Source: Waikato Times
LIC chief executive Wayne McNee is not ruling out redundancies when two of the farming co-operative’s subsidiaries are merged next year.
Details of the integration between Protrack and Dairy Automation Limited (DAL) will be decided in January and McNee expected the review to be finished by February.
Until that detail was thrashed out, it was impossible to rule out any job losses among the 50 staff who work within the two businesses, he said.
McNee said the merger was initiated by the staff of the two companies after LIC decided to launch an international version of Protrack and DAL into Ireland and Britain next year.
“They approached us and said we think we should be put together. It’s been received very positively.”
It has also been approved by LIC’s board of directors.
He expected the merged businesses to grow substantially over the next two years and the bulk of that growth would be in the international market.
This anticipated growth meant the new company would need a new building that would house at least 80 staff.
“Overall it’s going to grow and we will need more people and more resources, but until we actually sit down and go through the process, we don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like.
“What I can categorically say is that we see this as a growing business. We will be adding more people to it.”
LIC bought DAL last year and has since increased its staff from 12 to 20.
Protrack is a dairy shed automation system launched by LIC in 2003 and is installed on more than 1500 dairy farms. Some integrate with the co-operative’s herd management software, MINDA.
DAL provides milk testing sensors that measure fat, protein, somatic cell counts, lactose, conductivity and volume, and present real-time data while a cow is being milked.
McNee said it was business as usual for farmers, but he expected they would see improved service delivery once the move was completed.
LIC is a co-operative owned by 10,500 dairy farmer shareholders across the country.
Shareholders Council chairwoman Jenny Morrison said feedback she had received suggested there was widespread support among farmers for the merger.
“What we hear from farmers is that they want integration. They want all their automation to work together so it makes it simple for them.”
This was what LIC was trying to achieve with the merger, she said.
gerald.piddock@fairfaxmedia.co.nz
– Waikato Times
