Big cream cheese spend
Fonterra’s Darfield site has welcomed 16 new employees as the first stage of its $100 million cream cheese plant nears completion.
Among them is John Condon, who had made a move over from the West Coast to take on the job.
‘‘I was running a printing press in Hokitika, so there is a lot of cross-over on the manufacturing and machine operating side of things,’’ Condon said.
‘‘However the new job is head and shoulders more high tech. The machinery is world leading spanking new machinery and the opportunity to work in a brand new plant is exciting.’’
Nine of the recruits have worked in the dairy industry and the rest are newcomers.
‘‘We are going to spend a day on a dairy farm, and go out with a milk tanker,’’ Condon said.
Condon car-pools out to Darfield each day from Christchurch and will look for a place to live closer to the site later in the year.
Site manager Shane Taylor said the recruits were mainly from the Darfield area and would be employed full time to run the plant once it was running in August. They would work ‘‘24/7’’ in shifts of four. ‘‘We are building and training our teams who will prepare the first plant for commissioning and transition to normal operations. These teams will be instrumental in setting the plant up for the future.’’
They had been brought on early and were receiving training because the new plant incorporated one of the most advanced production lines in the world. Taylor said the first Darfield plant was on track to be completed in the next six months with the second to follow within two-to-three years.
Director of global foodservice Grant Watson said the Fonterrafirst technology would allow for the firmness and consistency of the cream cheese to be dialled up or down to meet the needs of customers. ‘‘This will mean that the co-operative is well placed to meet consumer demand, particularly in Asia where cream cheese is undergoing a surge in popularity. Dairy beverages such as tea macchiato - which mixes tea with cream and cream cheese – demonstrate the remarkable versatility of dairy in markets like China.
When both lines are in place Fonterra will be able to produce up to 48,000 tonnes of cream cheese each year and the Darfield site will be one of the largest cream cheese producers in New Zealand.
Up to 1000 people have been employed in the building to fit out the plant.
Selwyn district mayor Sam Broughton said the Darfield site had continued to employ people during construction and would generate long-term jobs.