NZ Frost Fans Case Study
Part 1 - Project Delivery
Nothing frosty about David from Technology Systems. “He’s enthusiastic, positive and practical” – says NZ Frost Fans CEO
A diet rich in healthy produce helps ward off sickness and gives us the nutrients we need to thrive. But who’s keeping the produce safe from harm and giving them the conditions they need to thrive?
The answer’s NZ Frost Fans. Since 2007, they’ve been helping growers and orchardists around the world protect their produce, profits, and reputation from the potentially devastating impacts of frost damage with FrostBoss frost fans. Their fans – which draw down and circulate warm air on frosty nights and mornings – pack a market-leading punch with the best coverage, quietest and most fuel-efficient machine available. Based in Hastings, they have a global reach, with service and sale depots across Australia and New Zealand, and offices in Latin America and Europe.
It’s safe to say that NZ Frost Fans, alongside their other services FrostSmart monitoring and FrostConsult climate studies, provide a full and significant service – from helping orchardists and growers understand and alleviate their frost risk; supplying the appropriate fan; managing the resource consent process; installing fans, gathering vital data to make informed decisions, and servicing and monitoring fans once they are in operation.
And who’s helping businesses like NZ Frost Fans thrive? David Stokes.
Here’s how he’s backing NZ Frost Fans to prioritise and deliver projects with confidence.
Never a shortage of projects
While there’s never a shortage of work, CEO Andrew Priest admits there were some gaps in coordination and structure of projects. Some old projects were languishing, and they also lacked clarity on where they should be focusing their resources.
NZ Frost Fans started working with David at the start of 2022 for 18 months to bring some structure to their broad slate of projects.
Before David, information around projects used to live in team member’s heads, on Microsoft Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets. While this used to make sense as a smaller company, it’s not a viable long-term strategy for a company that’s growing and extending into new markets. This ad-hoc approach makes it much harder to prioritise and monitor progress.
Getting priorities straight: whittling down over 50 ideas to 15 priorities
The process started with defining NZ Frost Fan’s top 15 priorities. David worked with 12 people in the business across marketing, operations, product development and more to establish approximately 50 ideas.
Working with David, they established clear criteria to target the top priorities. They asked questions like:
Would focusing on this have an immediate effect on sales?
Is this decision data-driven (not what’s most popular)?
What’s it going to cost?
Are any systems, processes or technology becoming obsolete?
Do we have the right capabilities in-house?
Would focusing on this open up new markets?
This process meant David and Andrew could listen to team feedback, objectively weigh up the 50 ideas, and narrow it down to 15 priorities.
Andrew elaborates on this:
“There was objectivity to make [prioritization] more data driven. This project was [also] addressing some of the obsolescence of what we’re offering and therefore [it] went up the priority scale accordingly. It was a good process.”
NZ Frost Fans now have confidence they are focusing resources on the most lucrative and relevant projects. Some tasks were languishing – which means they were at risk of leaving opportunities on the table. Not anymore.
Identifying priorities: from BAU to la France
Some priorities were business as usual; like dealing with supply chain issues, documenting core manufacturing processes and gaining clarity on the next best steps.
Other priorities were more visionary. For example, they established it was important to document and manage the process of developing a fan that’s popular in UNESCO heritage areas in France. FrostBoss fans typically stand 13 metres tall, but they developed a fan that lies down. Still protecting crops from frost, without impeding on beautiful vistas of cultural and natural significance.
He helped them map out the sequence of events, milestones and prerequisites of this product development project.
Managing the project slate and keeping the team on track
With a few trips to Hastings and several Zoom meetings, David facilitated the change – bringing a structure, timetable and discipline to the delivery of projects. This included internal projects, further developing existing products and introducing new products to meet the market requirements.
“We were up to speed on how things were progressing so we could change priorities if needed. David made sure people were staying on track with what was defined at the beginning. His engagement helped us get movement on projects that were languishing.”
Like a good wine, good things take time
About 50% of crops NZ Frost Fans protects are grapes which could go on to vintage, award-winning wine. Like any vintage, it takes patience and perseverance for new ways of working to become embedded in an organisation.
What Andrew is confident about though, is recommending David to other businesses that need more clarity, structure and direction. Thanks to Technology Systems, NZ Frost Fans has a solid foundation on how to prioritise projects, maintain visibility over their progress, course-correct when needed, and sustain momentum where it counts.
