How We Innovate Honey Production

Here at Midlands, quality is at the heart of everything we do. 

Every customer wants to know that the food products they buy are of the highest standards—nobody understands that better than the hard-working men and women behind the scenes of the Midlands Apiaries operation, who ensure that every jar of liquid gold is best-in-class. 

Today, we meet Kendall, the process engineer responsible for introducing cutting-edge technology to Midlands' production process. 

From automation to world-class camera technology, Midlands has revolutionised the way honey is produced and packaged - proving technology and tradition can go hand-in-hand. 

Let’s take a look at how Midlands is raising the bar for quality within the honey industry. 

Efficient Honey Production for Better Results

When Kendall initially joined the Midlands team, his first goal was to reduce delays during daily operations. Equipment breakdowns would commonly result in costly downtime for staff and disrupt the production’s workflow - Kendall’s job was to discover how to reduce the time spent fixing machinery and reducing the delays.

“Midlands hadn’t really looked at things from an engineering point of view, that’s where I came in,” said Kendall. 

His top priority was tackling these issues head-on. Under his guidance, Midlands implemented a comprehensive preventative maintenance plan, ensuring the equipment was regularly serviced and checked for potential problems. 

This greatly reduced the amount of downtime spent getting the systems back up and running. 

“We’re at the point now where it’s fairly automated. I’ll get notifications every day about what needs looking into - sometimes there’s nothing, sometimes it’s a few things,” said Kendall.

“It’s now become an automated process around having reminders for maintenance - I’m always on call to get straight onto stuff.”

Often, improving efficiency isn’t just fixing the big systems, but it’s in the little tweaks made across the factory floor. As Kendall pointed out, little changes made big differences to Midlands’ daily logistics. 

“A lot of our equipment used to be on wheels, for example. We changed that, removing the wheels, because it created a lot of problems with movement which caused production inefficiencies as a result.”

Another improvement was the introduction of an on-site workshop space, which holds spare parts and inventory for the machinery under Kendall’s watch. 

“It means if something breaks, we can fix it almost immediately. So overall, there’s been a big reduction in downtime and continuous improvements across the board.”

This commitment to efficiency not only keeps production humming, but it benefits our customers directly. By streamlining our processes and minimising our downtime, Midlands has been able to ensure a consistent, reliable supply of high-quality honey at a competitive price. 

These behind-the-scenes tweaks to efficient production have led to faster shipment turnaround, meaning our customers are getting their world-class, 100% pure honey products much quicker. 

Midlands’ World Class Technology

As the years continued, Kendall’s role has expanded beyond improving efficiency and reducing delays across operations. As a process engineer, he’s been charged with finding new ways to improve not only Midlands’ efficiency, but the quality of product arriving into the hands of our valued customers. 

Working with third-party businesses and analysing new possibilities within the technology sector, Kendall has introduced a range of cutting-edge machinery that sets Midlands apart from other honey brands, as well as many New Zealand and international food suppliers. 

“We have a cobot (collaborative robot), for example, that stacks finished goods cartons onto pallets for us,” said Kendall. 

“It’s used for manual processes. It’s got the benefit of health and safety, but also accuracy - it can stack pallets the same, every time. It means you’re putting together something that is more presentable to the customer than if a human does it by hand.

“The product counts are also more accurate because the machine is counting as it goes. So, it’s all these little things, along with the labour input, that’s been either reduced or improved.”

Technology is at the forefront of modern food production - Midlands has put extra emphasis on the importance of improving the way our products are stored, packaged, labelled and shipped to our customers across the world. 

Investment in technology can come at a significant cost, but it’s resulted in state-of-the-art processes that our competitors simply cannot match. In another case, Kendall introduced an example of high-standard technology that sets us apart from the rest. 

“We recently installed a high-tech piece of equipment, a visual inspection system. It has five cameras inside and goes down the honey production line, inspecting every jar and comparing them to a set of parameters we’ve predetermined. It can then pass or fail those jars accordingly,” said Kendall. 

“This is quite advanced for honey - a lot of larger companies, like Coca Cola, have used this technology for a while, but all they’ll use it for are lines of cans - which is quite easy to set up.

“Our products are unique because we have a huge range of jar shapes and sizes, which adds a high level of complexity to what we’re doing. Our machine is purpose-built for our plant. I like to think this is one of the reasons we stand ahead of the rest.”

Why invest so heavily in such machines? Kendall says it comes down to one word: “quality”. 

Other than running the plant, quality is the top priority of every staff member on the factory floor - including Kendall. Everything is designed to maintain high quality within every jar when dealing with food products produced for consumption. 

“The latest investment in this camera system shows the Midlands board of directors really are committed to the same vision of quality.” 

Automation and technology are just some of the ways that Midlands guarantees such high quality standards within every honey product—machines now perform twice as many tasks as before Kendall joined the Midlands team. 

A lot of machinery is tasked with carrying out quality checks, which ensures a greater degree of consistency than human input - especially, as Kendall points out, when it comes to tedious tasks like sticking labels on jars. 

“It creates a much higher level of presentation and consistency in the end - all the labels are straight and in the same place, getting it perfect to the millimeter every time.”

Looking towards the future, Kendall holds great vision for what technology is still to come for the Midlands operation. 

Whilst nearly every aspect of production is now automated, Kendall is keen to introduce programmable logic control. This is where a computer manages every piece of equipment across the plant, giving a broader view of what’s taking place across the factory. 

It’s hoped this will bring greater transparency for our customers, who could receive even clearer information on their shipments in real time. 

“Again, it’s probably yet another step ahead of where our competitors are. We always look to bigger industries for new ideas.”

World-Class Technology Creates World-Class Honey

Quality isn’t a buzzword, it’s the foundational “why” behind the honey products that Midlands is synonymous with. 

Our investment in the latest technology and implementation of the finest production systems possible is to develop the highest-grade, 100% authentic, and pure honey that both looks and tastes good. Additionally, as one of the largest New Zealand suppliers of wholesale Mānuka honey globally, we take our responsibility to quality honey seriously. 

An accredited, independent laboratory tests each batch of Mānuka honey from Midlands Apiaries for certification. We’re highly aware of the stringent requirements set forth by UMF™HA. Our undeniable expertise in crafting Mānuka honey will give your business the confidence to consistently deliver quality products. 

Midlands is the perfect partner for your brand. Wherever your business sits in a specific industry - be it skincare, natural foods, or whether you’re a genuine Mānuka honey brand - we have all the latest technology and expertise to deliver what you want and when you need it. 

Get in touch with us today for more information about how Midlands Apiaries can make for a beneficial partner in your budding business.