Mark Loeffen

Mark Loeffen is an "interface man" who bridges the gaps between research, the development and commercialisation of technology, and business management. His expertise in business, technology and people management is a rare combination that makes him a valuable partner in technological ventures.

Mark has well developed interpersonal skills, is an adept team leader, and easily co-ordinates the activities of people with diverse backgrounds and a wide range of expertise and skills. This shows in the success of the many projects his consultancy has undertaken. He has special technical expertise in software, modelling, measurement and control systems, and a wide knowledge of industrial processing and control technologies.

Mark established his consultancy company in 1999, and has since undertaken a wide range of work encompassing both the business and technology aspects of product development. Mark’s company has consulted nationally and internationally, focussing mainly on corporate clients. Mark’s contracts have included taking on the role of founding CEO of a research consortium company, strategic NPD process developer, product commercialiser, NPD project manager, and senior member of a product development team. The breadth and depth of projects undertaken has been both varied and remarkable.

Prior to starting his own consultancy, Mark was General Manager of Manufacturing & Measurement Solutions at MIRINZ Food Technology & Research Ltd (now part of AgResearch). He was a member of the senior management team, responsible for two development teams and the corporate IT department.

From 1988 to 1997 Mark was Business Manager & Team Leader for Electrical Engineering at the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand Inc (MIRINZ). He managed a dozen professional and technical staff, and grew the revenue earned by his group more than fivefold in five years to over $1M per annum. Early in this period, the organisation changed so that Mark was leading a contract R&D group with 100% of revenue generated by way of contract both nationally and internationally.

This experience led Mark to become passionate about the need for effective delivery of results that met and exceeded client expectations and the management processes required to ensure that happened. The growth in revenue merely reflected the team’s focus on delivery - on time, within budget and meeting or exceeding client expectations. During that time the team developed and marketed a number of specialist industrial products internationally.

Under Mark’s management, the MIRINZ Electrical Engineering Team developed sophisticated measurement and automated processing systems. The team comprised smaller groups with expertise in machine vision and image processing specialising in 3D object measurement and modelling as well as colour measurement. Electronic designers developed specialist expertise in nuclear instrumentation and biological signal processing. Mechanical designers created automated machines for skin tagging, meat cutting and texture measurement. Software engineers specialised in real-time signal processing, machine control, and measurement system control. Physicists were added to the group to underpin the development of measurement technologies for bone detection, on-line fat content measurement, frozen meat detection, fat depth and many other applications. Mathematical modelling was a strong underlying skill used for many of the above projects.

Prior to 1988, Mark was a project manager and systems engineer developing advanced computer control systems for meat processing plants in the areas of production, heat and mass transfer and chemical processing. Mark also spent some time in the IT area as well as modelling heat and mass transfer and production systems. This came after some time spent as an electronics system designer developing instrumentation.

Mark graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) from the University of Canterbury specialising in advanced mathematics and control theory.

Mark's unique combination of research, development, and management experience is rare, and makes him a valuable consultant to companies with R & D, product development and business growth needs.