Kevin Mee

Experience

• 

  Tongaat Hulett

  Feb 1990 - Apr 1997

  Senior Assistant Manager

  Oversight of irrigation and fertilisation operations, progressing to Senior Assistant Manager within 2 years taking responsibility for the activity of 250 team membersDeveloped expertise within the sphere of planting, harvesting and herbicide applications plus the planning and execution of a maintenance and repair programme for a fleet of vehicles and equipment

• 

  BEAUFORT FARMS LIMITED

  May 1997 - Apr 2002

  General Farm Manager

  Hands-on oversight of all activity of 150 team members across 2 farms [480ha] with an additional 80ha allocated to timer production, managing full scope of operations from planting to extractionKey player in the revival of the business, incorporating new planting standards and diversified cane crop, increased yield by an additional 33%; introduction of transportation led to savings

• 

  Illovo Sugar Africa

  May 2002 - Feb 2007

  Senior Farm Manager

  Oversight of operations across 2 sugarcane farms covering 1400ha with a small management team and a 200-strong workforce; managing daily, weekly and monthly tasksAligning available budget to production potential, seeking ways to streamline and manage with fewer staff, creating efficiencies across all operations to deliver performance within agreed costsSourcing and procuring all production materials including herbicides and fertilisers at competitive rates; negotiating with multiple potential suppliersOversight of equipment maintenance and repair schedule, optimising potential downtime in order to achieve maximum business continuityEnsuring operations are continually NOSA Health and Safety compliant in order to gain maximum scores following annual Health and Safety audit inspection Show less

• 

  Kembali Group

  Mar 2007 - Feb 2020

  Operations Manager

  Oversight of operations of 11 farms, covering 7000ha producing 3 major crops plus timber and livestock; managing 11 Managers and ultimately 1500 team members during peak season Achieved record crop yield, placing company as the largest privately managed sugarcane operation in South Africa; achieved as a result of a 9-month team motivation driveCollaborate with engineering team to incorporate an irrigation model to optimise +600ha of land and diversify crops whilst creates efficiencies across the operation, saving water and electricity usageProjected sugarcane yield will increase by 150% with recoupment of technology development costs within the year 2 of the project roll outGenerated expansion in operations to maximise the use of fallow land, effectively managing project over 5 years, ensuring facilities are ready for production as the macadamia crop becomes available5-year project increased macadamia yield by 765%; current project is based on incorporating drone technology to monitor tree and soil quality to maintain standardsImplemented robust mechanisms to measure operation-wide performance, allowing expenditure tracking and workflow management and decision making, resulting in significant headcount reduction Streamlined fertilisation process, reducing production hours by 16.6% Ownership of forecasting and agreement of production and quality benchmarks combined with operational concerns, expenditure, logistics and site securityForged strong community relationships and outreach to maintain a good reputation as a provider of sustainable employment in addition to multiple mentorship programmes offered Show less

• 

  Helen Browning’s Organic Meat

  Dec 2020 - now

  Operations Manager