Sundar Lal

Senior operational leader responsible for a $200M+ specialised dairy manufacturing business unit producing up to 160 MT/day of high-value milk powder products, with accountability for operational delivery, financial performance, asset strategy, team capability, and strategic business improvement.

• Contributed to a significant reduction in EBITDA losses, delivering $8M+ business improvement (FY23-FY25).
• Delivered $2M performance improvement initiatives, including cost-of-quality, composition, and operational loss reduction.
• Established proactive Asset Care Strategy, improving reliability and long-term operational performance.
• Led organisational redesign and change programme delivering $500K savings while improving workforce capability and engagement.
• Improved employee engagement by 20%, achieving a strong FY25 engagement score of 75.
• Site leadership role in New Zealand’s first high-pressure electrode boiler milk processing project, reducing emissions by 22, 000 tonnes CO₂e annually.

Led large-scale dairy manufacturing operations within a $1B business unit producing up to 1, 000 MT/day across nutritional, protein, and commodity powder streams, with accountability for operational excellence, people leadership, safety, quality, and financial performance.

• Delivered $4M annual cost-of-quality improvement through manufacturing optimisation and improved process capability.
• Improved plant uptime to 96% and extended CIP operating cycles from 10 days to 21+ days.
• Led operational reliability improvements resolving long-standing production constraints and plant losses.
• Strengthened customer complaint investigation systems and stakeholder responsiveness.
• Contributed nationally through workforce planning and operational best-practice communities.

Senior environmental and stakeholder leader responsible for strategic sustainability, compliance, regional engagement, and operational environmental performance across one of New Zealand’s largest dairy processing sites.

• Leadership role in the $157M InteGreat wastewater and irrigation capital programme.
• Achieved the site’s first ISO 14001 accreditation.
• Led regional environmental improvement initiatives across water, waste, chemical, and energy reduction.
• Successfully achieved irrigation re-consenting and implemented Whole Farm Management Plans.
• Led strategic relationships with iwi, councils, neighbours, businesses, and community groups.

Production readiness and commissioning leader for major greenfield dairy manufacturing assets, including team build, systems implementation, operational readiness, and rapid scale-up to full production capability.

• Key leader in commissioning Darfield Drier 1 & 2 from greenfield to full operational readiness.
• Recruited and developed the manufacturing team, established systems and training, and achieved full capacity within eight weeks.
• Supported commissioning of Edendale Dryer 4 and ongoing operational optimisation.
• Contributed to first-site FSSC 22000 accreditation.