In South Africa, all fruit packhouses ask themselves the same question: where lies the line between super efficiency of operations and sustenance of human operators? Similar packhouses in Western Europe and Australia feel eerily devoid of people compared to the hustle and bustle of a Hoedspruit packhouse during peak citrus season.
The next eight weeks will be tense ones at BBI Packers as Nadorcotts and Valencias are packed in parallel by 620 people working two eleven-hour shifts daily.
It is one of six packhouses within the ANB Group, a Nadorcott license holder in Southern Africa. The majority of fruit handled at BBI Packers is grown in the Hoedspruit area, whereas the packhouse formerly mostly packed fruit from its sister company, Indigo Fruit Farming. New partnerships have been formed with external growers over the past two years, and the facility is now operational for ten months of the year.
© BBI Packers
In November, they start packing lemons for the local market, continuing all the way to week 38 with late Valencia types; taking in approximately 45,000 tonnes of citrus along the way, slightly tilted towards soft citrus. In a separate but adjacent facility, they pack mangoes during high summer, avocados during autumn.
The scale of operations gives them muscle when negotiating packaging material purchases. General manager Cornél Pieterse observes that about a third of the cost of a 15kg carton of citrus is just paying for packaging material (the other third going towards production and labour plus lastly logistical costs).
Knowing the costs that producers and exporters sink into their fruit – almost R1 per kilogram in transport costs just to get it to the harbour – Cornél Pieterse and his team feel it incumbent upon themselves to open up the opportunities available through different packaging options.
© BBI Packers
Cornél Pieterse, general manager of BBI Packers, Hoedspruit, Limpopo Province
High colour season
BBI packs into the Group's premium ClemenGold brand various cultivars, including the Leanri cultivar, followed by the Royal Honey Murcott (RHM), which is perfect to open their Chinese easy-peeler season, Pieterse says.
"The external quality of the fruit we've been receiving is on a very high level. The first few RHM containers have recently arrived in China, and our customers have been very satisfied," he says. "We came onto an empty market just waiting for our fruit, and they're crazy about RHM."
During March and April, they packed Star Ruby grapefruit, which were very well-coloured this year, he observes. They're noticing the same on the Valencias they're packing now.
"Last year, we packed 5,000 to 7,000 tonnes fewer Valencias, resulting from the local demand for juicing cutting into exports. Many of the producers in our area had had hail in the lead-up to the season, so for them, choosing juice was an easy call. This year, producers have been fortunate regarding hail damage."
© BBI Packers
Creating an enabling, humane environment
A packhouse is a site of intense, strenuous, and repetitive labour, requiring staff to spend long hours on their feet. "We are very well-accredited, a testament to the fact that we try to be attuned to the needs of our staff."
He continues: "Our information systems are very progressive. With our new Fresh360 project and our bottom-up approach, we encourage our staff to take responsibility for their day-to-day tasks to such a degree that efficiency and productivity are built into our system. We are determined to pack fruit in the ideal packaging, at the right moment, under the appropriate brand to help optimise our producers' harvest – and that starts on the packhouse floor."
Expectations with regard to productivity are made explicit, and through constant feedback, an employee follows their hourly progress towards a clear target. Remuneration is target-based, and extra effort is recognized and rewarded, Pieterse says.
© BBI Packers"Being able to measure everything takes the subjectivity out of the system. You know what you're working towards. That's important to us."
In this enabling environment, Pieterse notes a number of success stories. Machoene Ngoepe (right) started as an inbound quality clerk, and today she leads the quality control and compliance department at BBI Packers.
Tumelo Theko worked his way from a general worker at the packhouse to a production manager; he went through numerous skills development courses and participated in learnership programmes.
"As part of our talent management programme, we do thorough succession planning and skills development to empower our staff," Pieterse explains. "This way, we cover our risk and we make sure we have talent retention in all departments."
For more information:
Cornél Pieterse
BBI Packers
Tel: +27 15 795 5337
Email: [email protected]
https://bbipackers.co.za/
