Page 25 - Food & Drink Magazine October 2019

PLANT DESIGN & FITOUT
McDonald says: “It’s not just looking at the equipment. It’s looking at how people interact in the equipment and what tasks involve. It might mean maintenance, or contractors coming in. Or it might mean interaction with other people on that piece of plant equipment, how they operate it but also how they feed the product in and out and all the rest it.”
He says the challenge is exacerbated when employees have not been part of the build process, so they are now engaged in the haz-op and EMOC processes as much as possible.
McDonald says that staff seeing the build at a design level gives them a greater understanding and appreciation of what the company is putting in place.
ABOVE LEFT AND BELOW: MilkLab and Messy Monkeys are two of Freedom Foods’ most successful brands.
ABOVE RIGHT: Staff at the recently commissioned Ingleburn facility share their excitement.
“ We are a disrupter in the food industry and the supply chain. We are a quiet achiever, having come from very little over the last ten years.”
A point of pride for the company is that it is above industry standard for safety.
“We have not had any major incidents with contractors or our own team during any of our builds,” he says.
CHALLENGES WITH SPEED
One of the biggest challenges for Freedom Foods is the speed at which they do things.
Employee engagement is very important, says McDonald. “Because we move so fast, we essentially have a continual change management plan.
“In food manufacturing, quality and safety are your two major elements. If you get quality and safety right, everythingelsefollows.”
Another key learning has been getting the experts to train staff in new equipment.
As part of its tendering processes the company now includes the requirement the supplier installs equipment and then stays on site for another two weeks to help with training and getting the commission up and running.
The result has been smoother transitions and a greater sense of ownership from employees.
“You can see staff have a better understanding of the equipment and it allows us to transition into safety processes a lot quicker,” he says.
Preparing the company for the next project to grow the businessevenfurther. ✷
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | October 2019 | Food&Drink business | 25