The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies to rethink their product offering and processes to remain viable and navigate the current challenging conditions.

There has been much talk of “pivoting’’, and one success story which can provide a beacon for other manufacturers is Trisco Foods.

The famous family-owned Queensland business, which for 145 years has been manufacturing food and beverage products, has developed its own hand sanitiser in response to the pandemic.

In just three weeks, the company switched focus to producing ‘Precise Defend’ brand hand sanitiser, an 80 per cent ethanol-based product, which is now being used in aged care centres and health departments across the country.

Trisco Foods CEO Mike Tristram said when the pandemic hit and impacted their core business, they explored other opportunities to utilise their R&D talent and mass production capabilities.

“It was about six weeks from when I sent the email to ask the team to look at making sanitiser and then three weeks from the time we said we can do this and production started,’’ Mike said.

There were many hurdles faced and conquered during those few weeks. The first was legally acquiring the vast amounts of ethanol required.

Mikes stressed the word “legally’’ as businesses need an ATO Excise Licence to acquire ethanol for commercial purposes, which Trisco fortunately already had.

The next challenge was changing the production area into an “explosion-proof” environment, meaning no electrical systems and negating the risk of any sparks.

“It even went down to changing the uniform, so there was no polyester,” Mike said.

There was also the need to modify existing packaging to then create the formula to meet strict clinical guidelines.

“Developing a formula, training staff and re-working some of our production equipment has been a massive undertaking and our staff have done an incredible job to get us to the point where our first product is rolling off the line.”

Mike said the company opted for the WHO-backed formula as it was a quicker process than obtaining TGA approval.

“We used the ‘good, better, best’ approach which allows you to do things quickly and improve as you go. We will now look at creating a TGA-approved gel as well."

Trisco was fortunate as their food technicians’ skills were easily adaptable and around 90% of the work that needed to be done was performed in-house.

Another advantage was that even though the sanitiser was a pivot, it still sat well within the company’s core ethos of “making people’s lives better”.

The Precise brand was also already well known in the health industry through a line of products which includes food thickeners for dysphagia patients.

“It means we already have a well-known brand name and a team of salespeople with existing networks.”

Mike hopes the local business response to the pandemic will shine a light on the benefit of a strong Australian manufacturing sector.

“It’s not just about security. It is about supporting local, Australian businesses.”

Mike said State and Federal Governments need to not only look at their procurement policies, but the host of red tape and operational costs associated with running a business here.

“In the United States my labour costs are half and my electricity costs are about an eighth of what I pay here. Why?”

Trisco Foods has been an Ai Group member for almost 10 years. CEO Mike Tristram said the key benefits of Ai Group membership included advocacy to government with strong policies that support business. He said membership gave him access to support in employment situations and in navigating the IR/HR minefield, as well as both short- and long-term training and education solutions. He also appreciated the collaboration and networking opportunities through events that support the intersections between organisations, education and government.