| 29 Manawatu Cold Storage LOGISTICS connecting farmers to export markets. The October opening event is set to be a big milestone occasion for the district. “We’ve invited the mayor, our main contracting reps, and clients to celebrate with us. The lead contractor, Humphries Construction, have been absolutely phenomenal. Silvester Clark was the project engineer and there have been numerous contractors involved, so it has been great for Manawatū business. “These new facilities are a big deal for Feilding: we’ll go from 45 or 50 staff to about 80 or 85 staff so we’re becoming a significant local employer. We have a wonderful reputation with our clients who love our inventory control processes. We’re proud to provide them with a first rate service.” Prior to this expansion, Mancold already had seven freezer rooms with a total equivalent capacity of 12,000 pallets. The new facilities are equivalent to another 3,000 pallets’ capacity. Mancold has also invested in new forklifts and new plant to support the expansion, as well as rolling out a whole new office fitout. Mancold’s operations are powered by high-performance refrigerants - carbon dioxide and ammonia. Refrigeration technology has advanced a long way over the past decade, ensuring better operational efficiency and better safety, with leaks of refrigerant now a rarity. The new site will be powered by C02 – “arguably the best refrigerant to use for the environment, and ammonia isn’t far behind.” Mixed, packaged product that requires blast freezing comes in on racks, with 28 racks in total for each blast freezer. “The MPI requirement is for product to get to -15degC within 30 hours, or 24 hours for chicken. Once it comes out, it’s all sorted by hand – there might be 70 different skews or codes on a load in – and each frame has its own unique skew. From there it’s stored and exported all around the world.” Planning for this latest expansion started in 2017/18, hot on the heels of a previous boost in capacity. Brent says the latest project was delayed by changes to resource management rules that were very challenging. “We took it all in our stride though and pushed on through – we’ll be opening soon and it’s going to be fantastic.” Mancold is located in a busy industrial area near other thriving businesses, such as Ovation Feilding, CLAAS Harvest Centre and Biophive (quality pet food products). Feilding itself is very central. “We get meat from ANZCO Rangitikei, and from Alliance Levin and Dannevirke plants. All are within 45 minutes.” Ahead of their 50th year anniversary in 2026, Manawatu Cold Storage is in a very strong strategic position. Having served with the company for 36 years, Brent can vouch for the proud history of this Feilding business, originally founded by Larry Evans in 1976 as Eljay’s Icebox. Larry’s sons Tony and Peter took over the business in the 1990s and ran it for many years before it was acquired by an overseas owner. Brent says Tony Evans was excited to go through the new building recently and will attend the opening. Meanwhile, Mancold is already looking ahead to further expansion in future, having purchased more land behind their existing site. T T from page 27 Ph 06 358 8442 Email craig@acpltd.co.nz HAVE YOU FOUND YOURSELF IN HOTOR COLD WATER LATELY? GET YOUR FREE QUOTE WITH A SMILE Residential & Commercial Drainage | Heating | Spouting Back ow Protection STEPHEN 021 626 354 CRAIG 021 460 732 Very pleased to work with Humphries Construction On This Project 06 357 7969 0274 056 483 gary@ghengineering.co.nz 95 Keith Street, Roslyn, Palmerston North 4414 Proudly supporting Manawatu Cold Storage
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