spring ‘18
CONTENTS 01 A WORD from OUR CEO 02 WFL REGISTER RECORD AVOCADO SALES 03 THIS SEASON’S NEWS 05 WFL Targets Stonefruit Growth 07 EX-PEAR-IMENTAL GROWING 08 SHIPPING EMISSIONS
E
STEV
EO LL, C
WE MAX
09 GROUNDBREAKING APPLE BREEDING PROGRAMME 10 DEVELOPING THE PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 11 IMPROVING PRODUCT SHELF LIFE THROUGH ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT 12 ON-SITE QUALITY MANAGEMENT C.I. 13 THE PROFESSIONALS 14 MEET THE MANAGEMENT 15 SOUL-SEARCHING IN PERU 16 MEET THE GROWER 17 OUTSIDE THE WFL FRUIT BOWL 18 RECIPE 19 competition
The Core Magazine is always looking for fresh ideas and new stories so if you have something to share or want to get in touch, please email gary.harrison@worldwidefruit.co.uk
Hello everyone, In my last introduction to our Core magazine I said that the end of 2017 and start of 2018 was all about proving to our customers that they were correct to trust us with extra business. Since then we’ve completed a huge amount of work and I’m really proud of how everyone has come together to meet all the challenges and changes that we’ve taken on. At our company briefings, myself and the Executive team presented our new Direction Of Travel objectives which are a leap forward on what we’ve been doing over the last three successful years. Achieving these will deliver a positive and sustainable future for our company and I’d like to use this opportunity to focus on two of them. Develop a successful multi-model business – this is about ensuring that as we bring on new products like stonefruit and fruit baskets or new ways of working like Sainsbury’s Service Provision, we always continue to work together as one team. Let’s use the wonderful wealth of talent and experience in our business to always share best practice. Industry pacesetter in environmental performance – the last few months have seen lots of media coverage around environmental issues. We need to be a business that steps up to the mark and leads in our industry so we will be setting stretching targets that cover a multitude of areas such as packaging, water, CO2 , farm sustainability, bees, etc. I’d like to ask everyone to help us as we move forward in improving our environmental performance. I always like writing the introduction to our magazine as the information shared within them is so interesting and I’m very lucky to be working in such a vibrant company. Thank you for your continued support and have a great Easter!
WFL REGISTERS
RECORD AVOCADO SALES
With the frenzy and excitement around avocados continuing, WFL’s avocado turnover hit a record-breaking £23.247 million in 2017.
s, Jone hara nna S r e nag Joa l Ma tant r hnica ial Assis e Planne c e T c c o r r d e u a m o c om Res Avo e rial ado C eckyt Avoc and Mate L a eg t t s a e l i n P Er
To ensure the trend continues, WFL is a stakeholder in the recently formed World Avocado Association (WAO) and this summer will be collaborating with them and retailers to run some exciting activation events in store. The website avocadofruitoflife.co.uk will also be key to the communication campaign along with the free online cookbook: http://bit.do/wao-avocado-cookbook. In addition to the incredible sales growth, the WFL avocado team, led by Mark Everett, has been working hard behind the scenes to improve knowledge, practices and systems at every stage of the supply chain. Avocado Technical Manager Shara Jones, Avocado Commercial Assistant Joanna Pilat and Material Resource Planner Ernesta Legeckyte visited avocado farms and packhouses in Spain in February 2018 to see the harvesting and packing of fruit firsthand, while ensuring all was in order ahead of the season.
o the scinating insight int “The trip was a fa the t ou ab ch arnt so mu industry and we le d the an ain Sp n process in avocado productio sure we ke ma to owers put in efforts that the gr Pilat na an Jo quality fruit.” — receive excellent
The PROJECT Closer to home, an avocado carton project has also been hailed a big success. After trials in 2017 to analyse robustness through the transit experience (from Spain to Apple Way and on to the retail shelf), there was a WFL avocado first: shelf ready cartons packed in Spain.
The result Shara and Da vid (Fie Spain) ensur ing al ld Technicia l is n Tro the st ps art of in order p rior t the se o ason.
Over an 8 week period during the 2018 Spanish season 20,000+ cartons were packed at origin and reused in Apple Way. This reduced WFL’s new cardboard requirement by 8540kg and saved £11,677.60 on purchasing new cartons in Spalding. The next step will be rolling this out over a longer supply season and, hopefully, more success. NEWS 02
THIS SEASON’S NEWS Simon and Beth
CAREER DEVELOPMENT WITHIN WFL
r: e yea of th e c i rent Y
App
LEE
LLE SMA
BIG FUTURE FOR APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR LEE SMALLEY Lee Smalley, who started with WFL at the age of 16 as an Engineering Apprentice and has been with the business for two and a half years, has won the South Holland Business Awards Apprentice of the Year. Richard Cundell, WFL’s HR Manager, said: “A big congratulations to Lee on this award. He has an excellent work ethic and continues to develop and support the maintenance of the machines in the business. He always delivers over and above what is expected of a Year 3 apprentice and is expanding his skills and experience, as well as his soft skills as an employee.” “He is reliable and consistent with his methods, allowing him to gain trust and respect from members of the business and deliver a high level of service. Having been involved in several projects within the business, Lee has applied himself in every situation presented to him with a can-do approach and positive attitude. Lee is a valuable member of the team, a great human being and a pleasure to work with.” 03 NEWS
WFL welcomed Beth Ireland to the team as the new Technical Administrator, taking over from Simon Bell who has moved across into the M&S team. Beth earned a degree in Food Manufacturing with Operations Management from Chester University and has previously worked in Quality and Technical roles at Delamere Dairy, Bradburys Cheese and Ornua Nutritional Ingredients. Beth has moved to the area from the Peak District to join WFL and loves living in the countryside, although may not be all that outdoorsy. Outside of work she likes music and spending time with her dog and kittens. Simon has taken on the new role as a Customer Technologist, primarily on M&S Top Fruit & Fruit Baskets, but also with a focus on WFL’s Tesco and Lidl Top Fruit accounts. His new role incorporates managing customer complaints, trending the data and reacting to significant trends in fruit quality. He will also keep M&S up to date weekly with our seasonal calendar and fruit quality position.
de 5s Office Upgra
JAZZ™ VOTED ‘UK’S TASTIEST APPLE’ With this season signifying the 10th anniversary of British grown JAZZ™ apples, Kent-based grower Peter Chandler helped the special variety celebrate in style after his JAZZ™ won the much-coveted ‘Tastiest Apple’ title at the National Fruit Show. Taking place at the Kent Event Centre, the National Fruit Show is the biggest celebration of the UK’s commercially grown top fruit and soft fruit with all the leading players and growers in attendance. The highlights of the show are the hotly-contested awards featuring 60 different categories of the best of British fresh produce.
This year, the first placed JAZZ™ were grown by Peter Chandler and the team at Chandler and Dunn, who have been farming the East Kent landscape for over 200 years; and the JAZZ™ grown by Simon Bray of Monks Farms in Kent picked up second place in the contest. Commenting on the win, Peter Chandler said: “We were amongst the first UK growers to plant JAZZ™ trees so it’s great to win this award as the variety hits its 10-year British milestone. Credit has to go to my team as they have worked their socks off but JAZZ™ has all the attributes a fruit grower wants so it’s a pleasure to grow. When it comes to taste, there’s no doubt it’s a winner and no surprise that its popularity grows year on year as do the number of trophies it wins!”
JAZZ™ showcased why it’s so popular when it comes to taste, flavour and crunch after scooping first and second prize in the ‘Tastiest Apple’ category. It’s the third time in five years that JAZZ™ has won the ‘Tastiest Apple’ award.
5S OFFICE UPGR ADE COMPLETED IN SPALDING After being introduced into the Spalding packhouse and the office area in November 2017, 5S has reached its transformation peak providing a fresh look and new work spaces. The aim of the office refurbishment was to create a leaner working environment and new working spaces for starters. To achieve this, the WFL team removed old and unnecessary files, furniture and equipment, and replaced the large, wide desks with smaller ones to create eight new desk spaces for new employees. These new spaces are also perfect to be used as hot desks for guests and employees who visit from other sites. 5S has engaged employees across the business and has enabled them to contribute in the office’s LEAN management. The office received a fresh lick of paint, some new carpets to modernise and team members have been encouraged to maximise work space and keep desks de-cluttered. Where filing is unavoidable, staff are to place items in clearly labelled blue folders so it sustains a consistent, clean and tidy look. The refurbishment has allowed WFL to identify and improve locations for stationery, 5S’s area and meeting spaces. To keep the team sustaining a 5S environment, WFL have introduced a 5S Scoreboard “Mountain” to be climbed in the next of couple years. To continuously improve and achieve the top score, the office has been split into teams who will compete against each other to be monthly champions. The ultimate aim in 2018 is to achieve a score of 4 across all teams, so the company can target a score of 5 in 2019.
SHAR A JONES LOOKING TO CONQUER LONDON MAR ATHON
r dle han ardC er Pet his aw Z™ Z h wit ing JA n win
After raising nearly £1,200 for Heart Research last year by completing the Great North Run, WFL Technical Manager Shara Jones has now set her sights on completing the London Marathon on the 22nd April. Shara is hoping to raise £2,000 this time and is aiming to complete the race in under 3 hours 45 minutes, which would mean that she would automatically qualify for next year’s race. Shara will be training for the mammoth challenge on the rural roads of Spalding as well as taking part in the Brentwood Half Marathon and Milton Keynes Festival of Running so if you see her out and about be sure to give her a wave.
If you would like to sponsor Shara then please visit her Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/shara-jones
Shara is hop i to ra ise £2 ng ,000 NEWS 04
WFL TARGETS
STONEFRUIT
GROWTH
l by Steve Maxwel WFL CEO
I’m hugely excited and energised by our new stonefruit business and I hope you find this article really interesting. I’d like to set the scene a little to explain how this came about. From 2014 WFL has been looking to generate product stretch for the business. We made a strategic entrance into new products through our joint venture businesses Pop Worldwide and The Fruit Firm. The people in these businesses had experience that we didn’t have in WFL and they had great relationships and skills. We were building legitimacy as a stonefruit option for retailers. Alongside this our CI programme had delivered increased capability and increased capacity. These building blocks meant that in May 2017, WFL broke new ground after our first delivery of stonefruit hit the fresh produce shelves in Aldi stores around the UK. This marked the beginning of the company’s drive into the stonefruit category and, nearly 12 months on, WFL is already well on its way to becoming a key player in the market supplying Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons and M&S. With WFL’s expertise and experience in supplying value added fresh produce, showcasing ripening innovation, creative packaging solutions and marketing support, the stonefruit category is a great fit for WFL.
Danny and the pa Mark in ckhou se
05 SPECIAL FEATURE
The stonefruit category consists of peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums. WFL predominantly works with growers from South Africa during the Southern Hemisphere season, which runs from October to May, and Spain for the Northern Hemisphere season, which runs from May to October. A key part of the next 12 months for the WFL stonefruit team will be to truly assess the different growers from a quality, consistency, work practices and delivery perspective. WFL is currently sourcing fruit from around six growers in the Western Cape region of South Africa and will start to work with another six in Spain, from the regions of Murcia, Seville, Badajoz and Lerida.
is Franc y n n Da Peter with s in r Keyze frica A South
WFL is alre ady on its way to well a key player becoming su Aldi, Lidl, M pplying orrisons and M&S.
e f th am o s ber t Te Mem nefrui sto L F W
S FRANCI Y N N A WITH D SINESS UNIT IT WFL BUOR STONEFRU DIRECT
STONEFRUIT CHALLENGES The stonefruit category and its supply chain are vastly different to that of apples or pears. Apples, for example, can be picked over a two-week period and then stored for six months, whereas stonefruit has a shorter shelf life and needs to be picked from trees continuously throughout the season. There are also a huge number of plum, peach, nectarine and apricot varieties grown commercially which also adds to the scale of the job. In an apple orchard you may have a ten-hectare orchard solely dedicated to Royal Gala but in stonefruit, those ten hectares may be split among six varieties. The biggest challenge is the speed in which fruit quality can deteriorate which can have a dramatic and rapid impact on availability. Danny Francis, who joined the company in 2016 and has been leading the stonefruit project, explains: “The company already had strong experience and an understanding of the ripening and handling of delicate products so we weren’t starting from scratch in that regard, but it’s been essential to build a foundation of specific stonefruit expertise throughout the WFL business. That has meant filling in knowledge gaps, understanding the different challenges we are faced with and also bringing in experienced people to strengthen the team.”
Fruit
on th e tre es
Including Danny, the stonefruit team is now comprised of eight team members including Mark Collins (Commercial Manager), Janina Dowding (Procurement Manager), Pete Keyzers (Technical Manager), Paul Ward (Technical Advisor), Paul Handford (Procurement Executive), Alan Cawley (Commercial Executive) and Kim Foster (Quality Champion). With retail buyers looking for consistent quality, juiciness, sweetness and visually appealing fruit, the stonefruit team will be visiting Egypt, Italy, Morocco and Spain in the next few months to check and assess trees, orchards, packhouses and the varietal innovation taking place. Danny added: “In 2018, the key objectives are to first and foremost deliver what we have promised to our current customers and ensure repeat business. In addition, it’s key that we process map how stonefruit works through the business so we can adopt LEAN processes to drive further improvement and growth.” SPECIAL FEATURE 06
EX-PEAR-IMENTAL GROWING While it’s often been the new apple varieties taking the headlines, plaudits and press in the last decade, there have been plenty of pear innovations too. The best known new variety to have hit the UK supermarket shelves would have to be the Papple®, which WFL helped launch with M&S in 2012 as ‘the pear that looked like an apple’. First developed in New Zealand, the Papple®, despite the name, doesn’t have any official apple lineage and is actually a hybrid of two European and Asian pear varieties. With a pinkish hue over a red blush, the Papple® does look like an apple but that is where the similarities end. When it comes to taste, the Papple® lacks the crunch or tartness of an apple but offers an incredibly juicy, sweet hit of flavour pear-fection. Now grown in the UK, it turns out the Papple® was just the beginning after some other strikingly different looking pears have been developed from European and Asian crosses as part of the Piqa® Series programme developed by Prevar in New Zealand. WFL is the exclusive licensee for production and sales of the Piqa® Series in the UK. It’s worth keeping an eye out for the latest pear hybrids being grown in the UK by WFL, including the yellowskinned Piqa Reo® and the red-skinned Piqa Boo® varieties, which were first commercially planted in the UK in 2012. Currently WFL have planted approximately 20,000 trees of the Piqa® Series and Papple® variety in the UK.
Tony Harding, Technical and Procurement Director at WFL, commented, “When it comes to breeding programmes for pears, it’s always been more difficult than with apples. Returns have been more challenging which has generally meant growers and companies have been more cautious. However, great strides have been made in the last few years with the Papple® generating a lot of excitement so we’re at a precipice where there are some really exciting things happening.” “The first Piqa Reo® pears launched in Waitrose in 2016. The first commercial crop of Piqa Boo® is due to be sold in 2018. Our growers such as Robert Hinge, Clive Baxter, Nick Snell and the team at Clock House Farm have been fantastic in helping to get these varieties off the ground so 2018 should be a big year for these new exciting pears.” And it’s not just in the UK where pears are trending in the orchards. At the 10th Interpera show last year in Washington, more than 160 participants originating from 13 pear-producing countries gathered to discuss the future of the pear industry and showcase some of the next generation of pear hybrids to keep an eye out for.
The ones to keep an eye out for include: USA: GEM
France: Angelys
Spain:
Celina, Carmen et Selena pple le Papopoks like an a ®
hat ear t the p
07 BEHIND THE SCENES
l
Netherlands & Belgium:
Sweet Sensation, Xenia, Cepuna, Corina
SHIPPING
EMISSIONS By Peter Lellow r Shipping Manage
Air pollution caused by internal combustion engines is increasingly in the news and whilst the main push in the past has been to decrease CO2 emissions, the spotlight is now on particulates and Sulphurous/Nitrous Oxide pollution. WFL import large numbers of containers of fresh produce from around the world each year so this is an area of interest to us all. The company received fruit by sea that had travelled a combined total of around 350 million tonne/miles in 2017. Whilst shipping as a mode of transport compares very favourably with road and air transport in terms of CO2 emissions per tonne/mile, Sulphurous and Nitrous Oxides emitted by ships are excessively large due to the heavy fuel oil they burn. It is estimated that shipping consumes around 7% of worldwide transport fossil fuel demand but emits around 90% of worldwide transport SO2 emissions. In line with government efforts to reduce damaging air pollution from vehicles in our cities, shipping will be making efforts to clean up its act in 2020. The International Maritime Organisation (an agency of the UN) has committed to reducing the current global sulphur emissions cap of 3.5% to 0.5% from January 2020. There is already a tighter 0.1% cap in heavily populated areas (i.e. North European waters, USA Coastline, some Chinese ports, etc.) and this will remain. The 0.5% cap will apply to all other areas of the globe.
The sp otligh t is on nitrou sulphu s oxide r pollut ous & ion
To comply with the new rules, ship operators will have a few options but all of which will be expensive to them and their customers. Burning low sulphur fuel which is currently around 60% more expensive than the usual fuel, installing costly exhaust scrubbers which chemically clean up the exhaust gases before leaving the funnel, or running on alternative fuels such as LNG or battery power are options but all can only be suited to vessels on a closed loop schedule where facilities can be built to refuel/recharge. The key will be how well the rules are enforced by the authorities. Whilst blue chip companies will play by the rules, there are bound to be many who will try to evade them.
The hard truth WFL received fruit by sea that had travelled a combined total of:
Shipping consumes around 7% of world transport fossil fuel demand.
Shipping emits around 90% of worldwide transport sulphur dioxide emissions.
350 MILLION MILES IN 2017
BEHIND THE SCENES  08
GROUNDBREAKING UK APPLE BREEDING
PROGRAMME
WFL a re the o compa ny in t nly h e investi ng in a UK n runnin g a co d m breedi ng pro mercial gramm e
COMES INTO FRUITION After plenty of success in helping to develop and launch new apple varieties over the last 10 years such as the notable JAZZ™ and Envy varieties, WFL has been working on another incredibly exciting breeding programme. The long-term project, which is taking place in East Malling, Kent, and is about to come to fruition, was set up in 2012 and has been a forward-thinking collaboration between researchers, plant breeders and WFL. The aim of the scheme has been to breed, select, trial and evaluate promising new apple varieties. This has been underpinned by a pre-breeding research programme using DNA marker technology to isolate key markers for fruit quality and disease resistance. Molecular markers are fragments of DNA that are associated with a certain location within the genome. They are used in biology as pointers towards the presence, or not, of desirable traits, such as resistance to a specific disease. This technology provides information that can be used to select the best parent plants within a breeding programme or to see if the seedlings have inherited the desired gene combinations from the parents. WFL are the only company in the UK investing in and running a commercial breeding programme which will look to create and commercialise new varieties, not just for the UK but for global markets. The breeding programme – run in collaboration with East Malling Research (EMR) and T&G Global – is specifically looking for and testing new apple varieties that can provide excellent fruit quality and flavour, storage ability and long shelf life, pest and disease resistance, and which have a tree architecture suitable for modern cropping systems. With over 2,500 seedlings planted since the programme began the first UK harvest is now expected in the fall of 2018. EMR is an independent provider of research and consultancy serving the food chain and other sectors of the land-based industry. EMR builds on 101 years’ experience of successfully delivering cutting edge research and development to industry. www.emr.ac.uk
09 BEHIND THE SCENES
Kent ted ing l l xpec a M t is e s e East v r K ha of 2018 rst U our fi n the fall i “We have seen first-hand with JAZZ™ how important new varieties are for our business and the growers. We believe it’s very important to remain as the industry pacesetter in new variety innovation and by working closely with T&G who have an outstanding pedigree in new variety development, we believe we can achieve something very innovative from our breeding programme.” “Through the world-leading science at EMR, we’re looking to produce great new varieties that meet the consumers’ requirements for flavour, appearance and texture, whilst being suited to sustainable UK and global apple production. With the first harvest expected later this year, it’s an incredibly exciting time for WFL and its shareholder growers.” — Tony Harding, Technical and Procurement Director at WFL
DEVELOPING THE PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
By Tony Brown & Simon Carter, anagers WFL Product M
WFL
Pro d Simo uct Ma na n an d To gers ny
WFL has been using the Muddy Boots Greenlight QC function for quality assessments on raw material since February 2016 and the platform has allowed easy reporting of quality performance data for the business and their supply base.
The Trending Module is currently used to produce three company reports – The Monthly Quality Report, the Attribute Report and the Supplier Comparison Report. It enables the Product Managers to identify potential hotspots and report factually to the business. Gathering data for the monthly technical meeting has been reduced by 8 hours based on the previous method and the end of season scorecard data is also easier to pull together when using the new module.
Whilst the system offered a number of reports, WFL saw an opportunity to improve the flexibility, allowing easier trending and comparison reporting. Last year, WFL worked collaboratively with Muddy Boots to develop their Business Intelligence tool, known to us as the Trending Module.
As product managers one of the main tasks is the reporting of supplier performance. In the past this has been time consuming due to how the information was stored and accessed. The Trending Module has enabled WFL to quickly pull together reports which cover the quality aspects of a supplier’s performance, as well as how the supplier is performing against their competitors. This information is then used in monthly quality reports for the suppliers to drive continuous improvement within the supply base. The Trending Module can also be used to capture seasonal and YOY data to allow for analysis over much longer periods.
Report dashboards can be created by business administrators, giving WFL full flexibility on how data is to be displayed. Once dashboards have been created, users can access reports from the Greenlight QC platform at the push of a button, saving hours of data analysis.
The new Trending Report has helped WFL’s monthly supplier performance and feedback emails. Greenlight has always captured lots of data but previously staff had to attach four reports to an email for their monthly supplier reports, whereas now they can run one single report. Greenlight can also produce trends from multiple suppliers to show performance and will also help with giving factual quick data to the business regarding a variety, supplier or attribute. For example, which supplier of Pink Lady has the best brix readings? The answer is just a few clicks away.
BEHIND THE SCENES 10
IMPROVING PRODUCT SHELF LIFE THROUGH
ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT
y, By Kirstin Barne dinator r WFL Trials Coo
Over the last three months WFL has been working to assess the potential quality and consumer benefits of using UV-C light treatment on ripened fruit with separate trials, in conjunction with Greenbean Scientific, on avocados, stonefruit and pears. UV-C light treatment is a non-thermal, non-chemical technology used to inactivate microorganisms. Expected benefits include reduction in rots and moulds, and therefore the potential to increase shelf life. For all trials where possible, WFL used fruit from more than one country and one supplier, and trialled the difference between 10 and 20 seconds exposure time, and where relevant, the difference between UV-C treatment before and after packing.
UV-C light t using avocreatment ados
AVOCADO UV-C TRIAL Two sizes of avocados from end-of-season Peru and beginning-of-season Chile were tested in two trials. One trial was a microbe analysis where avocados from several suppliers were treated and then sent with control avocados to Concept Life Sciences. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the levels of microbes on the surface of Hass avocados when they arrive at WFL in order to establish the effectiveness of UV exposure in reducing the levels of E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella.
ine
ach UV m
The second trial was done in conjunction with Greenbean Scientific. Fruit was treated and then assessed from its best before date to BB+4 at WFL. This included a visual assessment, a taste assessment, measuring pressures and recording weight loss over shelf life. At the end, avocados kept for swab samples were sent to Greenbean who swabbed the surface of the fruit for spores; cultured the spores; and identified and quantified colonies present. Results showed that UV-C appeared to have a marginal effect at best on maintaining fruit firmness of ripened avocados and did not result in any damage to the skin or affect the taste. Overall, there was some evidence to suggest that UV-C treatment offers benefits in slowing down certain microbe’s growth on the surface of fruit but not others. Results differed between countries and suppliers. Stonefruit and pear trials are now complete and the results are currently being analysed. They are expected to differ greatly between fruit due to the difference in the amount and type of microbes present on the surface of fruit when it arrives at WFL.
11  BEHIND THE SCENES
ey
rn in Ba
Kirst
ON-SITE QUALITY MANAGEMENT C.I
GLQC Assessment
By Julie Thorold, WFL Quality & ger Compliance Mana In August 2017 I became WFL’s Quality and Compliance Manager and part of her job role was to develop and improve processes throughout all parts of the business. This began in September 2017 with the introduction of paperless reporting of finished goods quality assessments using the Muddy Boots Greenlight QC function. WFL have been using GLQC for recording raw material intake assessments for over two years and the time was finally right to advance the finished goods assessment to paperless reporting. This improved data capture as GLQC assessment enables defect levels to be quantified and assessed against retailer specifications more easily. In January 2018, the team were re-deployed, bringing the finished goods assessment earlier in the process. The quality team were carrying out quality assessments after product had been packed, reacting to errors and rejecting non-conforming product. YTD figures show that the team identified errors within 51/6075 jobs produced, giving a service level of 99.1%.
Nº jobs produced:
6075 Nº ISFs raised:
51 Service level:
99.1% Total order quantity:
4615 Quantity rejected:
1384
The team are now much closer to the production process, improving visibility and the identification of internal service failures. More ISFs are now being reported accurately with robust root cause investigations taking place. Data is trended to identify hot spots and clusters undergo a Rapid Problem Solving sheet to identify root cause, corrective actions and C.I steps.
Rework reduction:
3231 CASES (70%)
Amendments were required to the GLQC function to allow the checks to be completed on-line. These amendments have now been deployed and the team are in the process of testing the upgrade. It is hoped that on-line assessment reporting will be 100% paperless soon. The previous method of assessment also led to bottlenecks in release of product to the logistics team, affecting pick rates and the ability to meet all orders on time. Since moving the checks to earlier in the process, product flow has significantly improved, increasing pick rates by 25 cases per hour and improving finished product availability.
Julie Thor old a Apple Way t
ine on-l t c u prod let cking GLQC tab e h c QC the with
BEHIND THE SCENES 12
THE PROFESSIONALS By Lee Pickard
You’ll probably have an image in your mind when someone mentions a career in accountancy. Bean counter, maths nerd, number cruncher to name but a few. However, the modern day accountant doesn’t fall into these stereotypes as the profession and role demands much more than just dealing with the numbers. The profession trains its accountants to be skilled in business strategy, thinking creatively, producing decisionmaking information, assessing financial risk, ethical decision-making, leadership and team management. These are in addition to the basic accounting skills of good financial controls and producing accounts.
To become a qualified accountant you need to have registered with one of the professional bodies, such as CIMA, ACCA, or AAT, and will need to study and take exams over a 3 to 6 year period, and budget to spend around £10,000. The accountancy body of choice at WFL is the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), which is the profession most aligned to running a large business. There are around 229,000 CIMA accountants worldwide in 176 countries. A qualification in CIMA demonstrates a high level achieved in all the skills mentioned above.
At WFL the following people are either qualified or training as an accountant so the numbers are in good hands! Gordon Clark (Financial Director) CIMA Lee Pickard (Financial Controller) CIMA e Phil Col ccounts ment A (Manage troller) Con CIMA Mark Vincent ountant) (Management Acc nals studying CIMA fi
ROUND ARE A NTANTS E R E H T U 0 ACCO 229,00 IDE IN 176 W WORLD ES I R T N COU
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enetyte er) B a t s A d Cashi n a s e l (Sa g AAT studyin
Kevin Byrne (Administrator Kent office) AAT
IONAL OFESS R P N I MA S ARE: D AAT BODIE CCA AN A , A M CI 13 PEOPLE
Mem be Accors of t unts he W team FL
Tomasz Antczak (Management nt) Accountant Assista A AAT, studying CIM
(Service Inga Dulkien e Busines s Accou ntant) CIMA
MEET THE MANAGEMENT
Q: What is the most exciting part of your work?
g Tony Harcadlinan d
WFL Techni Director Procurement
Q: How did you get into fresh produce? After studying commercial horticulture and graduating from Hadlow Horticultural College in 1994, I began working at Geest initially in Quality Control. My early days were spent at the Tilbury Docks site working with kiwi fruit but it wasn’t long before I started to work across various fresh produce such as apples, pears, stonefruit, grapes, exotics and citrus. I spent a year running a packhouse based in Tilbury packing Israeli citrus and then I moved onto become a Quality Manager at East Kent Packers when WFL took over the site in 2001. I then worked my way up through the Technical department before eventually becoming Technical and Procurement Director in 2013.
Q: What is your current role? It’s fairly broad as I look after the Technical and Procurement parts of the business, which in essence are our supply chains. I also have a commercial responsibility in selling the UK crop and overseeing NPD so every day is different. It’s a big job but I enjoy working closely with our growers, who in my opinion are the best in the world at what they do.
While generating and winning new business is always the pinnacle, I enjoy the long-term planning and the innovation, which is something WFL can be very proud of. The work on new varieties and packaging developments is very rewarding on many levels. As a company we’re literally pushing the boundaries within our categories so it’s great to be a part of these projects.
Q: Which football team do you support? I’m a Crystal Palace fan so after a horrible, bordering on embarrassing start to the season, things are looking a bit more promising, although we still have plenty to do to avoid relegation. I didn’t actually have all that much faith in Roy Hodgson when he took over but he has surprised me. He seems to have galvanised the team and organised the players into a system that has produced some good results.
Q: Did you play a bit in your heyday? I don’t think I ever had a “heyday” but yes, I played football up until I was about 34 and loved it but the body started to tell me, enough is enough! My kids George and Thomas love their football though so I enjoy watching them and helping with the coaching at their club Dawes Hernehill Herons.
Q: What’s your favourite fruit? I do love my English cherries. The season isn’t the longest but when the first harvest takes place in July, I tend to visit some of our UK growers who produce fantastic cherries around that time of year!
Q: What do you love most about the job?
Q: If you could invite three people to a dinner party, who would they be?
I like the fact that every day is different and seasons can be very different from one year to the next, which presents new challenges on supply. I enjoy the strategic aspects of the role and how we shape the business for the future. It does mean it can be a challenge and you have to be able to adapt to whatever is thrown at you. I also enjoy managing a large, diverse team and seeing the individuals develop and grow in experience and skills.
This a tough one and I am assuming you can include people who are no longer with us. George Best would have to be there from a sporting perspective. I’d also invite Robert de Niro to tell some stories about the films he has made and the people he has worked with. And finally it would be Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones as I read his autobiography and it looks like he’s had plenty of fun over his lifetime. PEOPLE 14
SOUL-SEARCHING
FOR PERUVIAN
ASPARAGUS
PERU IS THE WORLD’S LA RGEST EXPORTER O F FRESH GREEN ASPA RAGUS
By Mike Soulsby WFL Export Manager
Before moving back to the UK a couple of years ago I lived in Peru for 9 years. Lying on the Pacific coast of South America, Peru is geographically one of the most diverse countries on the planet with its Amazon jungle, Andes Mountains and long desert coastal strip offering a range of climates and seasons that suit many different crops.
My focus was on exports to Australia and Japan, two of the most distant and complicated markets to get to. Managing a fast and efficient cool chain was key, and that would start in the fields and packhouses by ensuring the freshest possible product was cut, packed and dispatched to the airport in Lima.
In recent decades strong economic interest has untapped this potential and led to huge growth in the agriculture sector, which made it an exciting place to be working.
Product would then depart on the soonest available flight and remain in transit for at least another 30 hours before arriving at the destination. We would have to be creative with the routes we took, often using both ways around the globe on multiple flights to ensure we kept up with our orders (Lima-Buenos Aires-Dubai-Sydney or Lima-SantiagoAuckland-Sydney for example). Flight delays, hot arrivals and claims were unfortunately a frequent occurrence, but if it was easy then I’d have been out of a job.
One crop that I was heavily involved in at the time was asparagus. The country is the world’s largest exporter of fresh green asparagus, with harvests taking place every day of the year and over 20 million boxes distributed annually to all parts of the globe. Vast farms can be found on the coastal plains, often planted in sandy soil in arid conditions and irrigated by meltwater from the adjacent Andes Mountains. Single farms exist of 1,000 hectares or more stretching as far as the eye can see into desert.
From
15 PEOPLE
field
To packho use
BOXES OF 20 MILLION RE SPARAGUS A PERUVIAN A HE D AROUND T DISTRIBUTE R A H YE WORLD EAC
p sho o T
MEET THE
GROWER With the UK apple season coming to a close and growers busy preparing their orchards for the next season, this month we salute legendary apple grower Simon Bray of Monks Farm in Norton, Kent.
Monks Farm, which supplies many of the major supermarkets, mainly grows Gala (32.%) and Cox (20%) but also Bramley (16%), JAZZ™ (15%), Jonagold (7%) Braeburn (6%) and small amounts of Egremont Russet and Amelia (which is grown exclusively for Marks & Spencer).
Simon owns a 39 hectare orchard and is a 3rd generation apple grower. With over 30 years of growing experience and a whole host of awards picked up along the way, including the UK’s Tastiest Apple trophy, Simon certainly knows a thing or two about apples.
Always one to go the extra mile, Simon and his partner Sylvia also lend a hand at the BBC Good Food Show to celebrate the new UK JAZZ™ Apple season launch.
emely and I feel extr fe li y m e ar s “Apple and work in a do what I do privileged to I have always lish orchard. g En t’s l fu ti au be especially Ken ritish apples, B at orld th w e ed th ev beli r in with any othe te pe m co lity n bi ca si spon finest, e so it’s my re st ta to es m when it co Simon continues.” — at th re su en to
GALA
Simon in his orcha rd
grows Monks farm g the followin varieties
32.2% COX
20% BRAMLEY
16%
JAZZ™
15%
JONAGOLD at theShow n o m i S Fruit l a n o i Nat
7%
BRAEBURN
6%
PEOPLE 16
OUTSIDE THE WFL FRUIT BOWL Sam ‘Bomber’ Roberts WFL Senior Production Manager
Q: What are your aspirations in the game? Do you have dreams of being the next Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor?
Q: When did you start playing darts and what inspired you to get into it?
My aspirations are probably quite different now compared to the 14-year-old Sam Roberts but for now I am quite happy playing in the local league, the Super League and choosing the odd competition to suit my time. But who knows what the future may bring…
I started playing when I was about 10 after watching my Dad and other family members play in the local league. By the age of 13/14 I was beating my Dad on a regular basis so he finally succumbed and asked me to play in the league too. By March 2002 I had played in my first league game but was still more interested in playing on consoles than spending hours throwing darts at a dart board.
Q: What’s your darts nickname? Bomber due to the fact I throw a heavier dart than average and I tend to throw them quite hard.
Q: What does it involve to be a darts player and how often do you have to train? Three things really. One is an element of natural ability, two is dedication, and three would be mental strength (concentration and confidence). Over the years the “training aspect” is getting very different to the image of people drinking and playing in pubs and there is now an influx of youths who will practice for up to 8 hours a day. As for me, I very rarely practice anymore but still love to play in the leagues.
Q: Do you have a team you play for? I play for several local teams in the Spalding, Kirton and Pinchbeck League while also turning out for a team in the Cambridgeshire Super League, which is a step up from local darts but allows me to compete with Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams.
Q: Any successes, wins?
Sam with the lege n Martin A dams d
My biggest three achievements would be competing in the PDC UK Open Qualifiers final, winning £650 in a knockout tournament and playing in front of a crowd of 1,000 people on three occasions.
Q: Favourite darts player? I have respect for them all but after a nice bet came in at this year’s World Championships I would have to say Rob Cross. I am a Phil Taylor fan too and meeting him three times were definitely career highlights. Playing against him once was a real treat and although I lost 6-1 I was still quite happy with the result.
17 PEOPLE
al tur n a n o t ofedicati n e elemy and d n A ilit ab
Q: Any funny/embarrassing story about you and darts? Too many to mention and probably most not appropriate for this media, but falling asleep in a bus shelter at Yarmouth is quite a story if anyone wants to ask me about it.
Peach and Almond Tart Ingredients: For the pastry 2 egg yolks 200g plain flour 90g unsalted butter 1 tbsp caster sugar 2 tbsp water For the filling 150g ground almonds 40g plain flour 1 egg 90g caster sugar 4 good-sized peaches sliced 2 tbsp apricot conserve or jam Clotted cream
Whether you’re throwing a family dinner party or just want to treat yourself to a slice of heaven, this recipe for Peach and Almond Tart is the ideal choice. A golden, buttery, crumbly pastry with fragrant almond and juicy peaches – what more could you ask for?
Method: If you’re making your own pastry, start off by mixing the flour and butter together until it becomes crumbly. Then add the sugar, two egg yolks and 2 tbsp of water and combine until a dough like consistency is achieved. Wrap in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for about 40–50 minutes. Heat the oven to 180–200°C. Roll out the pastry on to a lightly floured surface and line the pastry on top of your tart tin before gently pressing into the edges. Cut any excess pastry from around the tart tin before placing a sheet of greaseproof paper and filling with baking beans. Bake for around 10 minutes before removing the beans and paper. Prick the base with a fork and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes. For the filling, combine the sugar and butter until you have a paste-like consistency. Add in a whisked egg followed by the flour and ground almonds. Once combined spoon the mixture into the pastry case and top with sliced peaches and a light sprinkle of sugar. Bake for about 35–40 minutes until golden brown and serve with apricot conserve and a dollop of clotted cream.
RECIPE 18
WIN A
COMPETITION
£50
SUPERM
VOUCHAERKET
Answer the question below correctly and you could win a £50 supermarket voucher. Email your answers to comp@worldwidefruit.co.uk by 31st May 2018 and one lucky winner will be picked in early June.
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Worldwide Fruit Spalding Apple Way, Wardentree Lane, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, PE11 3BB Tel: +44 (0) 1775 717000
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Worldwide Fruit Kent Acorn House, Unit 68-69,John Wilson Business Park, Harvey Drive, Chestfield, Whitstable, Kent CT5 3QT
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