Sydney, March 15, 2022 – FMC Corporation, a leading global agricultural sciences company, welcomed Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to its NSW Central Coast manufacturing facility to discuss its commitment to Australian agriculture through innovation and job creation.
FMC is one of just a few remaining multinational companies with local manufacturing facilities. The company made a multi-million-dollar investment in 2020 to upgrade its 5-ha Wyong plant into a full-fledged formulation and packaging facility, in preparation for the world’s first launch of FMC’s new pre-emergent herbicide, Overwatch®. This investment has resulted in more than double employment on site, with the manufacturing organization comprising almost 40 employees across production, quality, maintenance and logistics operations.
Prime Minister Morrison said the most exciting part of his tour was hearing about how many more people FMC was bringing on through the trainee program and the commitment the company had to upskilling and educating.
“Research and development is key to FMC’s success along with understanding your customers and the efficiency of your supply chain. That’s all really important but at the end of the day, you’ve got to get the people you need to drive your business, and you’ve got to get them here where you are on the Central Coast,” Prime Minister Morrison said, “I’m excited in seeing how that’s playing out on the ground and seeing the new talent coming through.”
Alongside strong growth plans driven by innovation, FMC is committed to bringing new talent into the agricultural sector with support from the NSW Department of Education. FMC is providing a 12-month traineeship program to 11 school-leavers assigned to manufacturing, logistics, procurement, administration and customer service.
FMC ANZ & ASEAN Managing Director, Kristina Hermanson, shared that FMC sees the traineeship program as an avenue to bring new, diverse talent into manufacturing, and sculpt career pathways into manufacturing, operations and agriculture. FMC is also a recipient of the NSW Job Creation, which has supported new talent in the laboratory and innovation facilities as well as maintenance capability.
“People, culture, and community lie at the heart of Australian agriculture and that is something we at FMC live and breathe each day, through our culture of safety, our active promotion of diversity and inclusion, and our support of and participation in the communities where we live and work,” Hermanson concluded.