Exclusive: tna celebrates 40 years of manufacturing excellence

After four decades supplying packaging and processing machinery around the world, Nadia Taylor, co-founder of Australia’s tna solutions, has enjoyed a memorable career to date. Neill Barston meets her and its regional Dubai team at Gulfood Manufacturing to discuss its eventful journey

As Nadia Taylor recalls with a wry smile, “Alf and I fell in love among the potato chips,” reflecting on their fledgling relationship working together in the snacks industry. While she notes it’s seemed a long road since the couple founded their company, tna solutions, from their Sydney kitchen, four decades on, they retain a strong passion for their work. (See our exclusive Gulfood Manufacturing video review here, which features Nadia Taylor).

Clearly, this year’s 40th anniversary of their packaging equipment firm is proving quite a milestone, as they reconnect with customers around the globe after two lockdown-impacted years. “It’s been an exciting journey, and we have been very blessed, even though we’ve had our ups and downs. We got through the global financial crisis, the latest with Covid-19, and other challenges, so we have felt pretty lucky,” she notes of the pandemic, which continues to pose a lingering challenge in many regions.

Today, the business employs more than 500 people globally, with its ever- increasing tally of more than 14,000 machinery installations continuing at a healthy rate. Consequently, there’s a notable sense of confidence about the company’s team, to whom Nadia offers plenty of praise, as we discuss visitor reaction to its presence at the Gulfood Manufacturing show at the World Trade Centre in Dubai.

Speaking on the final session of the eventful three-day extravaganza, it seems there’s been an encouraging response from the event’s 40,000 visitors, with the business forging key deals on its stand – a factor that this vital industry expo is continuing to gain acclaim for.

For her part, Nadia says the trade fair has been ‘a great success,’ asserting that maintaining a positive and progressive outlook is central to its ethos and operations around the world. Casting her mind back to the company’s earliest origins, she adds it’s their collective entrepreneurial instincts and agile approach that continue to serve them well in navigating testing times.

As the co-founder relays, the combination of her desire for starting up their own industry venture, and a brainwave Alf had on a night out for the firm’s flagship Robag vertical form fill and seal packaging system sowed the seeds of their success.

His machinery innovation was to drive a genuine breakthrough for the sector. “With the concept Alf came up with, which we’d luckily patented, we said that we could achieve double the speed of packaging with high performance and less giveaways. “Most people said we were crazy and that it wouldn’t happen for us, but it did, and we succeeded, and our very first export market was to the UK, as bagging sizes there were perfect for customers there.

So that’s how our company was born,” she recalls fondly of the company’s evolution. Fast forward four decades, and though there may be sizeable issues to contend with in the form of inflation and key geopolitical matters including the ongoing war in Ukraine impacting on markets, it seems the
business is weathering the present storm with determination.

Moreover, Nadia enthuses that there are still plenty of positives to be found as they set about etching the next chapter of the company’s global adventures within the industry. From starting out with its core
packaging machinery lines, its competencies continued to grow towards supplying turnkey solutions in the food processing sector.

Accelerating this process was the acquisition of fellow Australian company, NID, specialising in confectionery processing machinery, offering a number of plus points, as the business reaches the end of its milestone anniversary.

“We now have six manufacturing facilities around the world, and as we’ve grown, we have had to move, which has required a lot of investment into the business.

“It’s the speed of our equipment that remains one of its key benefits, as well as overall performance. In our approach, we try to under promise and over deliver, which is how we’ve built our reputation,” explains the co-founder, who notes the expansion of its portfolio offered through gaining NID and its specialist mogul
production lines, is continuing to prove instrumental.

Total solutions
Among its broader machinery portfolio, the company supplies everything from coating systems for the food sector including confectionery, seasoning lines such as its Intelli-flav, as well as multihead weighers and inspection equipment.

These ranges, says Nadia, in combination with its moguls for processing gummies, jellies, marshmallows, and fondant cremes, are an integral part of its progression. Significantly, tna has seen considerable growth in a number of its territories, including the US, as witnessed by the company’s strong showing at this year’s Sweets & Snacks Expo event in Chicago, and participation with the Pack Expo show.

While the company is reporting a consistent stream of sales, among the most concerning challenges impacting on the business, as much as any other around the world, is in terms of supply chain issues. This is creating an impact on production times across the sector.

“Some positives have come out of this situation in these tough times, as it makes you think about how you can work more smartly in everything you do to overcome these challenges. Being a private company, we’re also able to respond in making quick decisions compared to some others,” she explains of its focus on an agile response to rapidly unfolding business conditions.

Foundation work
Beyond her immediate work as a founding director at tna, one of her greatest passions has been through maintaining the Nadia and Alf Taylor Foundation. The charitable organisation, which was formed by the couple two decades ago, continues its mission to reach out to disadvantaged communities in Africa, Latin America, as well as Asia, supporting young people and education schemes.

While education continues to be its primary focus, it is rooted in the belief that all other facets of community building like healthcare, social enterprise, social welfare, human rights and emergency relief need to come together in order to achieve sustained success.

As she relays, its wider goals assisting orphanages on the African continent is particularly enlightening on a personal level, with Nadia witnessing some particularly tragic cases of abandoned children that made her even more determined to do what she could to help. “I have just come back from another trip to Africa, and it was such a heart-warming feeling seeing a number of our projects in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

“Watching the inequality there breaks my heart, but seeing the difference these schemes are making for kids, and how they are thriving in being educated is something that makes me so happy. It makes me feel like working even harder in this business to be able to give more back,” she reflects on over two decades of philanthropic work.

Dedicated team
From our conversations at the company’s recently expanded regional hub in Dubai, it’s clear the whole team at tna remains decidedly passionate about developing the business for the future.

Its city location lies within the DAFZ industrial zone, which continues to evolve at a commendable rate as businesses from all sectors flock to the UAE region as a core location for trading in the Middle East, North Africa, as well as into India.

Speaking to Confectionery Production, Thiago Roriz, chief operations officer, for tna, explains no two days are the same working for the company. “We are excited about the anniversary, as there’s always something different happen – ing with the company, including with the confectionery business, which has tripled the size in terms of its sales and manufacturing capacity since tna acquired NID – So much so, that we have just leased a new building so we can increase our business even further,” he notes of its progress.

“Globally, in the Middle East, there are more customers buying mogul equipment within places like Turkey, as well as South America, as well as Europe, so all our sales force is looking for new opportunities,” enthuses the senior executive, who has now worked across the business for the past decade.

As the Brazilian-born manager explains, he says that he greatly enjoyed the chance to build up tna’s presence in his homeland, before transitioning to posts in Mexico and later Australia, focusing on operations. “It’s a very dynamic company to work for, and we’re always driving for growth and improvement, doing things differently and innovating our ways of working,” he explains of the company. The team in the Dubai region continues to be led by general manager Mukul Shukla, who adds that since opening the hub, there have been some encouraging developments within the region despite wider global issues impacting on the sector.

“During the past few years here, we have grown our activity within the confectionery and snacks markets. “As a global company, we offer a large portfolio, and on a regional level, even if one segment is not doing quite as well, there will be others that are, and they catch up to preserve a sense of balance. “Indeed, during the past five years, tna has grown a lot in terms of offering total solutions, whether that’s for confectionery, French fries, or within snacks lines, so we are able to act as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for our customers,” adds the manager, who says that it’s been a distinct privilege to see the evolution of the business.

Moreover, as Nadia Taylor concludes, there’s been a hugely encouraging sense of momentum for the group, which is maintaining its focus on pushing forward its overall levels of technical excellence.

With that in mind, she notes there will be major news on the horizon for next year’s huge Interpack show in Dusseldorf, but adds, ‘you’ll just have to wait and see exactly what that is,” with a note of infectious enthusiasm for a bright new year ahead in 2023.

 

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