From burger wrapper to production powerhouse
- Clara Leung
- Oct 10
- 2 min read
Josh Daher’s career at Andrews Meat Industries started casually – wrapping and packing burgers while studying construction management. Today he heads up an operation making four tonnes of sausages daily in 11 flavours, and took third place at the 2024 AMIC Smallgoods Young Achiever Awards.
In six years at Andrews Meat, Josh has quickly risen through the ranks. By 2020, he was Supervisor of the value-add room, became Area Manager in 2021, and within a year, Production Manufacturing Leader. Now, as Production Manufacturing Manager, he oversees everything from sausage and burger lines to allergen operations, keeping the business running smoothly.
Growing his skills and making a bigger impact in the industry has been front and centre for Josh. In 2021, he picked up Six Sigma White and Yellow Belt certifications, sharpening his skills in improving processes and efficiency. He’s also focused on supporting his team, completing Mental Health First Aid and JBS People First training to build a strong and positive work environment. He’s working on First Aid training, a Certificate III in Meat Processing and recently completed his AUS-MEAT accreditation – and his ambitions don’t end there.
Josh focuses on finding ways to make the production room more efficient, safer, and sustainable in the years ahead. He’s seen the power of technology firsthand – in 2018, the team produced 150kg of pork and fennel sausages each week, but with new machinery and smarter processes, that’s now 1.2 tonnes. Josh isn’t just relying on new equipment, though. He’s finding innovative ways to optimise existing tools, like adapting the burger patty machine to be able to produce sausages when it’s not in use, aiming to cut downtime, increase capacity, and keep the operation future-ready.
Josh also identified a game-changing opportunity to automate the lamb kofta production line by designing a custom machine part. The results speak for themselves – output skyrocketed from 50 to 220 pieces per minute, boosting productivity by an incredible 340%.
In an industry where precision and consistency are everything, Josh is committed to maintaining the highest production standards – making sure customers never have to question the quality of the products they receive.
When asked about his proudest achievement while working at Andrews Meat, Josh states
“I’m most proud of my team and that we can consistently produce with the same level of quality and care, whether it is the first batch of the day or the 100th.”
