12 | T T Richard Loader Meat plant big employer in Kaipara Of the plant’s 303 waged staff, 210 are males and 93 females. Northland: Silver Fern Farms - Dargaville REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Member of Abrasive Blasting & Coating Specialists 021 740011 | info@rudolphs.co.nz | www.rudolphs.co.nz For All Your Industrial & Commercial Needs Phone: 09 430 3123 • scott@northlandscaffolding.co.nz • 3 Pipiwai Rd, Whangarei • 1188 SH10 Bulls Gorge, Kerikeri Domestic & Commercial Scaffolding Fall Protection Safety Netting Mobile and Access Towers Structural Propping Roof Edge Protection Event Towers, Bridges & Grandstands Shrinkwrap Encapulation Hanging / Suspended Scaffolding Northland Scaffolding Specialise in: Northland Scaffolding are proud to support Silver Fern Farms www.integratedpackaging.co.nz | 09 274 4499 | 5 Sir William Ave, East Tamaki + Crop Packaging Products + Plain Films + Industrial Stretch Films + Pallet Shrink Film + PVC Food Films + Stretch Hoods + Bundle Shrink + Plain & Printed Bags — a division of Proudly supporting Silver Fern Farms Commissioned in 1993, Silver Fern Farms’ beef processing plant in Dargaville has become one of the largest employers on the Kaipara region, and a significant contributor to the local economy. Located in an industrial area on the outskirts of Dargaville township, the modern beef processing facility draws cattle from Warkworth through to Cape Reinga all year round. From early October through to the end of July the plant runs a night and day shift, each operated by a team of 150 skilled butchers, boners and trimmers, along with a crew loading containers. From August the plant moves to a single shift phase. After closing for up to four weeks in September, the plant reopens in single shift mode before the night shift returns early October and the cycle starts all over again. The Dargaville plant’s main markets are China, US, Middle East, United Arab Emirates, New Caledonia and New Zealand. China is the plant’s biggest customer, and Dargaville was one of the first plants to receive eligibility to supply offal into the China market. The plant remains one of the few in New Zealand that has full China listing for internal products as well as primal meat. Fifty per cent of Dargaville’s production is prime steer or heifer, about thirty percent bull and twenty percent cull cow, with a lift in value-add products across all classes of animal, saving more cuts than ever before because of demand from clients in China. Twenty five per cent of what Dargaville processes is chilled and sold in sealed vacuum packs to countries like New Caledonia and the Middle East. Currently only frozen products are sold to China. Hides are processed off-site and exported as blue skins to leather manufacturers globally – mainly into Europe. Like many meat processing plants, the Dargaville plant operates a SCADA system, which is the brains of the plant governing things like how fast the chain moves. “We have a carcass recording system that tracks carcass details throughout the primary butchery, and there will soon be software that manages production into the inventory system,” explains Dargaville’s Operations Manager Laurie Davies. “We currently target 216 carcasses processed each shift with the staff paid on a production-based incentive scheme, with three pay grades depending on skills levels.” As a modern food processing export facility Silver Fern Farms Dargaville has an unyielding focus on quality, health & safety and production. “It’s like juggling three balls and you can’t have one without the other two. Back in the
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