CBH’s new network strategy is an ongoing and significant investment looking to ensure growers get the best results from competitive fees, faster receivals and more tonnes to port.
That was the message from the co-operative’s planning, strategy and development general manager Ben Macnamara who said the Plan, Build and Operate strategy was a continuous cycle.
“The network strategy was devised a few years ago but it used data from years 2010, 2011 and 2012,” Mr Macnamara said.
“At that stage we had an average harvest, a below-average harvest and an above-average harvest, bringing the three-year average to around 10.2 million tonnes.”
Over the past few years CBH has recorded some much larger harvests, meaning they needed to re-calibrate plans that will give them ability to store the crop appropriately.
Mr Macnamara said the current five-year production average was 35 per cent higher than previous five-year periods as harvest sizes continued to grow.
“We need to make sure we are taking a longer-term view so we know what’s coming,” he said.
“We are putting a lot of effort in to figure out what the future estimates will be so we can build to that demand, as opposed to forever upgrading the sites to meet the demand.”
The new planning stage of the network strategy is confined to a rolling three-year cycle adopted to drive effective network planning and disciplined capital management.
“The forecast considerations include grower economics, global grain supply and demand and crop size composition,” Mr Macnamara said.
“Using grower economics ensures we are seeking to manage grower turn-around times.
“We understand standing crop risk for growers and we understand what additional travel distances mean so we try to factor it all in.”
Mr Macnamara said the planning phase looked at strategic network planning, infrastructure requirements and prioritisation.
He said CBH was looking at the supply and demand and the different requirements from importing countries.
It will also focus on grower trends including crop mix, what growers are leaning towards, truck sizes, header sizes and harvesting capacity, which is also increasing meaning the crop is coming off at an increasing speed.
Mr Macnamara said all of this informed the way CBH viewed its infrastructure requirements and how they would change in the three-year plan.
The infrastructure requirements don’t only include harvest in-loading but also storage.
READ MORE:
Understanding crop mixes, such as more barley in the system which calls for more segregation, is vital to the planning of storage until the grain is moved to port.
Mr Macnamara said they also looked at out-loading infrastructure requirements and how they moved grain to port in an efficient manner.
“We need to be meeting the demand of our customers, which happens in the front half of the year,” he said.
“Strategic network planning and infrastructure requirements all come down to prioritisation.”
Mr Macnamara said the network planning was analysed each year after harvest and throughout the year to inform decisions.
“We want to be highlighting projects for 2019, 2020, and 2021,” he said.
“Every year we will update that plan and make sure it’s fit for purpose and make sure we are prioritising in the right areas including grower services, tonnes to port and financially we want to make sure we are deploying our capital in a responsible manner.”
