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Management
visit to Belgium and Holland
Phase 1 of Management Development Program for Line Managers completed
Piketko
obtains the highest score for CA storage of apples and pears
Management visit to Belgium and Holland
Johan Wepener and Schalk
van der Merwe were invited by the Uni-Veg Group of Companies to visit some
of its Belgium operations. (Uni-Veg holds the majority of the shares in
Piketko.) The visit took place during the last week of October.
The Nova Veg Logistics Packhouse in Sint Katjelinje Waver, Belgium
The focus of the visit
was the logistical warehouse of Nova Veg Logistics where logistical services
are provided for Carrefour, a large Supermarket Group in Belgium.
Special attention was
paid to the intensive way that personnel planning is done, as well as the
excellent control over all aspects of personnel cost. “We were most
impressed by the way that management and staff eat, sleep and breathe
productivity,” says Schalk. “No detail is too small to plan for and no
aspect of productivity too small to measure”
“Piketko is implementing
a shift system in 2004 and all aspects of planning, forecasting, control,
measurement and reporting for a shift system were studied. We are confident
that shifts can be implemented successfully at Piketko,” says Johan.
Johan Wepener, Managing Director (right), and Schalk van der Merwe,
Operations Manager, outside the Van der Lans office in Hilversum
After the Belgium stay,
visit was also paid to Jan van der Lans, one of Piketko’s biggest clients,
with home base in Hilversum, Holland. From there the port of Rotterdam and
some of the wholesale markets were visited.
Phase 1 of Management Development Program for Line
Managers completed
A group of Junior
Managers has recently completed the first phase of a formal in-house
Management Development Program. During the program that was started in 2001,
a group of 6 Junior Managers underwent an intensive training and development
program designed by the National Training Institute.
The program consists of
four phases, being management of people, cost and income management, process
management and quality management. Phase 1, the management of people,
consists of five modules. “The group from Piketko is the first in the
country that has completed the program up to module 5 of phase 1,” says
Loudie Groenewald, Director of the NTI and course presenter.
“The 5 modules that have
been completed include planning, goal setting, measurement of achievement,
feedback, recognition and dealing with under-achievers.” says Loudie.
Mr Loudie Groenewald (left, back row) with the Piketko Junior Managers
The group has already
started with the next phase, which will be cost and income management.
NTI is also involved with
training and development at various other management levels which includes
top and senior management and senior supervisors.
Piketko
obtains the highest score for CA storage of apples and pears
It was
recently announced that Piketko obtained a score of 98.3% for the controlled
atmosphere storage of 7 000 bins apples and pears in its 6 CA (controlled
atmosphere) rooms during the 2003 season. Apples and pears were stored for
Zebra Fresh Fruit and Colors Fruit.
The evaluation
was conducted by Kobus van der Merwe of ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij. A total
of 136 CA rooms, storing 180 000 bins of apples and pears, were evaluated.
The average score for the industry is 89%.
The evaluation
is based on inter alia the time before optimum temperature is reached, the
time before optimum oxygen levels are reached, the time before optimum
carbon dioxide levels are reached and the time it takes to load and seal the
rooms. Safety equipment and record-keeping were also considered.
Mr Batta Rabe (center) with his cold store team
Batta Rabe and
his team are responsible for CA storage at Piketko and they have achieved
this accomplishment for the eighth time in since 1991.
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