After working in the meat industry his entire life, Craig Hickson has seen in all and learned it all. His 10-year apprenticeship gave him a good grounding in both provincial and national meat interests and business perspective.
“What keeps me interested is infinite variety. Every year appears to be extraordinary for different reasons. It’s a dynamic industry with a lot of change,” says the one-time EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year.
He received that award for founding Progressive Meats Limited (PML) in 1981. After two years of planning, operation commenced with a staff of six processing frozen lamb for export. In February 1982, PML commissioned a venison slaughter and processing facility, and five years later the plant extended to have a full lamb slaughter and yarding facility.
“I was short of capital when I started this business, so I couldn’t afford to own the land, buildings or product. But I managed to scrape enough money together to afford some rather rudimentary equipment inside a building that I persuaded a group of investors to construct on my behalf.”
The core of PML is disassembly – taking something that is near-perfect and cutting it into pieces for sale to various markets. PML is a contract provider, and it has remained so since its inception. It has been able to invest in other companies that market its meats but PML still doesn’t own any product, or export any product in its own name.
PML has been going through a major capital expansion process recently, focused on productivity improvements measured though labour productivity but manifesting in mechanical assistance. But because it is a disassembly process, the “natural product” (meat) has a lot of variation which “makes the application of robots and automation challenging.”
“We’ve been looking at projects to automate slaughter since the mid-1990s and the industry is not a lot further ahead today. But it’s a necessary part of the process. But due to the variability of the work we’re dealing with, this business will likely have a lot of human interaction for the foreseeable future,” he says.
Life’s “pretty good,” says Mr Hickson. He enjoys his farming interests and has a keen interest in tennis, social cricket and sailing. The Hicksons also travel “somewhere once a year and have been doing that for the past 20 years.”
But most important, a rack of lamb is his favourite cut of meat.
“I prefer mine encrusted either with herb or seasoning salts – just enough. It’s quick to prepare, and it’s extremely rare that you’ll have a bad experience with lamb.”