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Introduction and History
Industry Position of CMG
Mission Statement
Strategic Direction of CMG
Case Studies
Department and Contacts
New and Future Developments
Organic Beef

Introduction and History

Consolidated Meat Group (CMG) was formed from the Lakes Creek Meatworks in Rockhampton, Queensland. The meatworks was first established in 1870 when an English company under the name of the Central Queensland Meat Preserving Company decided to build a meat-preserving works on the Fitzroy River. In 1871 the plant opened with the slaughter of 11 bullocks from Waverley Station. Lakes Creek was named because of its association with Captain Lake, whose trading vessel was anchored off the mouth to take on supplies of fresh water. Further historical information on the plant is available by reading our Plant History Booklet.

Consolidated Meat Group is fully and privately owned by Consolidated Press Holdings, Australia's leading media, publishing, casino and entertainment company. Consolidated Meat Group has strong links with the cattle industry through the Consolidated Pastoral Company, Australia's third-largest pastoral company.

Consolidated Meat Group proudly supplies Australia's safest and most natural meat products to the world markets through its state of the art processing facilities at Lakes Creek, Innisfail, and Katherine. Consolidated Meat Group has strict cattle procurement and transport protocols to ensure cattle are handled to minimise stress and meat degradation. All processing is customer focussed. Underpinning this are ISO 9000-based Quality Assurance Programs to ensure consistency and transparency.

Consolidated Meat Group's ISO 9000-based programs place CMG at the forefront of the Australian beef industry in terms of guaranteed safety and product consistency.

Consolidated Meat Group staff are highly qualified and experienced in the beef and food industries. The team has a thorough understanding of all the components of these industries. This ensures that the correct cattle are procured, the processing is the world's best, and customers needs are satisfied to the highest standards. Staff are trained extensively in their respective areas and have a reputation for reliability and consistency. The whole team is focused on safety and the superior quality of products and services.

Ray O'Dell Graeme Acton Sir Graham and Jenny McCamley
Quote: Consolidated Meat Group is Australia's fastest growing beef processor. We are committed to supply both grain-fed and grass-fed premium beef products to the markets to which we export. We have invested substantial capital in our processes, our quality control and food safety systems, which combined with our program for continual improvement will position Consolidated Meat Group as a leading beef supplier to the world market. Quote: The partners of Acton Land and Cattle Company, Graeme and Evan Acton, have developed a strong and loyal association with Consolidated Meat Group since its founding in 1995. During this time, Consolidated Meat Group has continually sought to achieve the highest standards with the constant upgrading of facilities at the meatworks in Rockhampton. Without Consolidated Meat Group's involvement in the cattle industry, central Queensland graziers would not have received the benefits enjoyed today. In 1997 Acton Land and Cattle Company formed Acton Super Beef through which to distribute its own branded product. The assistance given by Consolidated Meat Group greatly helped Acton Super Beef in the early stages of brand development. For this, the partners are extremely grateful. Quote: I have been supplying Consolidated Meat Group with cattle from all my seven properties since Consolidated Pastoral Company entered the beef-processing sector in 1995. I have enjoyed witnessing Consolidated Meat Group emerge as a major competitor in the industry in a very short period of time. It is encouraging to see an Australian-owned company evolve from a cattle-producer base into a truly market-focused, high-tech, quality driven organisation that has bought stability to the processing industry in northern Australia. The integrity of the senior executives and staff in the Livestock Division has made it a pleasure to do business with this Company.

Industry Position of CMG

Australia's newest major meat processor with operations starting five years ago, with the last two years under a new customer-focused management team.
Australia's largest processor of natural grass-fed cattle.
Largest Australian-owned beef-processing company.
Most modern boning and packing facilities in the world. Australia's fastest growing beef-processing company with an annual growth exceeding 20 per cent per year for the last five years, anticipated growth over the next three years will exceed historic achievements.
Australia's most integrated beef-processing company with continued expansion into value-added opportunities to improve customer satisfaction.
Currently the third largest beef-processing company nationally and is predicted to be number two by the end of 2001.
Located in the heart of the cattle country with 10 million cattle within a 400-mile radius of a plant.
Situated in the heart of the organic beef opportunity.

Mission Statement

Consolidated Meat Group aspires to be our customer's preferred supplier of beef products. Our management strategy is market focused and underpinned by ISO 9000-based Quality Assurance Programs. We strive to constantly deliver excellent quality and consistency in our products as we target specific customer requirements. In satisfying specific customer needs we strive to provide excellent backup services and, overall, excellent supply-chain management.

Strategic Direction or CMG

Since Kerry Packer's Consolidated Press Holdings purchased full ownership of CMG in July 1999, extensive changes have been made. Many of the physical changes are obvious - a state-of-the-art boning room, a carcass marshalling facility feeding into new chillers, and demolition of old buildings, to name a few.

Less obvious is a new strategic direction. With changes to the plant only part of the strategy. Other key elements relate to the way we produce and market our product and it also includes the way we treat the people who are the strength behind CMG's future, our customers, our suppliers and our employees.

The following strategy was developed recently, outlining CMG's future aims:

CMG's strategy is to position the business as an Australian industry leader in:
value and customer satisfaction for commodity products by developing interdependent relationships with trading partners;
providing an integrated range of profitable, value-added products to the retail and food service segments in Australia and global markets;
processing cost efficiency by operating at the lowest economically feasible levels.

By successfully implementing this strategy, we believe that the future of the company as a leader in the Australian Food Industry is assured.

Case Studies

In the past we have satisfied specific requirements for our customers. For example:

1 A Japanese customer wanted unique requirements for a mince product.
Specific requirements were:
customer-designed QA management in producing trimmings-to-end product;
customer-designed mince specification;
packaging requirements that involved designing special cartons to ease handling issues and a special liner to eliminate liner entrapment;
customer-specified high-tech metal detector;
The end result is a customer-designed product and system delivering 12-15 tonnes of mince a month on a profitable basis for both CMG and our end-user customers.
2 A Japanese customer wanted further processing of the Navel-End Brisket to a sliced form. This customer supplied us with the "Chop 21" machine that enabled us to finely slice frozen brisket to his company's specific requirements. This has been very successful with a win/win situation for both CMG and our customer.
3 A current Japanese customer wanted a special grass full-set to fit his company's specific requirements as well as allocate an exclusive brand to this product to enable differentiation in the food-service sector.
This necessitated in CMG:
customising a carcase classification with specifications to suit these requirements;
together with our customer, developing a brand and packaging specific for this product;
identifying a framework in which to work with our customer in further product development and modification as required.
This business is now growing and proving very satisfactory to both CMG and our customer.


For inquiries regarding these cases and further product development contact:
Doug Hespe, Market Development Manager Asia
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 3390 9922
OR
Paul Heesterman, Business Process and Innovation Manager
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5930
OR
Jake Morse, Sales Manager
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5834

Departments and Contacts

Management

Ray O'Dell, Executive Chairman + Joint Cheif Executive Officer
Email: ray.o'[email protected]

John Hughes, Joint Cheif Executive Officer
Email: [email protected]

Karen Tomlinson, Assistant to the Executive Chairman + Joint Cheif Executive Officer
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5907


Business Development Manager

Ian Davies
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5860


General Manager Operations

Mark Manson
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5985


General Manager - Sales and Marketing

Neil Butler
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5993


Export Sales Manager

Peter Wegner
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5836


Livestock Manager

Chris Todd
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5993


Supply Chain Manager

John Stuart
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5908


General Manager Finance and Administration

Warren Brand
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5858


Information Technology Manager

Charlie Wilkinson
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 7 4930 5884


New and Future Developments

Consolidated Meat Group is committed to providing innovative solutions to customer requirements for commodity, value-added and further processed products. We make every effort to understand our customers' current and future needs. Our meat and food industry specialists are available to work with end users to develop and launch products that meet market requirements.

The establishment of a value-added facility at our Lakes Creek plant will enable us to produce a range of beef products in a variety of sizes, ranging from bulk cartons to retail trays.

Capital expansion plans will see CMG established as Australia's premier beef-processor, increasing current capacity by 75 per cent at our Lakes Creek plant. These plans will further utilise the world's best practice in our modern boning and packing areas.

All these exciting plans are designed to ensure a customer focus to all that we do. It is our desire to not only meet customer requirements but also to strive to exceed customer expectations.

Organic Beef

At Consolidated Meat Group we are developing a complete organic solution. The Biological Farmer's Association (BFA) has certified CMG's Lakes Creek and Innisfail plants. We have alliances with many certified organic cattle producers. These alliances, combined with our export licenses, enable us to supply organic beef products to any market in the world. We also have alliances with EU/Organic certified producers.


Alice Springs Pastoral Company
Gregory Hadjieleftheriadis Quote:
  The Alice Springs Pastoral Company is very proud to be associated with Consolidated Meat Group. Since its founding in 1995, the meatworks in Rockhampton Queensland has been continuously rejuvenated, upgraded and modernised.
 

We are very satisfied with the professionalism with which Consolidated Meat Group conducts its business. Most recently, and in line with the focus of the Alice Springs Pastoral Company in organic beef production, we have been shown strong support by CMG.
 

Our company's philosophy in producing natural organic beef in the greater area of Rockhampton, Queensland, the beef capital of Australia, has been very much enhanced by the realisation of our vision by CMG.