From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
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AbovE: Print ads for <strong>the</strong><br />
So Good for You campaign,<br />
which preceded <strong>the</strong> It’s All<br />
Good campaign.<br />
AbovE: The career of a chip:<br />
an It’s All Good campaign<br />
print ad.<br />
<strong>the</strong> Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation. And, in 2005, <strong>McCain</strong> was named a<br />
British superbrand by <strong>the</strong> Superbrands Organization, which promotes achievements<br />
in branding.<br />
Peter Burman joined <strong>McCain</strong> in 1970 and has spent his entire career with <strong>the</strong> company,<br />
mostly in manufacturing jobs of increasing responsibility. He was responsible<br />
for production in Burgos, Spain, <strong>the</strong>n became plant manager in Hoofddorp, <strong>the</strong><br />
Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands; <strong>the</strong>n manager of <strong>the</strong> pizza plant in Scarborough; manufacturing director<br />
for <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> USA; manufacturing director of <strong>McCain</strong> Alimentaire in Harnes,<br />
France; and <strong>the</strong>n production director for <strong>McCain</strong> GB. In 2006, he was appointed <strong>the</strong><br />
British company’s manufacturing and innovations director.<br />
Burman exemplifies <strong>McCain</strong>’s manufacturing culture. Having started <strong>the</strong> process<br />
of management training and people development in Britain, he has seen many<br />
changes, not least in processing technology. Larger scale production lines, automation,<br />
computerization, and electronic defect removal have dramatically increased<br />
production per man-hour. Meanwhile, hot-air drying before frying and coating have<br />
significantly improved product quality.<br />
Perhaps <strong>the</strong> biggest change Burman has witnessed is in <strong>the</strong> french fry market itself,<br />
from rapid growth to slow growth. “You just assumed it was going to keep growing<br />
at 15 percent a year,” he says. “Because it was growing, <strong>the</strong> biggest problem was just<br />
supplying sales and keeping up. But in later years, <strong>the</strong> problem is getting more sales<br />
to keep <strong>the</strong> factories going.”<br />
Ian Cameron, too, has had an international career with <strong>McCain</strong>. In 1972, Joe<br />
Palmer hired him straight out of university to work for Day & Ross, <strong>McCain</strong>’s trucking<br />
company. Within a year, he had joined <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> at Florenceville and later<br />
worked as plant manager in Australia before becoming manufacturing director for<br />
<strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> USA in Maine. In 1983, while Cameron was working in <strong>the</strong> United<br />
States, Harrison <strong>McCain</strong> asked him if he was interested in <strong>the</strong> position of factory<br />
manager at <strong>the</strong> Whittlesey plant.<br />
Cameron said, “Not really. I’ve been away from home for five years.”<br />
Harrison said, “You’ll enjoy it. Just go for a couple of years, we’ll get somebody else<br />
trained and you can come back.”<br />
So Cameron agreed to go to England for two years. That was in 1983. In 2007, he<br />
was still <strong>the</strong>re. “Business was growing like mad; I had an important job. After a while,<br />
Retired <strong>McCain</strong> GB employees with management, 2007. Front row: (left to right) Robin Negus, Peter Burman, Val Walker, Hal Kinder (retired),<br />
Pam Procter, Mac McCarthy (retired),* Mick Baddley (retired),* Ken Campbell (retired), Ken Wilmot (retired).*<br />
Back row: Dave Chelley, Richard Harris (retired), John Young, Bob Briggs (retired),* Mick Robinson (retired), Steve Bullock (retired), Eion<br />
Johnston, Dave Elliott (retired),* Malcolm Howes (retired), Fred Johnson (retired), John Blackburn (retired), Derek Hood (retired), Doug<br />
Hague (retired),* Alan Pickup (retired),* Nick Vermont, Alan Drury (retired),* Ian Cameron.<br />
Asterisks indicate retirees with thirty-five years or more of service. The o<strong>the</strong>r retirees all have between twenty-five and thirty-five years of service.<br />
this became home.” He has never lost his Maritime accent, but he has two grown sons<br />
who speak like <strong>the</strong> Englishmen <strong>the</strong>y are.<br />
Having worked in Australia and <strong>the</strong> United States under Wallace’s supervision,<br />
and in <strong>the</strong> United Kingdom under Harrison’s, Cameron is well placed to compare<br />
<strong>the</strong> two <strong>McCain</strong> bro<strong>the</strong>rs who built <strong>the</strong> company. “Wallace is more of an operations<br />
person. Dealing with Wallace, you had to justify every penny you spent,<br />
whereas Harrison was a little bit less critical. When we had a meeting, he would<br />
have more to say about marketing and sales. They were great as a team. I sat in<br />
many meetings with ei<strong>the</strong>r or both of <strong>the</strong>m and also with Mac McCarthy, who was<br />
like <strong>the</strong> third bro<strong>the</strong>r. They had enthusiasm and foresight. Sometimes you didn’t<br />
have to have 99 percent of <strong>the</strong> facts. They would just say, ‘That’s <strong>the</strong> right thing to<br />
do, let’s do it.’”<br />
62 <strong>From</strong> <strong>the</strong> g round up<br />
crossing <strong>the</strong> AtlA ntic 63