to the market all year round. This means the team at Glassfields have a daily market fl oor supplying a full selection of fresh produce including everything from parsnips, radishes and leaks to fresh ginger and garlic. Customers vary in size and scale from large supermarket chains through to produce wholesalers, boutique suppliers, fruit processors, small fruit and vegetable shops, and prepared produce suppliers for the hospitality industry.
While the warehouse in Auckland is well established in providing to the Auckland and Waikato regions, there is also a recently opened site in Christchurch preparing to provide produce to the South Island. The warehouse in Christchurch is well equipped to receive its first shipment of bananas on 24 March. Diggs and his team will have the first batch of bananas ripened and ready for the market on 29 March.
Glassfields entrance - Mt. Wellington
New banana ripening rooms at Christchurch warehouse
Ripened Gracio bananas being laid out and graded for a Progressive order
Probe reading pulp temperature
Fresh Ginger ready for distribution - Glassfields Mt. Wellington
Fresh parsnips ready for distribution - Glassfields Mt. Wellington
Fresh leek ready for distribution - Glassfields Mt. Wellington
HEALTH AND SAFETY
RABBIT HOLES
Rabbit holes present a very real risk when moving around on our orchards. These can deep and often are not identifi ed on Orchard
Hazard Maps or Boards as they can appear in a short timeframe and may only be noticed when someone has the misfortune of stepping into one. Potential injuries include sprains, strains and fractures.
What to do if you do step in a rabbit hole:
1. Get first aid help
• Rest > Ice > Compress > Elevate
2. Report the injury event to your supervisor as soon as possible and prior to seeking any medical treatment.
3. If you require medical treatment ensure that you take a workplace referral with you as we want you back at work, even if on restricted duties as soon as possible.
MANUAL HANDLING
Manual handling is a key activity in this industry. There are a lot of tasks which require lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying, stacking, holding, moving and restraining of objects. This also means the potential for a lot of sore muscles.
Please ensure you try the basic stretches:
