Paewai Mullins Shearing

Overview

Paewai Mullins Shearing is a fourth generation shearing contracting business based in the small rural town of Dannevirke.  The company services more than 150 wool grower clients, handling in excess of two million sheep per annum.  They employ close to 40 staff with this number expanding up to 120 from December to the end of March. 

The Productivity Challenge

The goal over the last 50+ years has been to grow the business for future generations, driven by the family's strong Maori values for working and living.  The Directors, Koro and Mavis Mullins, have faced several challenges in growing the business.  Sheep numbers and wool prices have decreased over the last five years.  Many young employees have come into the business with few skills which requires considerable investment.  A tight international labour market has lured some of their skilled employees overseas in search of higher wages.  They have also faced mounting heath and safety concerns as the average age of shearers has increased over the years. Over recent years the focus has been on succession planning for the smooth transition of management of the business from the third to the fourth generation of the family.  The challenges faced include ensuring continued growth of the business, transfer of knowledge, building leadership skills, upholding their reputation as an industry leader and preservation of key systems and networks.

The Productivity Achievement

Improving skill levels has lifted productivity levels and addressed issues such as retention. Succession planning has enabled the strengths of the organisation to be retained and passed on to future leaders.

• Identifying the skill levels and learnings needs of a workforce gives training maximum impact.
• Engaging with staff on health and safety gains their commitment to culture and emphasises personal and collective responsibility for safe working practices.
• Strong leadership means "walking the talk".
• Investing in staff and creating workplace culture builds the organisation's reputation as an employer.
• Aligning work practices with personal cultural values build a strong workplace culture.
• Succession planning is crucial  for developing and training future leaders in an organisation.
• Collaborating with industry stakeholders builds networks and reputations.
• Benchmarking is important for business learning and raising standards.
• Investment in innovation improves work processes and health and safety .-performance.
• Engaging in quality accreditation provides workplace learning beyond a specific programme.

The full Paewai Mullins Shearing productivity case studies are available as HTML and PDF

• Building Leadership and Management Capability [HTML]
• Building Leadership and Management Capability [PDF, 2 Pages, 927kB]
• Creating Productive Workplace Cultures [HTML]
• Creating Productive Workplace Cultures [PDF, 2 Pages, 622kB]