“When we hit the flush of the season, we’ve got 14 million litres of milk each day arriving from the farms of our 10,500 farmer shareholders.

“Our site teams need to be able to hit the ground running, with the aim of processing all that milk into product as efficiently as possible without losing a drop.”

Mr Taylor says each winter, when milk flows have slowed and many of the Co-operative’s manufacturing plants have stopped production for the season, site teams use the time to upgrade manufacturing technology and get their equipment in top working order.

“This could be anything from building a new drier to initiatives to improve our quality and yields performance – maximising the value we get for our farmers’ milk. Or it could be an upgrade to our manufacturing capability to produce a new product for one of our customers in 140 markets.

“At Stirling in Southern Otago, for example, we’re putting in some new gear that will allow us to make a wider range of cheeses to better meet customer needs in export markets such as Japan.

Mr Taylor says the Co-operative is known around the world for the quality of its product, and a lot of effort goes into continually improving its operations and ensuring the best product quality on a day-to-day basis.

“This ‘down-time’ over winter is our chance to tackle some of those jobs that we can’t get to when it’s all hands on deck during the peak of the season.”

“Like our farmers make the most of the season to catch up on farm repairs and maintenance, we make the most of this time to ensure our sites are in the best shape to turn our farmers’ milk into product as effectively as we can.”