Let’s start with an introduction. Your role at Westpro is Senior Production Manager, Powder – can you tell us a bit about what this involves?

My role carries a wide range of responsibilities, starting with overseeing all raw milk arriving to site through tanker and train unloading bays. This includes managing the pasteurisation and separation of whole milk, directing high-quality skim to D7 for high-protein products, retentate for the casein process, and cream for butter production.

The powder operation itself runs two dryers, with capacities of 4.5 mt an hour and 6.5 mt an hour for skim milk powders. These versatile dryers also produce a wide range of milk powder products.  More than 40,000 mt of powder will be produced through the two milk powder dryers over a milk season.

A highlight of recent developments is the addition of a new lactoferrin plant, complementing the older plant, which remains a valuable asset despite using completely different technologies.

What does a typical day look like in your role?

There’s no such thing as a quiet day in my role – there are just too many moving parts. From the moment raw milk rolls through the gates to when 25 kg bags of powder leave the packing halls, I’ve got to keep my finger on the pulse.

I’m usually up before the sun, checking how the Hokitika site performed over the previous 24 hours. Did we hit what we said we would? Next, I take a “health check” of our liquid milk silos. That snapshot often tells me what kind of day we’re in for. I’ll also look at our “on product time” (OPT) and line it up with our forecast – because every hour counts.

A big part of my job is supporting the talented team around me. Milk scheduling is always at the top of the list – making sure every plant gets the volumes they need, but only after we’ve pulled out our lactoferrin protein.

Good communication keeps the whole operation humming, so daily management meetings (DMS) are non-negotiable – I start with the plant DMS and then the site DMS. Quality and production go hand in hand, so I spend plenty of time in that space too.

And of course, there are always unexpected twists and turns that keep me on my toes. That’s part of what makes the job interesting – no two days are ever quite the same!

What products are you responsible for producing – can you please give us an overview?

The powder operation has a wide recipe of powders that are produced on the two I have mentioned.  High heat skim, medium heat skim, buttermilk powder (this is liquid from the butter churn), instant skim, wholemilk powder, instant wholemilk powder, whey protein concentrate (WPC) and milk protein concentrate (MPC).

What do you think makes our product special?

I think what makes our product special is the consistency – year after year, we deliver a high-grade, reliable product. Customers value that quality and it has seen us deliver long term strong relationships with our key customers globally.

You’ve mentioned that the dairy industry is a challenging environment. How do you and your team work to meet delivery deadlines?

The dairy industry is challenging, and we always have to be ready for the unexpected. With milk being highly perishable and storage capacity limited, unforeseen events – like major power outages, electrical storms, or key equipment failures – require quick, decisive action to protect milk solids. My team train regularly for such scenarios and have clear business continuity and recovery plans in place. This preparation allows us to respond quickly, minimise downtime, and keep deliveries on schedule.

You’re bound to receive feedback from customers via sales, customer services, or the quality team.  How does this get troubleshooted within your area of the business?

In my area, customer feedback is handled through a clear troubleshooting process to ensure issues are quickly understood and resolved. First, any feedback we receive – whether from sales, customer service, or the quality team – is logged in our continuous system platform and categorised by severity and type (e.g., quality concern, delivery issue, product query).

I have my team start by gathering all the relevant information: batch numbers, production records, and any supporting data. Next, we investigate the root cause by reviewing process logs, equipment performance, and any deviations from standard procedures.

Once the cause is identified, we implement corrective actions immediately to address the specific issue, and where necessary, preventive actions to stop it from recurring. I then communicate back to the quality team or customer service with the findings and resolution, so the customer is informed promptly.

We also track recurring feedback trends, so if a pattern emerges, we escalate it to management for a more systemic review. This way, every piece of feedback becomes an opportunity to improve our processes and strengthen customer trust.

You’ve been with Westland, our parent company for a long time. What keeps bringing you back?

For me, it’s the culture and the people. Westland has always supported my growth, given me challenging work, and made me feel like I’m contributing to something meaningful. I’m genuinely grateful, as my time here has ticked so many personal and professional boxes. I love to be challenged, and, in this industry, we don’t have a shortage of challenges!

What has been the most interesting project you’ve been involved with for Westpro?

I’ve been fortunate to be involved in countless projects during my long tenure at Westland. One particularly unique and innovative experience was being part of the project team responsible for railing milk from Canterbury. At the time, Fonterra was required to sell a certain percentage of milk to smaller co-operatives, and Westland embraced the opportunity. The key challenge was to remove a percentage of water from the milk to reduce the volume transported by train, then reconstitute the milk by adding the water back before processing. This RO (reverse osmosis) plant is still going well to the present day.

What has been your most memorable customer interaction?

One that always makes me smile happened on a whirlwind overseas trip with our marketing team, led by the late David Salthouse. The idea was simple: bring a production person along so we could make sure marketing wasn’t promising the world something we couldn’t actually make, and so I could see first-hand how customers were using our products.

We covered the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe in a ridiculously short space of time, and everything was running like clockwork – until David, the seasoned traveller of the group, made the rookie mistake of brushing his teeth with tap water.

Next thing I knew, he was down for the count, and I was suddenly catapulted into the marketing seat. There I was, halfway around the world, standing in front of key customers, giving full marketing presentations with only my production background and a smile to back me up.

Thankfully, the show carried on, the customers were happy, and David made a full recovery. Looking back, it was nerve-wracking in the moment, but now it’s a story I can’t help laughing about – proof that in this industry, you always need to expect the unexpected (and maybe stick to bottled water!).