Rockwell Australia chief targets closeness with food and beverage sector

Rockwell Automation Australia's new general manager, Don Werner, has signalled imminent change within his group, in an effort to assist the Australian food and beverage sector through what he predicts will be challenging times in 2007 and beyond.

Appointed as the company's Australian division head in the closing days of 2006, Werner's initial goal is to establish a new "˜culture of closeness' between Rockwell Automation Australia and its clients and partners.

"The Australian food and beverage sector currently faces a unique set of challenges and issues," Werner said.

"While it's clear that we enjoy some of the world's freshest and most sought after produce, it's equally clear that the market itself has never been more demanding. On the customer side, there is demand for an ever increasing variety of products, portions and packaging. On the production side, we must now operate in an increasingly regulated environment.

"Local and export market food regulations, coupled with HACCP, "˜track and trace' and product tamper requirements, all require a great deal of real-time product and production information. Achieving the mechanisms to collate, store and assess this data, while still maintaining optimal throughput, and the flexibility to stay ahead of the market, is particularly challenging."

Werner observed that in addressing such challenges, Australian food and beverage groups have a critical need to tackle three issues: to ensure lowest total cost of ownership (TCO), fastest time-to-market and premium asset optimisation.

"We have to get particularly close to our clients to ensure we have the best understanding of what their production issues are, and how to get them resolved most economically. It is very much a position of mutual trust," he said.