74 | Taumarunui plant primed for export T T Kelly Deeks The new Taumarunui facility is a new investment for Peidi and is its first time building a factory in New Zealand. “Higher levels of fresh meat are good for pets, more digestible, and make the best out of what we do really well in New Zealand – make really high grade meat products.” King Country Pet Food PETFOOD INDUSTRY Intent on making the best out of what New Zealand does best, international pet food company King Country Pet Food is now in Taumarunui, where it is building the country’s largest pet food factory with one of the largest dry pet food extruders in the Southern Hemisphere. Owned by leading Chinese companion pet food supplier Peidi, King Country Pet Food already owns a small factory in Tauranga making air-dried pet food. The new Taumarunui facility is a new investment for Peidi and is its first time building a factory in New Zealand. It is set to start production of a different type of pet food in the middle of this year. “Because of the size of the market, almost everything we do will be for export,” says King Country Pet Food GM Sales and Marketing Jono Cox. “Peidi sees significant opportunities for products with strong New Zealand provenance. “We’re not going to be in the mainstream of the market, and we’re purposely setting up and putting in place processes that allow us to make the most of New Zealand materials, in particular our meat products.” King Country Pet Food has specified and purchased equipment that allows the manufacturer to use much higher levels of fresh meat than would normally be used in dry pet food. “Traditionally, dry pet food has been high in cereal and plant products. “Our point of difference will be to market this product as having higher levels of fresh meat than what people have seen in this kind of product. “Higher levels of fresh meat are good for pets, more digestible, and make the best out of what we do really well in New Zealand – make really high grade meat products.” Jono says the new factory will be adding some much needed value to New Zealand meat. “At the moment a lot of products from the meat industry are being shipped away in containers with not a lot of value being added. “We are taking those same material and turning them into super premium products, and providing local people some well-paying employment along the way.” When Peidi came to Taumarunui to check out the old Affco meatworks site which had been shut down in the 1990s, the potential in the site was obvious. Waikato design and build firm AHS Group was taken on board to design and build a refurbishment and extension to the existing buildings, and this process has already helped to support the Taumarunui economy by using as much local trade and local material as possible. AHS Construction general manager Peter Davenport says although this isn’t a simple structure and plant, and there will be nothing else like it in the Southern Hemisphere, the backgrounds of his team have allowed AHS Construction to pull its resources and knowledge from prior similar projects to come up with a well-built and financially viable solution. “The building’s 2000sqm footprint wasn’t the issue, it was the sheer height of some of the equipment going into it,” he says. “The existing structure had a 5m ceiling height, and the new ceiling height is 15m, and in some areas up to about 18m.” Once complete, the new facility will initially bring 30 to 40 new jobs to Taumarunui when it begins with a single shift, and Jono expects that number to double as the factory moves to second shift. He says King Country Pet Food is looking forward to being an active and proactive part of the local community. OFFERS TOTAL CAPABILITY IN EQUIPMENT SYSTEMS & PROCESSORS FOR: Particle Size Reduction, Classifying, Milling, Crushing, Sifting, Mixing, Pelleting, Extruding, Agglomeration, Bulk Material Handling, Cooling, Drying, Conveying & Packaging. Contact us on: 09 263 6926 admin@graintech.co.nz www.graintech.co.nz PROCESSING, HANDLING & STORAGE SYSTEMS
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