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Direct Management Services ranked No. 1 in Bay of Plenty

31 January, 2014

DMS ranked No. 1 in Bay of Plenty

Kiwifruit management specialists, Direct Management Services (DMS), are once again top of the crops, after the lowest fruit-loss recorded in the Bay of Plenty last season.

DMS recorded a 0.007% onshore fruit loss for the Gold 3 (G3) variety over the 2013 season, losing just 11 trays out of a total 159,739 produced. The industry average is 1.75% fruit loss.

The results were released by Zespri on its final scorecard for 2013. Scorecards record total onshore fruit loss for all kiwifruit management and packing companies by region, after re-packing from storage in preparation for export.

DMS has also achieved excellent results for the packing of the Hayward green variety, with a total onshore fruit loss of 0.20%, compared to the industry average of 1.38%.

DMS has consistently ranked in the first quartile for onshore fruit loss across all varieties over the past four years within the Bay of Plenty.

Chief operating officer Derek Masters says the company has internal KPIs and a strong drive to be the best in the business.

“DMS has a 10-point best practice inventory management system to minimise onshore fruit loss for our growers, which has allowed us to operate at this level for all varieties. Low fruit loss equals more fruit in boxes, which means more profit for our growers.

“DMS has worked hard to achieve great storage results on 16A, which is renowned as a relatively difficult variety to store. Having refined our procedures for that, the transition to new varieties such as G3 has not been difficult, as the same procedures and disciplines are very relevant.”

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Mr Masters says the company has five core values that guide how it operates, the first of which is ‘passion for success’.

“This has inspired us to do things better in every aspect of the business. Our point of difference is that we aim to do all things exceptionally well and have the Zespri scorecard results on fruit loss to support that.”

He says what makes this feat even greater is the fact that the results are averaged between the company’s two pack houses, located in Te Puna and Te Puke, compared to other companies’ single site pack houses.

“We operate at a level of performance that is comparable, meaning our results are excellent on both sites. It is this commitment to best practice that sees our growers go home with the best results possible. For example with G9, this has meant our growers are earning over $2 per tray more than industry averages. That is huge money.”

DMS went through significant operation-wide changes around five years ago, including rebranding, introducing core values and an internal culture change, more in-depth staff training, technology upgrades and streamlining of its pack house management systems.

The results, Mr Masters says, speak for themselves.

Now consistently performing in the top 10% of all companies in the Bay of Plenty for all varieties, DMS has also been the industry leader in the development and orchard conversion of G3.

“After going through a number of changes, we set out with the clear goal of being the best and creating a point of difference. The G3 Champions campaign has been very powerful for the industry and has given us that point of difference.”

Mr Masters says the coming season is bringing with it ever-growing confidence in G3 and the future continues to look bright for the gold fruit.

“We will continue to use our resources to help our growers develop G3, as that is where we see a very profitable future for the industry. The 2013 season produced some fantastic tasting fruit and 2014 is on track to produce even more high quality crops.”

ENDS

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