Committee Members

The EHEDG New Zealand  team  consists of the following committee members:

Chair: David LowryLowry Food Consulting Ltd.
Secretary: Euan BrouwersCNC Design Ltd.
Accounts: Greg DixonEcolab
Professor Richard ArcherMassey University and President NZIFST
David HamblingSenior Engineer -  Hort Food & Dairy - AsureQuality
Rob GollanManager Process and Project Engineering - Tetra Pak Oceania
Gary GuoQuality Manager - NIML
Rex JohnstoneTechnical Director Industrial - BECA
Shane MasonEngineering and R&D Manager – Pentair Flow Technologies Pacific Pty Ltd.
Allen WaideMarket Area Leader NE Asia & Oceania – Tetra Pak Oceania
Professor Brent YoungDepartment of Chemical & Materials Engineering – University of Auckland
Assoc. Prof. Meng Wai Woo       Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering – University of Auckland


Contact email: info@ehedg.co.nz

Please use this email if you would like to make contact with the EHEDG New Zealand team, to learn more about the activities of EHEDG or to become a member.


Committee Member Biographical Details

    

David Lowry, Current Chair (Food Safety Service Sector)

Managing Director/Principal Scientist, Lowry Food Consulting Ltd. Katikati (BOP)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biography

David has 40 years' experience in the NZ and global food industry with a primary focus on microbiological quality and safety of food manufacturing operations. He graduated with an MSc in Microbiology from The University of Otago in 1978

He has worked closely with food professionals and regulators across all industry sectors, with special focus on red meat, seafood, poultry, produce, dairy, RTE foods and bottled water operations. He has strong expertise in pathogen and shelf-life troubleshooting, and particularly the importance of hygienic design and effective hygiene programs in food quality and safety. 

His professional career started at MIRINZ undertaking fundamental and process-related microbiological research for the meat industry and other aligned protein sector industries, mainly addressing key pathogens, spoilage profiling and predictive modelling and direct technical support to process operations. He then moved to ECOLAB focusing on cleaning and sanitation program development with multiple leadership roles in the Australian and New Zealand operations as well as 6 years spread across Ecolab’s global business based in the US and Asia Pacific. David now has his own consultancy company – Lowry Food Consulting Ltd.

His extensive experience in microbiological troubleshooting and incident prevention, and the desire to drive hygienic design improvements and efficiencies in the food industry led to his mission to establish a regional section of EHEDG as a primary resource for the NZ Food Industry, recognised at the EHEDG World Congress Meeting in London 2018.

David managed the first EHEDG Advanced Hygienic Design Training Course in NZ in October 2019 where Andy Timperley was the trainer and successfully completed the Certified EHEDG Advanced Training Course. He, along with Shane Mason, is now an EHEDG Certified Trainer and in partnership they have delivered 4 courses (up to June 2023) since Covid restrictions were lifted. In addition, David now sits on 3 EHEDG Working Groups – Training & Education, Meat Processing and Guideline #44 Building Design revision.

David is a Fellow of NZIFST and is a regular presenter at Food Industry Conferences and other training events.

 

         

Euan Brouwers, Secretary (Process Equipment Supply Sector)

CNC Design Ltd., General  Manager, Auckland (East Tamaki) 

 

 

 

 

Biography:

Euan has been involved in the design of automated machinery for over 17 years, working in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. 

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics with first class honours from The University of Auckland. 

Euan is the General Manager at CNC Design, the New Zealand representative for Staubli Robotics, a European company specialising in robots for the food industry.

CNC Design has been operating in New Zealand since 1989 in the industrial automation space. Since its inception it has distributed Siemens automation and drive products to OEMs and end users, as well as providing consulting, design, engineering and implementation services to bring these products to market. CNC Design have a history of providing these services to companies manufacturing or operating food processing machinery. In 2010 CNC Design became the distributor for Staubli Industrial Robots in New Zealand, as there was a clear market for robots designed for operation in the food industry where hygiene was critical. 

Staubli robots fit this requirement perfectly, being designed to EHEDG principles to optimise cleanability and hygiene. They have found a home in the meat industry in New Zealand due the advantages of not needing to be covered due to their design. To this end CNC Design has a keen interest in hygiene around machinery in the food space, and passionate about reducing hygiene risks to as low as reasonably practical by good design and equipment selection.

CNC Design is a Company Member of EHEDG.

 

Greg Dixon, Treasurer (Hygiene Service Sector)

Technical Support Specialist (Food & Beverage Division), Ecolab, Hamilton

Biography:

Greg has worked in the NZ Food Industry for over 35 years with both hands-on manufacturing experience and hygiene program development and delivery.

Greg has a Diploma in Diary Technology from Massey University.

His manufacturing experience has been dedicated to the Dairy Industry in NZ. During that time, he gained expertise in process operations and technologies for cream products, whey-based products and value-added powder products. He has extensive experience with running, troubleshooting and managing membrane filtration systems for dairy operations.

In 1995, Greg joined Ecolab, as an Account Manager for the Food & Beverage Division, focusing primarily on the dairy sector. His extensive practical knowledge of running CIP systems as well as general open plant cleaning in critical hygiene areas was a valuable asset to the business. 

From day to day individual account management of cleaning and sanitation needs across the dairy, beverage and other food businesses, he moved into a Business & Market Development role for the Ecolab F&B Division and then to Engineering Manager for the NZ Business. In 2013 he moved to his current role of Technical Support Specialist for the Ecolab Australia & New Zealand businesses. This role involves the transfer of new hygiene technology to the Food Industry, new program development and trial of novel applications, cleaning and sanitation training for both customers and Ecolab Account Managers and troubleshooting hygiene issues that arise.

In this capacity Greg brings a wealth of skills and current knowledge to EHEDG New Zealand.

 

Professor Richard Archer, President NZIFST (NZIFST & Academic Sector)

Massey University, Logan Campbell Professor of Food Technology, Palmerston North

Biography

Richard graduated from Massey University with a PhD in Biotechnology and has been a leading figure in process engineering and academia ever since.

After four years working in the deer by-product industry, he spent the next 19 years in the dairy industry in different process engineering and business development roles before returning to Massey in 2004 to head the Institute of Technology and Engineering and then the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health until 2014.

In addition to his roles with the School of Food Technology and Advanced Engineering at the Massey and Singapore campuses, Richard has a number of roles and responsibilities arising from his passion for process engineering and commercialisation including:

  • Chief Technologist and National Science Leader of the Food Industry Enabling Technology (FIET) program – the MBIE funded research engineering research program with academic and industry collaboration
  • Fellow and Principal Investigator of the Riddet Institute in Palmerston North
  • Director of the Food Pilot Plant on the Massey campus
  • Director of the New Zealand Food Innovation Network Ltd
  • He is a Fellow of Engineering NZ and NZIFST and is the current President of NZIFST.

Richard is a strong supporter of the benefit that hygienic design application brings to the production of safe food and a leading advocate for EHEDG New Zealand in the role that it can play in increasing awareness in the NZ Food Industry. Richard and David Lowry are co-sponsors of the ‘Process Engineering and Hygienic Design’ SIG (Special Interest Group) within NZIFST.

 

David Hambling, General Member (Third Party Audit & Inspection Sector)

AsureQuality (Horticulture, Food and Dairy (Engineering)), Senior Engineer, Hamilton

Biography:

David is a Senior Engineer and with 29 years’ experience working in auditing and inspection of dairy and food plant and machinery.

David has a BE in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of Canterbury and has previous earlier project management roles with Beca and NDA/ Protech.

David’s current focus is in meeting the expectations of customers and the regulatory authority on food safety in the design and installation of plant and machinery. In this auditing role he has seen the improvement in equipment and food premises design that has occurred over the years, and a wide variety of solutions that have been used. It is always a mixture of good mechanical/ process design with best practice quality assurance that succeeds. David supports the opportunity that EHEDG is providing to the wider food manufacturing sector in New Zealand, to improve current hygienic design standards and practices to meet international standards.  

David is recognised by the Ministry for Primary Industries to carry out Heat Treatment Evaluations and Premises Evaluations to the dairy manufacturing industry.

The AsureQuality Engineering Team focus mainly on the Dairy Industry, providing:
•    Heat treatment validations and evaluations – UHT and Pasteurisation
•    Dairy Manufacturing Premises Evaluation
•    Dairy Stores & Transport Premises evaluation

 

Rob Gollan, General Member (Process Engineering Sector)

Tetra Pak (New Zealand Ltd.), Engineering Manager - Oceania, Hamilton

Biography

Rob holds the position of Engineering Manager at Tetra Pak New Zealand, a role he has held since October 2017. 

Rob’s direct roles in the food industry have been in Dairy with Fonterra including time as a Project Engineer at various Waikato sites, and Projects Manager for major capital projects, including green field site development and major upgrades to existing operations.

In-between his roles with Tetra Pak and Fonterra, Rob spend almost two years as Project Engineering Manager for Pentair in Hamilton, before moving to his current role.

In his different project roles, Rob has worked closely with application of the EHEDG Guidelines.

Rob graduated from Massey University in 1999 with a B.Tech, Bioprocess Engineering before completing a Masters in Dairy Science & Technology with Honours in 2000. Following some time within the industry he completed an MBA through the University of Waikato, completing a thesis on Process innovation and Intellentual property.

Tetra Pak’s business is the delivery of turnkey projects for the Food Industry, primarily working in the dairy, cheese, beverage, and prepared foods sectors.  

Tetra Pak was a founding member of EHEDG globally and strongly embraces the principles of hygienic design in its project work and with its customers. Ludvig Josefsberg, the immediate past president of EHEDG (Global) has had a distinguished career with Tetra Pak currently holding a role of Senior Director with the Company.  

 

Gary Guo, General Member (Seafood Manufacturing Sector)

North Island Mussels Ltd. (NIML), Technical Manager, Tauranga

Biography:

Gary has worked in the NZ Food Industry for over 12 years in multiple food manufacturing sectors including dairy (cheese, milk powder and infant formula manufacture), dry pet food production and the seafood industry, most specifically the production of Greenshell™ mussels and subsidiary products.  

Gary qualified with a B. Food Technology (Honours) Degree from Massey University in 2007. 

Gary is passionate about food safety and food quality and has worked mostly in QA / food safety fields for the companies including his current role of Technical Manager for North Island Mussels Ltd. (NIML), where he has worked since 2011. His experience has involved significant roles in managing and dealing with many diverse food safety / quality issues including leadership of major business threatening bacterial event management and recovery. 

In addition to his current focus on QA and food safety management for NIML, he also has experience in product development and supplier auditing from his previous roles with companies including Nestle and Fonterra. His work at NIML has also taken in product and process development for marinated mussel products.

Gary is acutely aware of the importance that best practice hygienic design has in the production of ‘safe’ mussel products, because of the complexity of mussel processing covering harvesting, thermal treatment, automated opening systems, significant manual processing and inspection and extensive conveying and freezing lines. All parts of the process require detailed management of hygiene and hygienic design and Gary has developed extensive practical expertise in this area, expertise which he is further building through EHEDG and is keen to share his practical application knowledge with the food industry.

North Island Mussels Limited is the largest Greenshell™ mussel processing company in the North Island NZ with joint ownership through two of New Zealand’s leading food processing companies, Sanford and Cedenco.  

 

Rex Johnstone, General Member (Process Engineering Sector)

BECA, Technical Director (South Island), Christchurch

Biography

Rex has over 25 years’ experience working in a range of manufacturing companies as a process engineer, design manager and project manager. 

A professional chemical and process engineer his specialisation is in the food & beverage sector. He has led or provided technical leadership for many significant projects within food and beverage companies involved in dairy, fruit juice, chocolate, sugar confectionery and coffee production. 

In addition, Rex has general management experience and provided process technical support for a manufacturer of personal care and chemical products.

Rex also has competencies in manufacturing site master planning, concept development and feasibility studies for new process or process upgrades, HAZOP and Safety in Design facilitation, and new product development and operations, having contributed with these elements to many projects.

Rex is a Technical Director in the BECA South Island office.

Beca is a multi-national company in the Pacific and SEA regions providing a wide range of engineering and advisory services, covering buildings, design, environment, industrial, technology and transport and infrastructure. The Food & Beverage sector is a significant component of their Industrial engineering services.

 

Shane Mason, General Member (Process Equipment Sector)

Pentair (New Zealand Ltd.), Engineering / R&D Manager, Hamilton

Biography

Shane Mason is an experienced professional mechanical engineer, currently working as Engineering / R&D Manager for Pentair Flow Technologies Pacific Pty. Ltd based in Hamilton, a position which he has held since 1992. Shane has an NZCE in Mechanical Engineering from Waikato Polytechnic.

His career in the food industries began at MIRINZ (The Meat Industry Research Institute of NZ) designing, building and testing prototype mechanical de-boning equipment for lamb carcasses.

He then moved to NDA Engineering in Hamilton as an R&D Engineer / Technical Sales Manager developing farm milk holding tanks and ancillary equipment. He solely developed new techniques for Hydro-forming of stainless steel vessel domed ends, used for both the fabrication of road tankers and large liquid storage silos, and also designed some of the first free standing domed bottom milk silo’s now the Dairy industry standard in NZ and Australia.

In his role with Pentair he has had sole responsibility for the re-development and ongoing support of all products in the current Pentair Hygienic Valve portfolio and including a HOVAP Hygienic pump range. The projects involved: plastic and electronic component design, PLC BUS protocol valve control variants which included the integration of other OEM pneumatic valves and electronic proximity switches, plastic tooling design, elastomeric seal design and large automated valve manifold design incorporating some of the latest mix-proof valve technologies.

A key element of this work has been application of hygienic design principles and he has undertaken both 3-A and EHEDG certification requirements for the products and markets that Pentair serves. Shane has successfully completed a Certified EHEDG Advanced Training Course.

Shane is now currently one of only two fully qualified EHEDG Certified Trainers in Australasia, who have now together successfully run multiple EHEDG Advanced Hygienic Design Courses in New Zealand

 

Allen Waide, Honorary Member (Founding Committee 2018)

Tetra Pak (New Zealand Ltd.), Processing Director Oceania, Hamilton

Biography

Allen has held the position of Processing Director for Tetra Pak Oceania business across New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific, since January 2017. 

Allen has a BE in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Auckland, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Sales & Marketing from The University of Auckland Business School. 

Allen’s roles within Tetra Pak have included almost 5 years in Japan, being responsible for the Process Engineering Business of Nihon Tetra Pak, and a year in Shanghai with Tetra Pak China as Processing Market Area & Strategic Accounts Leader for the Greater China region.

Tetra Pak has 3 businesses, Packaging Solutions, Processing Solutions and Equipment (PS&E) and Services Solutions.  The Processing Solutions and Equipment business is involved in the delivery of equipment and projects for the Food Industry, primarily working in the dairy, cheese, beverage, ice cream and prepared foods categories.  

Tetra Pak was a founding member of EHEDG globally and strongly embraces the principles of hygienic design in its project work and with its customers. Ludvig Josefsberg, the immediate past president of EHEDG (Global) has had a distinguished career with Tetra Pak currently holding a role of Senior Director with the Company. 

 

Professor Brent Young, General Member (Academic Sector)

The University of Auckland, Professor and Chair of Food & Process Systems Engineering, Auckland

Biography

Professor Brent Young is a full Professor and Chair of Food and Process Systems Engineering at The University of Auckland. 

Brent is also the Chair of the Food and Health Programme at the University and Director of the Industrial Information and Control Centre. Previously he was Head of Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering for two consecutive terms from 2012 to 2018. 

Brent has a BE and PhD in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of Canterbury and 30+ years postgraduate experience in academia and consulting in Australia, Canada and NZ. A Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers UK and Engineering NZ he was the recipient of the 2014 Australasian Award of Excellence in Chemical Engineering (Teaching). 

His research and teaching experience and expertise centres on two major areas: 1) process modelling, simulation and control and 2) process development and design, with process and food applications. He has published more than 300 refereed publications and is a co-author of two teaching texts in process control.

Brent, and his colleague Associate Professor Meng Wai Woo are working towards introducing a ‘Hygienic Design’ module into the curriculum for the Food & Process Engineering Degree.