We recently talked to Kent Stewart, R&D Commercialisation Manager about his role, the importance of innovation and the challenges facing growers and processors that his work is helping solve for.  

Q: How long have you worked with Wyma?

A: I’ve been with Wyma just over two years and I’m based out of Wyma’s New Zealand office in Christchurch. 

Q:What initially attracted you to joining the Wyma team?

A: Becoming a part of a truly global, high-growth Agritech organisation that is leading the field was really appealing to me. Prior to joining Wyma, I developed New Zealand’s first Robotic Roadmap, uniting a range of researchers and academics in the Robotics, Automation and Sensing industries around a common vision and shared set of priorities for the sector through to 2040. This role showed me how setting a common vision for innovation can create powerful outcomes and I wanted to bring that experience to Wyma. 

Q: What does your role involve?

A: My role is focused on helping Wyma identify innovation opportunities that add significant value to our customers operations and assessing the best route for commercialisation. Myself and my team then work through a stage-gate new product development processes to bring products to market.   

Q: Describe a typical day at work for you.

A: A lot of my day is spent on feasibility assessments of new products and product enhancements as well as reviewing the pipeline of innovation. I work hands-on with the team to lead prototype builds and work across the business to facilitate innovative product design and development. 

Q: What’s the most interesting thing you’ve worked on at Wyma?

A: With water re-use and waste disposal presenting key challenges to our customers, the Micron Filter and Mud Tower are up there. We built commercial scale prototypes at a local trial site and have spent nearly two years refining them. There is another component of the system that we’ll release in a few months and the total solution is the most interesting project I’ve worked on to date. I’m passionate about getting better outcomes for our customers and industry and there is so much opportunity with these new products so it’s a very exciting time to see these come to fruition. We’ve also been working with Frederick Hiam Foods in the UK on an innovation which will be another highlight to commercialise in the coming months. You can hear more on this from Jamie Lockhart, Managing Director of Frederick Hiam Foods here.

Q: What do you find most satisfying about the work you do?

A: Whilst I wear lots of hats in my role, I’m a keen learner and always looking for a better outcome so the ability to combine these and turn ideas into reality is really satisfying. 

Q: What do you think are the biggest trends that will influence your work in the future?

A: With a global food crisis and increasing resource scarcity and costs, our growers and processors are faced with challenges around waste minimisation, environmental regulation, a changing workforce, and an increasing focus on food security. As input costs continue to rise significantly, the ability to do more with less is here to stay.  Wyma’s focus has been and will remain on making sure we can provide right fit solutions to increase our customers’ efficiency and future proof operations in a changing world. My role is to make sure our product mix is ahead of the curve to tackle those challenges.  

If you’re interested in learning more about innovation at Wyma, you can contact Kent here.