October 3, 2012
Swickers Kingaroy Bacon Factory has executed an amazing turnaround over the past four and a half years, Kingaroy Chamber Of Commerce and Industry members were told on Monday night.
Swickers CEO Ross Ingram gave a short presentation about the firm’s recent history and its plans at the KCCI’s final Meet’n’Greet for 2013, held at Swickers plant.
He said that after being placed into administration in 2008, the company had attracted new investors and had undergone a top-to-bottom transformation that involved capital investment and new approaches to marketing.
Swickers now has three major brands: Barkers Creek Pork for the wholesale catering market, a new Seven Mile premium pork range being sold to consumers through Woolworths and IGA in Queensland; and its over-arching Sunpork brand, which encompasses both meat brands, the factory and export operations.
Sunpork employs 520 staff and accounts for 95 per cent of all pigs killed in Queensland, he said.
It has an annual payroll in excess of $30 million; purchases around $200 million of livestock annually; and its Kingaroy plant, which has undergone significant upgrades in recent years, now represents a $70 million investment in the region.
Mr Ingram’s presentation was followed by a presentation from Dr Stuart Hazell, the former Dean of Science at the University of Southern Queensland and CEO of Panbio Ltd, who now consults for the Federal Government’s Commercialisation Australia innovation support program.
Dr Hazell spoke about the pressing need for businesses to focus on process improvement in an age when technological change is occurring at a breathtaking pace.
By way of illustration, he pointed out that several companies which were unchallenged global leaders as recently as a decade ago (such as Nokia and Blackberry) were now struggling – or in Blackberry’s case, about to go extinct – because they had failed to anticipate and respond to rapid changes in the marketplace, such as the growth of Google or Apple’s iPhones.
All businesses were in the same boat, Dr Hazell warned, and this made it vitally important for business people to look at what was “coming over the horizon” in their industries and plan how best to respond to market changes if they wanted to continue.
The KCCI’s final function for this year will be its Annual General Meeting and Christmas get-together, which will be held on November 12. The next Meet’n’Greet will be held on February 3, 2014.
