Helping Kiwi Farmers Get ‘Lean’
When former Toyota engineer Jana Hocken found herself living on a dairy farm in the Manawatu, she soon realised her manufacturing background could come in handy. Now she is on a mission to help other Kiwi farmers become more efficient using ‘lean’ systems.
Dairy farming was the last thing on Jana’s mind when she was enjoying the bright lights of Europe during her previous life as an engineer. Born in the Czech Republic, Jana’s family moved to Christchurch as refugees when she was two years old, then shifted to Australia when she was nine. A gifted student, she studied mechanical engineering at Monash University in Melbourne alongside her twin sister, who did the same degree.
Jana started out working for Toyota in Melbourne as a quality engineer in weld and press, before she and her sister decided to move to Europe. While many expats end up in London, they had their sights set on Belgium. “It just so happened the European headquarters for Toyota were in Belgium, so I managed to get a job there,” she says.
“My sister got a job with Procter and Gamble, who also had their European headquarters over there.” During her five years in Brussels, Jana not only became an expert in the car manufacturer’s famous ‘lean manufacturing’ principles, but she also met her husband Mat Hocken, a Kiwi from a dairy farming family who was working for a European Union policy consultancy. They eventually moved back to Sydney, where Mat worked for the Australian Federal Government in trade finance and Jana worked in management consulting, teaching lean principles to other companies.
Jana says the decision to ditch their big-city corporate careers and move to the Hocken family dairy farm near Feilding was made during a holiday in the Amazon. “We were in these little canoe things for about 10 hours to reach a remote area and the rain was bucketing down on us. We spent a lot of time discussing whether we still wanted corporate careers. Mat was a bit tired of being in the corporate world and we thought, well, why don't we try the farm?”
The self-professed “city girl” admits the new lifestyle was a massive adjustment for her, having got used to living in places like Sydney, Brussels and even Paris. “It was quite a difference, mainly because I was used to working around a really international crowd, so going to rural New Zealand was a bit of a shock in terms of the mindset. Having said that, being an engineer, I'm quite practical, and I do like nature and animals.”