1972 – 1973

• After completing a Bachelor Science Degree Cum Laude at University of Port Elizabeth(Chemistry & Biochemistry as majors), I worked as an Inspector of Explosives for the Department of Health & Safety in Johannesburg for a year to pay off a student loan.

1973 – 1975

• Joined Nestle as a Production Supervisor at their Standerton factory, responsible for their baby cereal ( Nestum, Cerelac, etc) factory operation
• Skills Set Development
  • My first exposure to manufacturing and supervising people (3 shift operation)
  • Progressive Factory Manager who was a great mentor – training included how to operate the key components of equipment in the factory, running the boiler that supplied the steam to cook and dry the baby cereals, quality tests, etc.

1975 – 1982

• Joined Reckitt & Colman in Cape Town as Food Research Manager
  • Directly responsible for developing Purity baby food products, including the manufacturing processes and controls, to ensure all products manufactured were 100% safe for consumption and the highest quality standards maintained.
    • Travelled to both Colman Foods head office in Norwich and Gerber Products Co in Michigan ( the largest babyfood manufacturer in the USA ) on a regular basis to keep abreast of the latest technical developments in babyfoods.
  • With a support team, developing new petfood and food products, including well known brands such as Pamper, Husky, Colmans mustard, Holbrooks Worcestershire sauce, etc , including all the quality standards, processes and controls involved in their manufacture
• Major Achievements
  • Drastically changed the old baby food manufacturing process to ensure minimal nutritional degradation and the highest degree of quality.
  • Developed a unique (subsequently patented) process for making a meat chunks from meat offal and other debris meat that added significant value to certain gourmet pet foods.
  • Developed a number of new food products which are still on the supermarket shelves today (e.g. “IceCap”)
• Skills Set Development
  • A deep understanding of the optimum way of sterilizing food products with minimal nutritional degradation
  • The importance of quality and customer satisfaction
  • Project Management
  • Completed a Diploma in Food Technology

1983 – 1990

• Appointed as Operations Manager for Colman Foods
• Responsible for all food factories and distribution operations in South Africa
  • 4 factories + 4 warehouse operations
  • Products manufactured included Purity baby foods, pet foods (Husky, Pamper, Butch, Dogz-d-lite, Catz-d-lite) and general foods (Cartwrights curry powder, Holbrooks Worcestershire Sauce, Colman’s Mustard, Rice-o-Mix, etc)
• Major Achievements (under my watch)
  • Built the fastest non-beverage canning line in South Africa (and one of the top 2 in the Southern Hemisphere)
    • Canned petfood production
    • 4 shift continuous operation
    • 1000 cans per minute
    • First facility built and licensed to handle condemned meat from abbatoirs
  • Rebuilt the baby food factory in Cape Town.
    • Installed state of the art manufacturing equipment.
  • All factories and warehouses achieved a NOSCAR safety rating for 7 consecutive years (1994 – 1990). This is the highest safety award given by the National Occupational Safety Association (NOSA).
    • Improved productivity by 30% without any compromise on quality
  • Introduced an innovative “works council” approach to employees in Cape Town
    • The only large food manufacturing operation in South Africa never to be unionized by FAWU. All Union approaches rejected by employees.
  • Skills Set Development
    • Negotiation skills – both with Unions (the Johannesburg operation was unionized) and with suppliers. Specialist training received.
    • Safety – Our manufacturing and warehouse operations were in the top 5 percentile country wide. This required a dedicated, committed approach to safety (which, in turn, had huge productivity benefits)
    • Communication and people skills
    • Project Management – making things happen.
    • Risk Taking and Decisiveness
    • Active Listening

1991 – 1992

• Appointed as Resources Director for Reckitt & Colman South Africa – Main Board position
  • Relocated to Johannesburg.
• Food business sold to Tiger Brands and Reckitt & Colman business consolidated in Johannesburg and Durban, focusing on household and pharmaceutical products.
• Responsible for all procurement (selection and management of suppliers, including negotiation) and sales & operations planning.
• Major achievements (with team)
  • Renegotiated terms and conditions with all major suppliers (using skills from specialized international procurement training)
  • Dramatic improvement in Company’s cashflow as a result of negotiated extended payment terms.
• Skills Set Development
  • Specialist procurement and negotiation training both locally and overseas
  • Communication skills – interface between Marketing/Sales and Operations

1993 – 1995

• Appointed as Sales Director for Reckitt & Colman South Africa
  • No previous experience but brought into sales with no “baggage” or preconceived ways of doing things – negotiation skills well developed.
  • Being “groomed” for Managing Director position
• Major Achievements
  • Changed mindset of sales team from focus on sales revenue growth to growth in profitability (paradigm shift)
  • Achieved sales revenue and profitability targets every year.
  • Set up a small team to assist small spaza shop operators in townships to secure better deals with wholesalers – grew our brands significantly off a small base and was able to give valuable feedback to Marketing on the bottom end market.
  • Took over the Customer Service helpline “desk” from Marketing.
    • Appointed a person with the appropriate skills to head up and co-ordinate customer service.
    • Used the sales team to pick up product complaints which dramatically reduced turnaround time for evaluation and personal feedback to the consumer.
  • Record sales and profitability in 1994, resulting in the first overseas sales conference in the history of the Company in South Africa
    • 120 people flown in 3 different groups to Greece where the conference was held on a ferry with leisure time spent on different islands.
  • Reckitt & Colman won a prestigious award in 1995 as the best supplier to retail and wholesale chains (Pick n Pay, Checkers, Metro, etc)
• Skills Set Development
  • The time in sales was possibly the highlight of my career, being in a completely new environment, interacting with a wide range of people from whom I learnt so much.
  • Customer Service – The impact of poor customer service really hit home in a sales environment. Out of stock on a supermarket shelf = customer dissatisfaction (both the actual consumer as well as the supermarket chain) = lost revenue = potentially a lost customer.
  • Team Building – the skills set to build an effective team.

1996 – 1997

• Reckitt & Colman started a drive to become a truly global Company that resulted in major structural changes with the formation of regional operations (vs country), one of which was Africa/Middle East. A new Managing Director was appointed as Regional Director but with a dual responsibility for South Africa. This, in essence, blocked the opportunity for me to progress further within the local business.
• I did not want to be stuck in the role of Sales Director and was considering other attractive options outside the Company before accepting the position of Project Director which was a regional role with the responsibility for implementing the new global Enterprise Resource Planning software ( type of software used to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, supply chain operations, etc) as well as becoming a member of the global Sales & Operations team
• Major Achievements
  • Successfully led the roll out of the new ERP software in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan
  • Successfully led the roll out of the global Sales & Operations process in the same countries.
• Skills Set Development
  • Project Management and Team Building
  • Attended a 3 week Keizen (continuous improvement) programme in Japan
    • Worked on production lines (with interpreter) learning the process
  • Upon completion of the projects, I was offered a senior position at Reckitt & Colman’s Head Office in Windsor, reporting directly to the Managing Director of the Company, responsible for leading a team to evaluate and improve all Company processes ( the way things were done) in all functions and then to lead a global roll-out. I spent a month and a half in Windsor at the end of 1997 and was to take up my new position from the beginning of 1998 – this would have meant relocating to the UK. However, whilst in the UK, the big announcement was made regarding the merger between Reckitt & Colman and Benckiser and the MD of Benckiser was appointed as MD of the new Reckitt Benckiser (which meant I did not have a job!)

1998 – 2001

• Whilst still in the UK, I was approached by the newly appointed Global Supply Director of Reckitt Benckiser and offered the position of Supply Director Africa Middle East which I accepted
  • One of the top 400 positions in a Company that employed 35000 people globally at the time (annual net revenue currently around 14 billion – R275 billion )
  • Reported directly to global Head office in Slough UK
  • Responsible for all manufacturing and distribution operations in Africa, Middle East and Pakistan (11 manufacturing plants, 12 distribution operations)
    • Directly responsible for the South African operation.
    • Supply/Distribution managers in other countries reporting to me.
  • Major achievements
    • Centralized the distribution operation in South Africa from 5 distribution centres to one large facility in Johannesburg, resulting in significantly lower stock holdings (= improved cashflow) with no impact on customer service, eg
      • Order taken by salesman from Pick n Pay Claremont
      • Order loaded onto globally linked computer system ( via satellite) and received by Johannesburg Distribution Centre
      • Order + other orders taken by other salesmen from other customers on the day picked and loaded onto 30T distribution truck (orders taken before 2pm picked and loaded the same day).
      • Overnight travel to Cape Town to 3^rd party trans-shipment centre where pre-packed orders placed on smaller vehicles for delivery to central warehouses or directly to store.
    • Continuous Improvement programmes initiated across the region
      • Inefficient or old operations closed down
      • New, more efficient production lines installed in South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt.
      • Focus on procurement to achieve both cost savings and improved cashflow – training throughout region.
      • Staff incentivized to come up with new ideas to improve quality and productivity.
    • Achieved challenging Supply objectives set by Head Office each year.
  • Skills Set Development
    • Ability to teach and mentor across diverse cultures.
    • Ability to work and communicate across diverse cultures.
    • Logistics management.

2002 – 1^st Quarter

• In September 2001, I took a decision to take early retirement by the end of the year, primarily for family reasons and the fact that I was confident enough to do specialized consulting in the future should I need to supplement my income. I was requested by the Company to extend my time until the end of April 2002 to focus on closing down the pharmaceutical factory in Durban and finding a suitably qualified pharmaceutical contract packer to manufacture our products. In addition, our aerosol facility, one of the largest in the country and also located on the Durban site, had to be moved to our Johannesburg manufacturing site. The Durban site was unionised and the majority of employees had many years of service which made it a real challenge. I relocated to Durban from Johannesburg in November after a new Supply Director was appointed (my family returned to Cape Town after school had closed for the holidays)
• Major Achievements
  • An agreement was reached with staff and the Union after lengthy negotiations.
  • A suitable contract packer was found who absorbed close to 60% of the staff (a condition of the agreement)
  • Aerosol manufacture is a very specialized operation requiring very skilled staff. This was even more imperative as we were investing in new state of the art aerosol manufacturing plant. It was imperative that we retained the core skills we had in Durban and this required an innovative approach as we had to convince key employees to relocate to Johannesburg. Although a costly exercise, it proved very successful. Key elements were:
    • Estate agents were brought in to compile a shortlist of suitable affordable areas to live in. Selected employees and their families were flown to Johannesburg to look at accommodation options and get a “feel” for life in Johannesburg. The Company provided bridging finance to those who accepted the offer to move and stay in the employ of the Company. All relocation costs were covered and a person from Personnel was allocated to the project to ensure a smooth family transition
    • Employees who accepted the offer were sent to the UK to train on the new aerosol equipment.
    • The aerosol team were empowered and trained to operate the aerosol line on their own, no supervisor or Manager. Everything from quality checking the raw materials to maintenance to running the plant was their responsibility. They received incentives for productivity, quality, etc and all were treated equally, i.o.w., the same grade ( which was higher than a standard line operator because of their level of responsibility).
    • This project clearly demonstrated that a person, even with a low standard of education, if given the respect, the training and real responsibility to do the job and, above all, has the motivation to do well, will excel.