Page 10 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Western Meat Packers Group CEO Andrew Fuda.
NOVEMBER 2019 marked 10 years since a fire caused by an electri- cal fault burnt Western Meat Packers Group’s O’Connor, Western Australia, factory to the ground.
Today, WMPG is a successful fully inte- grated domestic and export operation, with an abattoir and farm at Margaret River, farm at Brunswick, state-of-the- art boning and packing facility at Osborne Park, specialist high-tech packing facility at Bibra Lake, Perth Skin and Hides at Coogee and of- fices in China, Thailand and South Korea.
In 2009, WMPG’s then- headquarters and boning room at O’Connor were burnt to the ground.
Though owner Rod Russell could have walked away from the business, he chose not to and continued to employ his equally dedicated workforce, despite drop- ping to 100 cattle a week
and having to access temporary boning facili- ties, before later gearing up to full capacity at the company’s current Os- borne Park premises.
“A bit like a phoenix, we rose from the ashes and emerged stronger, smarter, bigger and bet- ter from what could have been a catastrophe for us, our customers and our staff,” Mr Russell said.
WMPG has since in- vested millions of dol- lars upgrading machin- ery and technology at its Osborne Park beef and lamb facility, where 150 people are now em- ployed.
About 450 people work across the Group’s op- erations.
Mr Russell started WMPG in 1983 and owns 100 percent with his wife Shana.
Mr Russell is a direc- tor of the business, while CEO Andrew Fuda, a qualified butcher like
Mr Russell, runs the $150 million turnover a year business.
Mr Fuda described the WMPG journey in the 10 years since the dev- astating fire as one of measured growth, tar- geted marketing, product differentiation and brand development, all under- pinned by the founder’s philosophy of customer first and last, with eve- rything in between fo- cused simply on supply- ing quality meat, second to none.
A celebrated example is WMPG’s Margaret River Fresh premium- branded beef, one of the company’s high-profile success stories on do- mestic and export mar- kets in recent years.
“While the Margaret River region has long been globally recognised for its fine wines, our Margaret River Fresh beef is now serving up a beef taste sensation to Australian and overseas
consumers,” Mr Fuda said.
“In all our export mar- kets, including Vietnam, Japan, Korea, the US, Hong Kong and Singa- pore, there is high de- mand for sustainably sourced, clean products and the Margaret River region is renowned for these qualities.
“We’ve built on this reputation and the grow- ing consumer trends around sustainability, hormone free and ani- mal welfare by ensuring we meet these expecta- tions.”
Looking to further its reach into other export markets beyond estab- lished partnerships is part of the current busi- ness growth strategy within WMPG.
The Margaret River Fresh trademark is reg- istered with IP Australia to WMPG and used ex- clusively to package the group’s premier prod- ucts.
Cattle are selected af- ter grazing on natural pastures and then raised and fattened almost ex- clusively on pasture, be- fore carrying the Mar- garet River Fresh brand after processing at the WMPG abattoir located on 250ha in the Margaret River region.
Margaret River Fresh striploin from WMPG was again successful this year at the Perth Royal Branded Beef Awards, with silver in grass-fed and bronze in grain-fed classes.
In 2018 it won Cham- pion Large Producer af- ter earlier winning gold in Class Five for Pasture Fed 52 Weeks Grass Fin- ished Beef.
“We are excited to now be making significant changes and improve- ments to all areas of our business, including production, quality as- surance and human re- sources, while creating innovative ways of work- ing as we strive to be an employer of choice,” Mr Fuda said.
He sees Western Meat Packers’ future as one of innovation, especially in terms of product and pack development, with its state-of-the-art Bibra Lake operation, which specialty packs beef mince, a shining exam- ple.
Mr Fuda and Mr Russ- ell regularly travel over- seas, including spending time in Germany, the UK and Asia at trade and industry fairs to as- sess the very latest in handling and packaging technologies, as well as showcasing product and enjoying face-to-face contact with customers.
“It’s all about brand building, product integ- rity and better inform- ing consumers, here and overseas, of our meat products’ provenance,” Mr Fuda said.
“Western Meat Packers Group reads the market to learn where to best position ourselves and then go about consist- ently producing a quali- ty-assured meat product that delivers taste and nutrition to our increas- ingly discerning domes- tic and overseas consum- ers.”
www.wmpg.com.au
WMPG owner and direc-
tor Rod Russell.
WMPG’s Margaret River Fresh display.
Like a phoenix Western Meat Packers rose from the ashes of factory fire
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Page 10 – Australian Pork Newspaper, March 2020
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