1 July 2007 - Cerebos Live Issue 38
Four decades of factory life
As a young boy in Malta, Joe Sammut loved hearing about Australia from his cousins and in 1971 at just 18 years of age, he came to Sydney to start a new life.
Joe grew up in the small fishing and farming village of Mellieha in Malta and began working at the Seven Hills factory in 1971, shortly after it was opened by Sir Robert Askin, the State Premier.
During Joe's time with Cerebos he has been a leading hand, supervisor and team leader. Now he is in the Process Team, involved with the mixing and cooking of sauces and marinades.
Joe says, 'In 36 years at Cerebos I have seen a lot of changes in management, technology, processes and various acquisitions. As long as Cerebos keeps changing, it will always do well.'
'In the past the work was much harder and heavier. We would have to lift 375 25-kilo bags of sugar in one shift to make 75 batches of sauce. Now it is much easier with the liquid sugar being pumped, through a line, from a tank.'
In 1980 Cerebos moved a lot of the machinery for tomato paste manufacturing to Parkes. Up until then, in the main-line pulp room 150 tonnes of tomatoes, 2000 cans of tomato pulp and 86,400 bottles were processed per 12-hour shift. The Parkes factory had the new schollie bags, which could store tomato paste in 1500-kilo bags. These were then transported back to Sydney to be processed as sauce products.
Joe continues, 'In 1990 Suntory acquired Cerebos. At one stage Cerebos went into partnership with Peter Lehman, the winemaker and in 1996 with Cedenco. In 1979 Cerebos acquired Alma Foods, which included some frozen brands of pizza and pasta. Those parts of the business were later sold.'
Cerebos also distributed Spam canned meat, Wella shampoo and Dilmah tea through the warehouse.
'Cerebos is always looking for new opportunities. In the early 1990s they acquired the IXL and White Crow brands of tomato and barbecue sauce and started manufacturing the tomato sauce sachets. New products make life in the factory more interesting, such as the Snak Pack Custard product where we had to operate a completely new line. I like changes and new technology.'
'We now have lots of famous brands and there is a big focus on coffee and the great coffee company,' says Joe.
Joe married an Australian girl four years after arriving in Sydney and has three grown-up children. Away from work, Joe enjoys reading and deep-sea fishing. In 2004, he received a club trophy for the biggest catch of the year - a four-kilo jewfish.
'I really enjoy working at Cerebos - good workmates, good company, always changing for the better. If I had my time over I would do it all again,' concludes Joe.
--Christine Deston, Inside Edition