Ken Frazer is a busy man … In addition to his fleet and Auckland branch manager roles, he runs two of the company’s truck workshops in Auckland, is the Auckland Council contract manager, and the transport/linehaul manager.
A mechanic by trade, Ken moved into logistics “a number of years ago”, managing operations for Courier Post in his hometown of Wellington, including express and global courier freight. During his “eight or nine years” with Courier Post, he moved to Auckland’s North Shore as regional fleet manager. His journey from there is rather interesting.
“In 2010, I wandered off into supermarkets, to do something different – both green and yellow,” he says. “I first worked for Woolworths Australia on a project to build a new DC. The day I finished that project, I was on a plane home, and Foodies rang me and asked what I was doing … They were both aware I worked for the other.”
After years of travelling back and forth to his job as Foodstuffs transport operations manager in Wiri, in 2016, Ken decided he’d had enough of the commute. “I woke up one morning and decided I was sick of driving from the North Shore to Wiri every day. My son was 15 or so and wanted my attention, and I was so busy managing work at the ops level, so I thought, ‘No, I can’t be bothered anymore running a 24/7 operation on the other side of Auckland, away from my kids’. So I resigned for ‘lifestyle’ and needed to work on the North Shore.”
A couple of months later, a job came up with Smart Environmental. “I thought, ‘That could be me’. It was running their area-one recycle contract – smallish, with eight trucks, eight drivers, a little yard with a digger. We did a lot of good work in a short term.
“Then a job came up with the old contractor to the Auckland Council, looking for an operations manager at this branch, and that became me. They didn’t tender for the contract in 2020, but Northland Waste did, so I’ve been with Northland Waste since July 2020, first as branch manager and Auckland contract manager. Less than a year later, I got the national fleet manager role tossed in … and some people to help.”
The juxtaposition of the two very different industries – supermarkets and waste disposal – Is not lost on Ken.
“Having worked in the logistics industry with supermarkets, dealing with people and perishable freight, it took me a while in the waste industry to realise we can’t damage this stuff; no one steals it, it has no value … it’s a different mindset.
“It’s been fascinating. With the supermarkets, we send it all out … with the rubbish, we bring it all back. If there’s a supermarket truck out to your village today, there will be a rubbish truck out to follow it tomorrow.”
