Affco's cost-cutting knives cut deeper

By PHILLIPA STEVENSON

Troubled meat processor Affco is to halve its head office support staff and reduce its salaried plant workers as it battles a low stock kill.

Executive chairman Sam Lewis said around 65 staff would go from the company's Auckland office and up to 45 from its eight North Island plants.

The latest redundancies would mean that Affco had reduced its head office and international staff numbers by more than two-thirds in a year, he said.

A majority of the company's 3500 employees work on its killing chains.

The loss of administrative jobs was inevitable as the company intensified its efforts to cut costs.

Lewis said the North Island beef and lamb kill last month was 12 per cent below the same period last year and it had picked up only a little this month.

"It's a difficult season for all operators."

A former Affco staffer said the significantly lower stock kill would require fewer staff but the company had also found more efficient ways of operating in several areas.

Lewis said a review of the company's structures and operations had shown its level of costs was not sustainable.

"While it has certainly been an erratic season as far as livestock numbers are concerned, we recognise the need to be competitive across all parts of the season - not just the peak."

The company could continue with reduced staff because it had simplified its systems.