New Zealand Viticulture

Thanks to the great crew of viticulture managers at Matua Valley, I have able to visit a wide range of businesses contributing to the great NZ Sauvignon Blanc.

28 May 2012: Dr Rob Beresford, NZ Plant & Food Research has been working extensively in Leaf Roll virus 3 and the vectors spreading this virus across NZ. Mealy bug have been identified as the primary vector, given these bugs don't have the ability to travel great distance by themselves, harvesting is the primary action in the vineyard spreading this problem.

GMO research of the bug and natural pheromone use are being considered the primary agents to manage this issue.

Botrytis management was another key area of research for Rob's team, with the development of the Bachuss model allowing growers to understand the disease incidence pressures, based on weather recordings and modelling for their district.

Chemical resistance management is also very crucial in botrytis management, with some worrying chatter out of the Northern Hemisphere on access to strobiloran.

29 May 2012: Fonterra and Hills Laboratory CI visits

30 May 2012: Matua Valley, Hawkes Bay.



Andrew Stove, North Island Vyd Manager, introduced the fine art of using sheep to leaf pluck and shoot bash vines. I had heard about this practice, soft lipped sheep, short necked sheep, but had to see it to believe it.

700 head are cell grazed in 2 hectares for upwards of 48 hours at pea size. These flocks are watched very closely as allot of fruit damage can occur during the high grazing times of the day, midnight to 6am. Romney are the preferred breed, with merinos used in a few cases. An interesting observations for Aus were the concerns with MRL of vineyard chemicals in the livestock, copper and glyphospate being the primary actives being watched.



31 May 2012: Matua Valley, Marlborough
Jade Rogge, South Island Vyd Manager, spent a really informative day on cane pruning and how mechanical vine stripping has revolutionised the practise of cane pruning.


The Marlborough region has 15,000ha of planted vineyards with about 95% of that area being cane pruned. Extend a saving of 30%/vine for pruning by using this machine, significant savings can be realised by the NZ industry.

Jade introduced me to a innovative contractor, Jason Tripe from JTC Viticulture, he provided me some great OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) numbers to consider in a business, tractors hours 1500-2000 pa, vine stripper 1000hrs pa, harvesters 600hr/pa engine, 300hrs/pa picking head, out of season harvester maintenance 120 hours.

Jason runs a very professional business that was clearly his pride and joy.

1 June 2012: blog updates and email answering!!

Location:Marlborough

New Zealand Adventure

May 26 Back in the airport lounge waiting for a flight to Auckland. A week of NZ viticulture touring with TWE National Vineyard Manager, Richard Shenfield and a week of CI walks with Fontera, Hills Labratories, McCain Foods and Synlait Dairy. It has been 22 years since I was last in NZ, so I expect a few changes in the landscape.

Final post from CSC

This is my final post from an amazing three weeks, thank you to everyone I have meet in both the Netherlands and UK. My next adventure starts in late May with a quick trip across the ditch to New Zealand. Travel safe learn fast.

Reflections of three weeks

25 Australians arrive in the Netherlands, where are we really?







Wind and water what more could a nation want.





The Herring taste really nice !!





Amazing maritime history



and ingenuity to move produce about.



This is Nuffield, farmers with farmers talking shop.



Diversity is king in the Netherlands



Bio digester producing methane, wind turbines, robotic milking shed 80 cows


Cress with a variety of flavours & textures

History and current technology side by side



Djuke's stable house, built in the late 1800,s



Mechelen















Wonderful friendly people and expirences


















Grab the moment, consider the risk, know the outcome.
"just do it"

13 March 2012, Good Bye the Ntherlands

My journey across the Northern Hemisphere is closing and I am currently preparing for the 28 hours of flying home.



Djuke,s farm shop, stable home, hospitality and fresh fruit trading operation is really amazing, thank you and best of luck with your plans.



Henke,s renovations and work with national farming groups is very impressive. His touring and introductions were really insightful, especially Lout the Dutch fruit wine grower. Thank you.



Alexander from the Lean Management Instituut has shown me many great examples of CI working and even some of the more colourful areas of Amsterdam. Thank you and best of luck with your career.

The Dutch nation are innovative, resilient, open minded, hospitable and above all keen for a great time. I have enjoyed so many memorable moments and been introduced to so many motivated business people, I only hope their thoughts and ideas can acted on. Thank you all.

12 March 2012, The Greenery

The Netherlands largest organic vegetable co operative, 65 staff, delivered a €1million turn around in trading profit from the adoption of CI principals in 2 years.




Ginger sorting line, reduced FTE requirement from 8 to 5 and saved 2.5 man hours per tonne to grade and pack, just from approaching the process with a view to CI.



Mobil QA work stations with wifi connection to central control point, units charged each night along with electric forklifts.



Kanban ordering system has saved allot of heart ache and ensured labels are available at all times.

Another great day, thank you Donny van Dam and the team, they have achieved allot of improvement in a very short time, that looks sustainable. Well done.

12 March 2012, AkzoNobel

After a short drive from Utrech with Alexander Pols from the Lean Management Institute (LMI) we arrive at AkzoNobel, the worlds largest paint manufacturer, with a presence in over 10 countries. The LMI team have been coaching lean/CI principals for 4 years and have developed some very impressive and sustainable practices. We 5S walked the paint R&D department, which are very proud of producing the paint for the McLaren F1 racing team. Their sustainable 5S has been developed over 4 years and represents the model for the site, all new employees spend 6 weeks just in this area being trained in 5S. The site operations director completes a 2 hour daily gemba (go see, ask why, with respect) walk, before entering his office. All sections conduct a 15 minute DSM ( daily standup meeting) known as a tier 1 DSM. Tier 2 DSM occurs at 9am daily, with the last team rep to arrive chairing the conversation. Tier 3 DSM occurs at 10 am daily, with a Obea (problem solving) focus occuing each week. Key observations: Very visual senior mgmt involvement in CI principals All staff trained in 5S and the importance of its role in the business Very disciplined time management in DSM, 15 minutes max Obea meeting needed shining, with more preparation in issue knowledge and controls, great idea tho! Recruited CI lead from shop floor, tenure lasts 6 months, required to identify, control & report on 4 PR/mth Great use of flip charts to show history and journey of changed work practices Just introduced CI home & away team Gemba walks, involving team travelling to OS sites and walking the process. This was a fantastic day to see how CI was being introduced to a global company and discussing the trials and tribulations of the journey. Thank you Alexander, Stefan and AkzoNobel.