Sisters doing it for themselves
Sara Roberts, technical and operations director, Roberts of Port Dinorwic
I am part of the fourth generation of the Roberts family to be involved with Roberts of Port Dinorwic and I am incredibly lucky to be able to say that I love my job! My father, Wyn, retired last July, so my sister Miriam (trading director) and I have inherited the reins. I work closely with Miriam, the financial controller and HR manager to set our strategic goals and ensure we achieve them as a team.
Although Roberts is a family business and I have spent many summer holidays working in the factory or in the office, (before I was officially on the payroll!) it was important to me to achieve the correct qualifications.
Along with food, science has always been a passion of mine so I chose a BSc in Biomolecular Science at Bangor University. Ten years later I successfully completed an MSc in Food Quality Management at Salford University.
I really enjoyed the MSc and although there's always a ton of trade press to read to keep up to date, it is something I enjoy doing. As a small team there is always a lot to do and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming but I am incredibly lucky to work with people who have been involved with Roberts since before I was born and they always offer sound advice. Within the team are also some very committed people who understand and extol our company values.
Meeting customer needs
Our mission is to feed the nation with the best quality food. To achieve this we have three main customer groups: foodservice, retail and manufacturing. Both foodservice and retail require fully finished products; the main difference is the packaging format.
Products range from country mince finished with mashed potato to hand-finished British Farm Assured tenderloin of pork stuffed with apple and rosemary and wrapped in bacon.
Our manufacturing customers look to us for components they can assemble into a range of different finished products. Here, our core competency is the flexibility of our low risk preparation methods and our range of cooking facilities.
Retail is the fastest growing sector and brings its own challenges and opportunities. Speed is of the essence. With one customer, we went from sample stage to delivering launch volumes for three products within four weeks!
Our products come in a range of formats: IQF [individually quick frozen] multi-portion packs, individual pouches, multi-portion foils, meat joints for further portioning.
Built for flexibility
Our factory is not set up to flick a switch and run the same line all day. We have a very flexible facility and the production area replicates what would be possible in the development kitchen but on a much, much larger scale.
All investment is made with efficiency in mind but we cannot afford to hamper the flexibility of the development chefs so the production facility must replicate the results achievable from the domestic kitchen. The flexibility of the factory is reflected in the adaptability and multi skilling of the production team.
My production team is supported by the development team and they work very well together. Last month all teams worked together to successfully launch 12 new product lines. Innovation and bespoke new product development is a standard service we offer to all our customers but everyone is encouraged to bring their ideas to the development chef. One of our newest product ideas currently at the sample stage evolved from a suggestion made by the financial controller!
Miriam is responsible for the purchasing team and sales team, therefore it stands to reason that she is also heavily involved with the NPD chefs. It sounds obvious but, as our development team will work a minimum of six months in advance, they need the input of the purchasing team to know what cuts are feasible and available before we offer products and commitments to customers.
Miriam and her team work very hard on their supplier relationships and have a core nucleus of suppliers they work with for new product development.
As our main area of expertise is cooking and providing meal solutions we're finding that manufacturers who historically cooked and prepared their own meats are now outsourcing and buying cooked meat components from us so they can concentrate on efficiency improvements and assembling the best products.
Because we deal directly with retailers ourselves, we also know the pressures manufacturers are under. With manufacturing and raw material costs rising, we need to be more and more creative and innovative to ensure we give manufacturers the best quality and value for money.
Fanatical about cost control
Our range is also constantly changing. This is critical if we are to maintain our margins and help our customers maintain theirs, although this is a real challenge in the current climate (the price of some of our raw materials has increased by 100% since last October).
It is no secret that we are fanatical about cost control. In this climate the only way to make progress is to keep a vice-like grip on costs! We are very fortunate with the team we have. We are all on the same site, all area managers get together once a day and review key performance indicators to ensure that yields are achieved and production efficiency is maintained. We have also worked very hard with the financial controller and area managers to get everyone involved and taking ownership - so if product is dropped on the floor, people know how much that has cost the business. Likewise, if there is downtime - they know that it costs this much, and so on.
We have hourly targets for every production line so the team can see in real time where we are against the day's plan. Sharing information is crucial if everyone is to take ownership.
In order to build on production efficiencies we have also recently invested £180,000 on new packaging equipment and slicing machinery to increase our flexibility in terms of portion control and packaging formats.
Yes, it's tough out there but we are all in the same boat and faced with the same challenges. Visitors often ask: 'What tonnage do you put through the factory?' But we don't measure performance in that way. We measure our performance by profitability.
Our next financial year starts on July 1, and we have our plans in place which show strong but realistic growth. I think I and the team at Roberts have a lot to look forward to. INTERVIEW BY ELAINE WATSON
FACTORY FACTS
Location: Roberts of Port Dinorwic, Griffiths Crossing, Caernarfon, LL55 1TS. Tel: 01286 676 111
Size: 5,110m2
Employees: About 94 in production and 20 in other roles
Shifts: Two a day, Monday to Friday: 6am-2pm; 2pm-10pm, plus some weekend work
Turnover: £11.5M-£12M
Products: c100 stock keeping units. Cooked meats, meat-based recipe dishes, casseroles with sauces and vegetables
Customers: Foodservice, retail and manufacturing
PERSONAL
Name: Sara Roberts
Age: 32
Career highlights: "There's no one milestone that springs to mind. As soon as you stop learning, you're in a sad state. It can get stressful, but I enjoy the fact that I'm doing something different every day."
Domestics: Engaged to Chris
Outside work: "Spending quality time with my friends and family, cooking and yoga. I'm a qualified instructor now!"
