Role in the Spotlight series: Approaching Safety Together at the Bega Group

Today, as a purpose-led business the Bega Group is innovating and growing in ways that are shaping the future of the Australian food industry and making a positive impact on the world around us. With a strong focus on supporting the local Australian agriculture industry, we nurture greatness through our commitment to building enduring brands that people love.??

The Bega Group is committed to striving to produce sustainable and nutritious ingredients in all our brands and supplying leading companies globally with our specialty bio nutrients and customer ingredient solutions. The goodness and quality of our products help all communities to live well at every life stage.??

Let us hear from Jerry Ukomadu, Asset Care Leader, on his journey with the Bega Group, the most exciting project he has delivered and how safety is a core focus of the business.?

Tell us how you first started at the Bega Group and what attracted you here.?

I started with the Bega Group two years ago, originally joining as an Automation Engineer, before moving into my current role as an Asset Care Leader.??

As an Asset Care Leader, I oversee the maintenance programs and manage the team and spare resources to maintain highly available and reliable assets onsite. My role requires skills and knowledge in the areas of maintenance and reliability, data acquisition and analysis and computerised maintenance management systems. My day-to-day tasks involve the use of problem solving, critical thinking and planning skills as I’m presented with a variety of scenarios to deal with every day! I am fully empowered daily with the right tools and resources to do my job effectively which is important to me. ?

Why was I attracted to the Bega Group? I guess the "eat what you make" mentality comes to mind. As a consumer of Bega Group's Dairy Farmers white milk brand, I was excited to be a part of the process that produces one of my most consumed foods. What keeps me here? It’s the drive to contribute to the Bega Group’s vision by maintaining exceptionally reliable assets and the satisfaction I get in doing so.?

What is the best project you have worked on at the Bega Group??

The Bega Group is big on investing in technologically advanced assets to improve reliability, maintainability, and sustainability. An example of this would be the installation of a turnkey robotic palletiser, wrapper, and labeller system for the distribution centre onsite. This project doubled the palletising capacity of the site, ensuring that every pallet of product leaving the site was neatly shrink wrapped, whilst also improving data tracking for palletised products.?

This was a huge achievement for us, providing significant business efficiency and professional development for myself by simply being part of the project.?

How does the Bega Group ensure safe operations every day??

The culture here is incredibly positive and supportive, with high emphasis on people wellbeing, fostering empathy, respect, and trust.?

‘Always Safe Together’ is one of our safety slogans that rings true to me. The safety logo and commitment of ‘Always Safe Together’ creates prominent, easily recognisable safety branding, reinforcing the importance of safety and aligning the understanding and importance of safety across all our workplaces.?

Safety is taken very seriously here. Ensuring we all work and return to our families safely sits at the core of the business functions. We are always supported with the right tools, information, and training to perform our tasks safely, with a big emphasis on respectfully declining work that's unsafe to execute.?

What’s your advice for others wanting to join the Bega Group??

Jump on board! It's really everything you'll want in a workplace, which might sound cheesy (excuse the pun). From highly diverse and inclusive teams to a very welcoming and supportive management and great culture too - the Bega Group is big on empowerment, you’ll get a strong feel that you’re trusted to do your job.?

The Bega Group is highly dedicated to the growth and development of its people. I've been a huge benefactor of this initiative.??

Keen to jump on board and taste the next element of success in your career? We have a range of openings currently which are listed here.?