The guest speaker for the meeting was Paul Maher, the site manager of Ridley Bendigo. Ridley manufactures stock feed and has recently relocated from the old flour mill in Charleston Road to a green fields site in Wellsford.The company sources supplies form the area and distributes feed to a regular number of clients in central and northern Victoria. Ridley has plants in NSW, SA and Qld as well as Victoria and employs around 600 team members across Australia. Dean brings a wealth of thirty years of national and international experience in the milling industry to his role in Bendigo.

Work commenced on the new Wellsford site in 2019. The plant sits on a land space of four hectares and was built at a cost of $47.3 million. The fully computerised plant was opened in 2020. The plant is currently operating for five days per week. This will be extended to full time in the near future. Ridley has twenty six employees locally and produces 126 different products. There are forty inbound trucks each day and fifty outbound. Paul explained the procedures which are in place to avoid the financial impacts which result from breakdowns and downtime.

Paul provided an overview of the stringent quality assurance procedures which need to be followed in this industry. These apply to the sourced materials which need to be checked for contamination, chemicals and moisture. Outward bound trucks are required to pass through a hygienizing system before leaving the plant. Products, including different sized pellets depending on age, are tailor made for different animals according to the needs of producers. Ridley Mooroopna has been sold off with production from there now carried out in Bendigo.

Ridley is another example of the steady return of the manufacturing industry to Bendigo. Paul's presentation again highlighted the complexities involved in establishing and maintaining an industry of the scale of Ridley. A healthy local economy depends on our ability to attract the likes of Ridley to set up in Bendigo. There was much lively discussion and questioning at the end of Paul's presentation.We are especially grateful to Paul for giving up some of his annual leave time to be our guest.