A local government award is recognition of the Fonterra Co-operative partnership with the Southland District Council to improve management of the roading network.
Southland District Council won the Chorus excellence award for best practice in infrastructure management, for its programme ‘Changing direction, the way forward for Southland’s roads’ at the 2016 Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) excellence awards in Dunedin.
The partnership uses smartphone technology onboard Fonterra’s milk tankers to send information about the quality of the road to Southland District Council to gain deeper insights into the state of the district’s roads and the pressures placed on them.
Fonterra staff at Edendale worked closely with Southland District Council to develop the programme, which enables the Fonterra tanker fleet to become the “eyes and ears” for the council.
“This is fantastic recognition for the council and the Fonterra team at Edendale,” says Fonterra Otago/Southland Regional head Mark Robinson.
“It shows what’s possible when we take a partnership approach to issues facing our local communities,” he says.
Southland District has the largest rural roading network in New Zealand (about 5000 km), nearly two-thirds of which are gravel.
Fonterra drivers know the region well – the company operates 60 tankers from its Edendale site, transporting milk from 1050 farms.
It is the data from these daily journeys which is allowing the Council to make smarter spending decisions and improve its services to ensure safer journeys for Southland’s road users.
Recent NZIER analysis shows that the dairy sector in Southland contributed $1.024 billion to the Southland economy in 2015/16.
“We know we’re a big part of economic life in Southland, so we’re proud to be able to apply our existing technology to innovation that benefits the whole community,” says Robinson.
