Mike Mortlock, Head of Supply Planning, Inventory & Analytics, talks about Project Paragon and how Farmlands is already seeing benefits from the project. 

What did you want to do career-wise when you left school?

Not Supply Chain! Plan A was to work in Forestry and I studied microbiology and ecology at university however after a stint in Japan working in a flower nursery, I fell into a Supply Chain gig with Barenbrug in Australia.

Tell us about your career to date.

After "cutting my teeth" in Supply Chain with Barenburg, I proceeded to work in Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Tyres and Consulting in Australia. After 7 years in Australia I went to work for Shell in their Lubricants business. I spent a total of 15 years with Shell based in Singapore and London and working across most of the globe in major transformation projects as well as running Supply Chain planning and excellence teams across multiple countries.

What led you to Farmlands? 

After 20 years abroad, it was time to move home. Initially I started back here in Consulting with KPMG and Farmlands was my main client. I found it very rewarding working in an organisation and with people whose main goal is supporting NZ primary industry and farmers. Therefore when an opportunity came up to join full time, I jumped at the chance.

How have you grown in your time with us at Farmlands? 

While many of the challenges are the same as I am used to, operating in such a seasonally dependent, high stakes, high pace business undergoing rapid change certainly adds a new flavour and keeps it interesting. I've also enjoyed re-learning how the rural sector operates and how I can relate my experience in other industries.

What have been your key achievements / what are you most proud of at Farmlands? 

We're undertaking a huge transformation journey with Paragon, but also with a lot of additional ongoing best practice and continuous improvement. I feel we are really starting to embed the key changes to process and behaviours and are seeing the results. This season we are seeing this reflected in our key KPIs with On Shelf Availability on average 5% better than last year with 20% less inventory. We still, however, have a lot of improvement opportunities especially in unhealthy inventory, production optimisation (including integration of Seales Winslow) and collaboration with field retail and sales teams.

What would your advice be for someone who's interested in a career in your area at Farmlands? 

An interest in the Rural sector is obviously key, but also some understanding of New Zealand seasonality and how this affects farm inputs and outputs.

Interested in learning more about our Supply Chain team?

Check out our Supply Chain page for more details.

Interested in working with Mike in the Supply Chain Team?

Connect with us on our careers site and check out our current Vacancies, or get in touch via careers@farmlands.co.nz.