Jim Vellenoweth found himself in unfamiliar territory the night of the Waikato Business Awards - the spotlight. "We have always kept our heads down," he says about McDonald's Lime, the company which won the region's Exporter of the Year award. If maintaining a low profile is a business strategy, it has obviously been successful. Vellenoweth and his brother both joined the company when it began 31 years ago and helped its steady development from greenfield site to major lime processing company owned by BHP (28%) and Milburn (72%). "I have a big advantage in that I know the total plant. I wonder how people can manage companies in 5 year stints. Where there is stability you know what you are dealing with."

Vellenoweth's preference for consistency seems at odds with much current business practice. Yet, research suggests it is a key characteristic shared by many of the world's most successful long-term companies. In their hugely successful 1997 book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, James Collins and Jerry Porras found that in the 1700 years of combined life spans across the companies they studied, there were only 4 times, in only 2 companies, when a new CEO was recruited from outside the company. Continuity of vision was a key to success. Vellenoweth admits some of his business practices bemuse the management of the shareholding companies. "We work with PGF Transport, for example, and we have done from the start. We have no contract, but they are competitive, and our preferred supplier. It is a very happy relationship.

"Some of the BHP directors can't understand why there is no contract, but the communication is so good that it never gets to the point of conflict." McDonald's Lime is the biggest lime manufacturer in the country and the company is growing both domestic and export demand. At Te Kuiti, the company has lime deposits of up to 97% purity and expected to last 80 years. Processing is done at the Otorohanga plant, producing burnt lime, hydrated lime, and agricultural lime. The different lime products have a wide range of uses, including agricultural fertiliser, water treatment, steel making, road stabilisation, gold mining, paper making, chemical manufacture, and a host of other applications from sugar refining to leather tanning. BHP takes a third of the company's output.

"We are growing as the use of lime is increasing," Vellenoweth said. "Agricultural demand is growing about 10% a year and we are actively promoting its use for that, and in waste water treatment. Lime is one of the best and cheapest cleaners of water." It is environmental applications that Vellenoweth believed would drive a lot of future growth. That market was growing about 5% a year, with lime being used in the treatment of sewage and waste water, drinking water, and flue gases. Internationally, Vellenoweth said the lime industry was quite small. He is the New Zealand delegate to the International Lime Association, which is a useful channel for sharing technology developments.…

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