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Mark O'Neill

The daily routine of Ross Hetherington, general manager of Nestle's dairy plant on the northern frontier - Shuangcheng - is unlike that of most expatriates on the mainland.

 In rural surroundings, he rises about 5.30 am, leaves his flat located next to his factory and boards a Pajero jeep. Then he is off down rutted lanes, past fields of corn and rows of one-storey brick houses, to one of 58 collection centres where farmers bring milk, in small buckets, on bicycles or on foot.

 Mr Hetherington supervises as samples of the milk are taken and put into a bottle with the farmer's number on it.

 The milk is then weighed and poured into steel vats, imported from Belgium, which cools it until it is taken, in a tank, painted white with the Nestle bird's nest logo, to his factory.

 The milk delivered this way, morning and afternoon each day of the year, enables his plant to supply the entire country with Nestle's milk products.

 It has transformed the lives of the 13,000 families that sell fresh milk to Nestle, giving them a regular source of cash income for the first time.

 'It is a big responsibility,' Mr Hetherington said.

 'I have to deal with the government and the farmers, for the work in the field and running the factory. And I am responsible for all the products.'  Last year, Nestle collected on average several hundred tonnes a day of fresh milk and produced thousands of tonnes of milk and cereal-based products.

 Mr Hetherington arrived in Shuangcheng in November 1994. The town, of 170,000 people, lies 50 kilometres south of Harbin on the main railway line to Beijing.

  Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang, the country's northernmost province, where it reaches minus 30 degrees centigrade in winter.

 It is one of the richest farming areas in the mainland. Its black soil generates corn, soyabean and vegetables.

 This, coupled with its native high-quality black and white Fresian-Holstein cows, were the main reasons why Nestle and its joint-venture partner decided in December 1986 to invest 285 million yuan (about HK$265.24 million) in the dairy plant.

 Nestle holds 90 per cent of the shares, with the rest held by the local state-owned dairy co-operative.

 The plant started operations in July 1990 and Nestle's investment has reached 500 million yuan.

 The farmers in Shuangcheng who supply the factory have an average of 2.2 cows which they raise, not on rolling grasslands, but in a brick shed at the bottom of the garden or left to munch cornstalks on the side of the road.

 The farmers also till the land to grow vegetables and grain, some of which they feed to the cows.

 The arrival of Nestle means that they have a regular source of income, paid each month.

 'Before, the local dairies did not pay us promptly,' Liu Yuancai, 49, who raises four cows and grows grain on 20,000 square metres, said.

 'Nestle gives us a stable source of income which has encouraged us to raise more cows.

 'Milk is more profitable than grain.'  The money Mr Lin has earned enabled him to knock down his mud house and build one of brick, with central heating, as well as a shed for his cows during the bitter winter months, at a cost of 50,000 yuan.

 'Yes, Nestle has made a big difference,' said Rong Junfang, 30, who lives with his wife and son in a two-room mud and thatch house.

 Mr Rong has one milking cow and two young calves who will soon be producing milk.

 'The dairy will buy as much as we produce,' Mr Rong said.

 'Before, we could not sell.

 'But the price of corn is going up. The price we sell to Nestle is too low,' Mr Rong added.

 The company pays about 1.6 yuan per kilogramme depending on the butter-fat level and the quality.

 Ironically, neither Mr Liu nor Mr Rong want to drink what they sell every day.

 Like most mainlanders of their generation, they have no taste for it.

 In his nearly four years, Mr Hetherington has seen great changes - all 58 collecting centres are equipped with the imported cooling equipment, up from 17 when he arrived, and the roads have been greatly improved, enabling the diary to expand its catchment area of suppliers.

 He sees great potential. 'Farmers could raise more cows and we could buy more milk.

 'But it takes time to impart a dairy culture to a community of farmers. They should be kind to the cows and not whip and hit them,' he said.

 'This causes stress to the cows and this affects their productivity.

 'They should talk to the cows when they work with them and keep them and their environment cleaner.

 'And, because milk is 88 per cent water, they should give them water all the time, instead of three times a day. But this means the farmers have to carry water from underground wells.'  The factory runs a demonstration farm and farmer training centre to teach the locals better practices to make happier and healthier cows that will yield greater amounts of milk.

 The factory has a workforce of about 700, with four expatriates. In a town where many of the state factories are closed or losing money, the Nestle plant is a godsend, paying a regular salary to its employees and 285 million yuan to its 13,000 farmers last year.

 The plant has won awards from the provincial government and is often visited by foreign dignitaries and mainland leaders.

 Still, with its harsh winter and remoteness, Shuangcheng is not every expat's first choice for a foreign posting.

 It is known to mainland schoolchildren as the base of Lin Biao, who for two years from October 1946, conquered all of the northeast for the Communists.

 The town is turning the small courtyard which served as Mr Lin's headquarters into a museum.

 'I first came to China as a tourist in 1986 and went to Guangzhou,' he said.

 'I never ever thought I would come here.'  In his first assignment outside Australia, Nestle posted him, in March 1993, to Dongguan in Guangdong where he worked for 20 months as general manager of Maggi Dongguan, building and setting up a factory making seasonings and bouillons. He moved to Shuangcheng in November 1994.

 He has the feeling of a pioneer, of passing on to thousands of mainland people his knowledge of advanced farm technology.

 'Here is more interesting and more complex. I feel I can make a difference, for the people and for the company.

 'I do not feel cut off, I feel comfortable,' he said.

 On his television, he can watch WOWOW and NHK from Japan, CNN, the Star channels, enabling him to keep up with the latest cricket news. Each day he receives the International Herald Tribune , a week old.

 He jogs five km each day after work and plays tennis, badminton and volleyball.

 In the winter months they cover the tennis court with water, for ice skating, and play tennis instead in the garage.

 His wife lives in Shuangcheng some of the time, their son works for Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong and two daughters live in Sydney.

 'I miss my family and the way of life in Australia.

 'I miss sailing and make up for it by going for two or three weeks of it in Auckland with friends.'  Mr Hetherington grew up in Sydney, the son of a cement plasterer who later worked for Qantas.

 After studying mechanical engineering and commerce, he worked as a project engineer at Abbott Laboratories for 13 years before joining Nestle in 1982. He has since worked for the beverage maker in Australia and on the mainland.

Born in 1943, Ross Hetherington studied mechanical engineering and commerce. He is married with three grown-up children.

 Before joining Nestle in 1982, he worked at Abbott Laboratories as a project engineer for 13 years.

 At Nestle, he worked as a project engineer, factory engineer and manager at their Tongala and Dennington factories in Australia. In 1993, he was assigned to Dongguan, Guangdong to head up the Maggi Dongguan plant. Since late 1994, he has been general manager of the Shuangcheng plant.



Trailblazer helps transform life for remote farming community