ProviCo Group was established in 1999 as Australian Dairy Goods and remains proudly Australian owned and operates as an integrated dairy company.ProviCo (Protein Vitamin Company) manufactures functional dairy ingredients & specialised dairy nutrition products that are supplied into the domestic and international markets.ProviCo’s Dennington milk processing facility is a 34ha site which is able to produce a wide range of dairy products and application based milk powders. The site is able to produce a range of instantised, fortified milk powders, nutritional powders, non-dairy creamers and milk replacers. My role as Site Manager is responsible for all site operations, with six direct reports and a total of 54 employees, operating 24 hours/day, year-round.

During my time with ACM, I worked with the operations team to undertake a complete review of one of the manufacturing departments, resulting in the clarification of actual operational standards that the equipment could operate to, which subsequently led to developing a short and medium term plan for improvements to the operation.I also led a small team responsible for recruiting operators for the expanded operation, which resulted in 15 additional employees joining the company.

Organic Dairy Farmers of Australia is a farmer cooperative, founded in 2002 to provide infrastructure, leadership and dialogue between participants in the organic dairy industry.The company produced approximately 75% of all organic milk produced in Australia and had suppliers in the three main dairying regions in Victoria as well as Tasmania.In 2014, Organic Dairy Farmers purchased an industrial site in North Geelong, with the view to develop production capability for the company.My role as Operations Manager was initially responsible for leading and managing the site development projects, including project scoping, plant design, equipment evaluation and purchasing, site building and installation works (including the management of consultants and contractors), equipment commissioning, obtaining various licences and permits, employee recruitment and training, budget control, board reporting, as well as system development which resulted in the operation successfully gaining approval to manufacture products for both the domestic and export markets.My role then expanded to include leading the operations team, managing various 3rd party manufacture relationships as well as developing and implementing strategic plans for expansions of the current manufacturing footprint.I had responsibility and accountability for:→ Capital budget for the site development of $10 million→ Annual conversion cost budget of $2.5 millionThe site operations had the capability of producing the following annual tonnages:- Processing capability of approximately 80,000,000 litres milk per year (separation, standardising and pasteurising)- Production of 3,500 tonnes butter per year (bulk and retail)- Processing of approximately 20,000,000 litres bottled milk per year- Speciality cheeses of 120 tonnes per year

Allied Mills was a joint venture uniting the global milling expertise of Cargill with the grain storage and handling experience of Graincorp. It had a number of manufacturing and distribution sites throughout Australia and New Zealand.My role as Operations Manager was responsible for two manufacturing sites located in Tamworth, New South Wales.At the end of 2012, one of the sites was placed into receivership by its former owner's. This site was acquired by Allied Mills in March 2013 and subsequently commenced rebuilding the business.As part of this acquisition, the role of Tamworth Operations Manager was created, which I was appointed to.Responsible for all facets of the operation, one of my key challenges was to bring both of the sites together and run them as one seamless operation.The two sites ran a variety of shift patterns throughout the year. Staff levels vary between 50 to 70, depending on production demand and as such relied heavily on casual labour.I had responsibility and accountability for an annual operating budget of:→ Conversion cost budget of $14 million→ Capital budget of $2 millionThe two sites had the capability of producing the following annual tonnages:- Approximately 70,000 tonnes of various grades of flour- 7,000 tonnes of gluten- 25,000 tonnes starch and cornflour- 10,000 tonnes modified starches- 8,000 tonnes dextrin’s- 3,000 caramel flavourings

During 2012, an opportunity presented itself to me where I was able to take a break and review my career aspirations for the future.During this time of leave, I worked closely with selected HR specialists and developed additional personal skills that have enhanced my leadership style.

Fonterra Australia Pty Ltd is part of the multinational Fonterra Group.In Australia, it has a number of manufacturing sites in Victoria and Tasmania, manufacturing products for both the domestic and international markets. Key responsibilities include the leadership of the total site operations, including safety, production, quality, maintenance, environment, services, warehousing, continuous improvement and administration functions while ensuring a safe work environment for all personnel by actively leading the safety drive for the site

I had responsibilities for the leadership of the FMCG manufacturing operation at Rowville including milk receival, production, production planning, cool room storage and product picking, blow moulding, factory maintenance and laboratory.

I was responsible for the day to day running of the plants which were high volume processing plants producing milk based products (powder, butter, AMF and speciality cream).