BalognePty. Ltd.

Balogne Pty. Ltd. was founded in 1965 in Mackay, Queensland by Louis Hape, a former Cane Sugar farmer. He moved away from farming when he started a mill and refinery to process the sugar from local cane sugar farmers. His business flourished over the years and has grown into a multi-million dollar company with a strong penetration in the Australian market, and a developing export business. Not only does Balogne produce a large range of sugar products such as raw sugar, white sugar, brown sugar, icing sugar, etc., but also golden syrup and treacle.

Every morning, a fleet of trucks and trains leave the mill to collect the harvested sugar cane from selected farms in the area. At the mill, the sugar cane is crushed by large rollers. Juice is extracted then clarified to remove soil and impurities. This juice is concentrated into a syrup by boiling off excess water until sugar crystals have formed and grown. The crystals are tumble dried to form raw sugar and placed in large storage bins for transport to the bulk sugar terminals or refineries. Most raw sugar requires further processing at refineries in order to meet food manufacturers and consumer needs.

At the refinery, the raw sugar crystals are washed and dissolved in hot water to form a syrup. Phosphoric acid and lime are added to the melted sugar to remove any impurities left over from the clarification process. The syrup is pressure filtered through cloth, passed through decolourising columns containing activated carbon, and boiled in a vacuum pan. When the crystals are large enough, they undergo a centrifuge process to remove excess liquid and then tumble dried. The dried sugar is either packaged or undergoes further processing to become golden syrup or treacle. 

A second fleet of trucks then delivers the product to major distributors around Australia. The mill office workers keep details on farmers, product manufacture, and distributors. The sales team keep records of sales data (refer section on Sales data).

Recently a new general manager, Ms Erica Norris, took over the reins from Louis Hape who retired. You have been hired as a trainee Business Analyst to help Erica understand Balogne better and to improve its business processes. Erica has asked you to submit a business report (with academic references) with the following information:

Can someone please help me with an executive summary and an introduction about this company: