News

WAMMCO has appointed Marc Chambers as the new Plant Manager of its Katanning facility, marking only the second leadership transition since the cooperative began in 1999. He succeeds Tony Bessell, who retired after a distinguished career that began at the Linley Valley site.

With a lifelong commitment to the meat industry, Marc’s journey started as an apprentice butcher in Esperance. He later earned a Diploma of Meat Management from Victoria University, leading to key roles including Boning Room Supervisor at Macri Meats, Technical Manager at Heinz Wattie’s Australasia, and Quality Assurance and Production Manager at Harvey Beef. He also spent time as a Meat Trades Lecturer at Bentley TAFE before joining WAMMCO nine years ago. His progression from QA Manager to Production Manager—and now Plant Manager—highlights his expertise and leadership.

Marc takes pride in his contributions to industry advancements, including the widely adopted hot boning refrigeration index he developed at Harvey Beef in conjunction with the meat industry expert panel and his shelf-life studies at WAMMCO, which demonstrated that refrigerated product longevity can be extended to 110 days without spoilage.

Since stepping into his new role, Marc has driven significant improvements at the Katanning plant. A reinforced training program, optimized staffing levels, and adjustments to the AMIES agreement—alongside negotiations with government inspectors—have increased production speeds by approximately 15%. These initiatives led to multiple daily and weekly production records throughout February and early March.

Marc, along with Project Engineer Daniel Crane, is overseeing major capital works at the facility. Construction has begun on a new slaughter floor, with the concrete pour expected in late April or May. Additional projects, including a Variable Retention Tunnel and a solar farm, are set to commence before mid-year.

Under Marc’s leadership, Katanning is entering an era of enhanced safety, social responsibility, efficiency and innovation, reinforcing WAMMCO’s commitment to excellence in meat processing.