Lion is Australasia’s largest food and beverage company. With some of the region’s most iconic breweries and vineyards, Lion has a rich local heritage.
Our success is built on the foundations of great people and great brands boasting a portfolio of New Zealand’s most adored brands in beer, wine, spirits and RTDs. Some of our iconic brands include Speight's, Steinlager, Mac's, Lion Red, Waikato, Becks, Corona, Stella Artois, Lindauer, Wither Hills and Yoplait.
Our core purpose is bringing more sociability and wellbeing to our world; it’s a driver of how our business and people behave each and every day.
Choose Lion
With close to 8,000 people across New Zealand and Australia, we are committed to attracting, developing and retaining great people, supporting them to be the best they can be, really make a difference, and have a great time doing it.
Join Australasia’s leading food and beverage company, and New Zealand’s leading alcoholic beverage company, and you can guarantee that your future is in good hands. You will be working within a function that is aligned to your passion and experience, you’ll also benefit from being a part of our broader graduate development program. This encompasses on the job training, coaching and support as well as targeted capability and leadership development programs. There will be plenty of opportunity for networking with graduates from across the business to share experiences and to learn from each other.
Who are you?
You are committed to personal growth and achieving great results, passionate, open to new ideas and to feedback, and keen to work with great people and great brands.
Manufacturing Operations
Striving for excellence in manufacturing, by combining the best processes of the past with the most innovative methods available today, is the ambitious goal of Operations. Within this department, your mission will be to produce more appealing products, for more people, more often and at a lower cost than our competitors. By continuing to improve our processes, we aim to achieve world-class manufacturing excellence.
Simon Taylor
Role: New Zealand Manufacturing Excellence Leader
Function: I help our NZ Operations teams with the development and implementation of best-practice lean manufacturing principles in their workplaces.
Quote: Lion had really captured what the business was about – achievement and sociability. It was fast moving, dynamic, and all about the people.
Graduated: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ
Graduate Programme Year: 1990
1. What attracted you to the program?
I joined Lion Nathan through the first graduate program in 1990. I went along to the presentation at Canterbury University, lured there by the promise of beer and pizza! But once the presentation actually started I thought to myself ‘wow, this is awesome, this is the company I want to work for’. It was very professional and you could see there were lots of resources in behind the programme to help make the graduates successful. It was presented by the Managing Director of Lion Liquor Retail and that showed huge commitment on Lion’s part. The company displayed a massive passion for what they did, and were very proud of their achievements, you couldn’t help but want to be part of Lion.
2. What were your first impressions?
I had been to some other business graduate program presentations but Lion Nathan stood out. Lion Nathan had really captured what the business was about – achievement and sociability. It was fast moving, dynamic, and all about the people. There were so many differences that set it apart from a normal graduate program.
3. What type of development opportunities were you given?
When I joined, the grad program was run by Lion Liquor Retail, which owned Super Liquor and Liquor King, so I spent time as a shop assistant getting to know the company products, customer service, branding and marketing. I then managed a Super Liquor store in Dunedin and after that spent time in the different businesses within Lion Nathan. I was recruited into Lion Breweries as the Speight’s Brand Manager. During the graduate program we were also given projects, some daunting like presenting to people such as Lion Nathan’s CEO, Sir Arthur ‘Douglas’ Myers. It was amazing that we were exposed to that level of the organisation, which you probably wouldn't get with other graduate programs.
4. How did these processes set you up for later success?
The graduate program develops passion for the brands and for the people involved within the business. It instils customer service values, and you gain business acumen. As a young manager I had to make real business decisions, build brands, have a vision for my store, and lead my people. So I got total exposure to the business. I was then equipped with the knowledge that enabled me to specialise later.
5. What’s the journey your career has taken?
I have been very lucky and have been given some great opportunities to grow and develop personally. I started in retail and since then have worked in areas such as marketing, sales, production, operations management and now operations capability and development. The culture of the business is very supportive of its people, and this has allowed me to be my best and really make a difference.
6. How would you describe the culture at Lion?
It's a business that has high expectations of its people, but it also allows you to make mistakes, and within a supportive environment you learn from those mistakes and become a better person in the future. The culture is focused on developing people and helping them to achieve and be the best they can be. It’s a fun place to work and I enjoy going to work every day.
7. And from the Lion range, what is your favourite product?
Mac’s Sassy Red Amber Ale.