theceomagazine.com | 25“LaCalera are proud to supply Keelings. We invest a lot of
time and care into our crops and want our produce to be in
safe hands. Since we started exporting to Europe, Keelings
has been with us on our journey through good times and
bad.” – Robert Cullum, Managing Director, Pacific Produce
to ensure we’re delivering for our customers.
We know what’s important to them, and we
set certain criteria for ourselves so that these
needs are met.
For example, we taste our soft fruits daily
to make sure the product we’re delivering is
something we can be proud of.”
Innovation is paramount in every aspect
of produce production, distribution and
marketing at Keelings. “Like most businesses,
we struggle with the challenge of day-to-day
delivery. The job is nearly all-consuming, so
it’s a matter of integrating innovation
wherever we can. In the words of Einstein,
‘The same thinking that caused the problem
won’t fix it’ – you always need to come at it
from a different angle,” says Caroline.
“This is most important in our farms,
where we have more than 70 trials on the go
at any one time to determine how to grow
higher yields and better-tasting produce with
an improved shelf life.” Keelings’ strawberries
are grown in glasshouses and tunnels, and are
always in a state of development, so staff can
try out new methods and test new varieties.
By doing this, the company has been able to
extend the Irish growing season from March
to December.
In addition to fresh produce, Caroline also
spearheaded the development of produce-
specific enterprise resource planning software
solutions, consultancy and management
services. “Technology is going to play
a massive part in our future by delivering
more detailed and integrated data. Developing
a software business was one of the key
opportunities that I felt would diversify our
business and leverage the skills that we
already had,” she says.
Keelings Solutions supplies a host of
software that provides solutions in
procurement, stock management, warehouse
and production planning, sales and quality
assurance. It has been adopted by a Chinese
flower company as well as leading Dutch
international fresh produce company Jaguar.
“We believe our software is the best for
running a fresh produce company, and we
want to keep developing it in the future. By
having our own technology company, we’re
pushing the industry, not following it.” »for their customers. “We are lucky to have
a lot of very talented, capable people and
because the business is constantly evolving,
so must the skills and talents of our team.
We have worked hard to implement a culture
of continuous improvement, and to give staff
the tools and resources they need to do their
jobs well. To deliver for our clients, we must
empower our own people, and we have
systems to ensure that all voices are heard,”
she says. “We never feel we’ve got it
completely right: there’s always more we
want to do.”
Caroline says Keelings is always focused
on better understanding the needs of its
stakeholders – suppliers, customers and
consumers – to create win–win solutions.
“We value integrity in our dealings and are
open to constructive criticism in order to
drive continuous improvement. Rather than
just defending ourselves, we’re always trying
to make ourselves better; I think this kind of
open-mindedness is crucial in any business,”
she adds.
Keelings is committed to constantly
improving its supply chain to become
more efficient and more cost-effective,
and to improve the end user’s experience.
“At Keelings, we have a saying, ‘what you
measure, you manage’. We have a number
of internal and external measures in place
Interview | INSPIRE