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POWER READY
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BLUE RIVER
It’s an international company with a presence in
China, Europe and Southland…but it’s a sure bet
that many will not know its name.
However, in the space of 15 years,
Invercargill’s Blue River Dairy LP has
transformed itself from a small boutique
sheep cheese producer to a company that
plans to double production of its infant
formula ranges from 7.5 million cans to 15 million by the
end of next year. Over the past year, Blue River – which
has factories in Italy and New Zealand, a head office in
China and is owned by the Chen family - has doubled
its staff from 50 to more than 100, and is building a
second production line that will add a further 20 jobs to
the list when it’s up and running mid-2019. The line is
necessary, general manager Robert Boekhout says, to
register another three brands onto the Chinese market
and to innovate in a congested market with more than
2000 competitors. “Each infant formula plant is limited
to supplying a maximum of three registered brands and
each is required to be significantly different,” Boekhout
says. “This prevents companies from repackaging the
same infant formula as different brands in the
marketplace. Four years ago people came out of
university, and they would start up an infant formula
company and just get some to contract can for them and
export to China.” Blue River is the only New Zealand
infant formula manufacturer with three registered
brands in China – producing formula from sheep, goat
and cow milk – and Boekhout says its success comes
from agility and innovation. As its market grows, both
sheep and goat products are in double-digit growth,
forcing the company to turn to global commodities
suppliers. Many of the ingredients are imported from
Europe, then blended and packaged in Southland before
being exported to China. The company started producing
cheese made from sheep milk, then expanded into
icecream, milk and milk powder. When Blue River first
started in Southland it focused on cheese made from
sheep milk. It then expanded to icecream, milk and milk
powder made from sheep milk.
Today, though, the infant formula using milk from sheep,
goats and cows is its major export product.
The sheepmilk industry in New Zealand
was boutique and in its infancy, so to meet the demand
of the Chinese market the company had to source
sheep and goat products from both local and overseas
suppliers, mostly from the Mediterranean, he said.
As for cow products, the company was spoilt for choice
with suppliers in New Zealand, Boekhout said.
Blue River Dairy LP won the inaugural Innovation in
Export Award at the Export Southland Recognition
dinner in September 2016, and picked up the Primary
Sector Business Award at the 2017 Westpac Southland
Business Excellence Awards.
Blue River Dairy LP is owned by the Chen family.
chain Kroger has started
trialling autonomous grocery
deliveries using Toyota Prius
self-driving cars, and the
industry says this is the start
of a new generation of food
deliveries around the world.
The trial at the Fry’s Food Store in
Scottsdale, Arizona, using vehicles
from developer Nuro, is expected to
save time and create convenience
or consumers. Customers can
place delivery orders through the
website or mobile, and schedule
delivery for a flat fee of US$5.95.
When the driverless car arrives
at its destination, the customer
enters a unique numeric code and
takes out the groceries from the
opened compartment. Leading data
and analytics company GlobalData
says the revolution has begun.
“This is an innovative take on food
delivery but the autonomous factor
is unlikely to have any major effect
on how consumers do their online
grocery shopping,” consumer
analyst Ryan Choi says. “This is
an innovative take on food delivery
but the autonomous factor is
unlikely to have any major effect
on how consumers do their online
grocery shopping. The majority
of the benefits will be reaped by
the supermarket chains instead.
The use of autonomous vehicles
allows grocery retailers to save
on hiring and paying drivers, and
provides with an opportunity to
increase the number of possible
deliveries.” Initial investment in a
fleet of autonomous vehicles will be
incredibly high, as will the insurance
required for it, he says. Alongside
this, “not every state in the US –
and countries worldwide – are as
open to autonomous vehicles, and
the public’s opinion is not always
positive, hindering retailers ability to
implement this service elsewhere.
Despite these drawbacks it is likely
that in the future, autonomous
vehicles will be the main source for
all deliveries, and not just grocery
food. The drawbacks mentioned will
become less problematic over time;
the continuous development of this
technology will eventually convince
the public to accept it as well as
reduce the risks involved."
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