Mr Proctor has replaced Danny Hailes as plant manager. Mr Hailes has been appointed the Alliance Group's general manager commercial, based in the company's corporate office in Invercargill.
Mr Proctor worked as a seasonal meat-worker for a few seasons, before securing a year-round job - "quite a big thing in those days" - as a meat-grader, when he was 21.
Coincidentally, another former plant manager, Richard Thorp, who was Mr Hailes' predecessor, was a meat grader at the same time.
From there, Mr Proctor got a salaried job and then moved on to become operations manager, a position he held for the 10 years before his new appointment.
He was ready to step up to the top job and had coped well with the transition.
"This wasn't, to me, as hard as probably going from meat worker to supervisor," he said.
Alliance Group was good at promoting from within the company and at providing opportunities, which he had taken "as they've come along".
With such a long career at the plant, Mr Proctor still believed it was a great place to work, with "fantastic" staff and plenty of opportunities.
There was always something happening.
Projects at the moment included looking at some recycling of pelt processing liquor, extending the beef kill at peak, and commissioning an increased offal operation.
While it was a challenging time in the meat industry, the challenge for him at Pukeuri was to make sure it was a competitive, efficient processing plant.
But that was nothing new.
It had always been the challenge for the manager, he said.
The plant was "hugely important" to the Waitaki and Waimate communities and that was something he took very seriously.
In 2014, the site will celebrate 100 years and a committee has been formed to look at how it will be marked.
Already there were some ideas, including opening the plant for tours.
Something involving employees was also wanted.
The plant had a good, loyal workforce.
Every two years, there was a celebration for people who marked 25 years on the job and there were quite a few recipients each time, Mr Proctor said.
