36 | State of the art facilities Packing kiwifruit at the Tauriko site. Production has risen from 2.5 million trays in 2009 to over 16 million trays. T T from page 34 HORTICULTURE Mount Pack & Cool 94 Gargan Road, Tauriko, Tauranga 3110 | 07 575 2027 | office@harkinroofing.co.nz | www.harkinroofing.co.nz PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH MOUNT PACK N COOL AS THEIR PREFERRED INDUSTRIAL/COMMERCIAL METAL ROOFING AND CLADDING SPECIALISTS PROUDLY SUPPLY AND SUPPORT MOUNT PACK N COOL 9-11 Diversey Lane, Manukau | Telephone: 05 08 472 553 or 09 277 9224 E-mail: sales@bigtuff.co.nz | www.bigtuffpallets.co.nz • Industrial Pallets • Horticultural Pallets • Custom Crates & Bins • Export Fumigation • Recycled Pallets & Repair Services • Cut to length timber The company’s growth since 2009 has gone from 2.5 million trays at its previous site in Mount Maunganui to over 16 million trays at the Tauriko site. Brendon says future developments are already being planned driven by increased demand for Zespri’s Sungold or Gold 3 variety. He says that Zespri has released thousands of hectares of the gold license, which has been eagerly snapped up by orchardists with no signs of abating. He says that Mpac has been able to pick up a large market share of the resulting demand for post-harvest services on the back of investment in its facility, low fruit loss, high OGR (orchard gate returns), harvest capacity and strong forward planning focus. “By future proofing our business growers can see that we have capacity to expand and feel confident coming on board,” he says. “Our state of the art facilities result in good orchard gate returns and we are industry leaders in that regard. Our costings are very competitive and our performance has been good with some of the highest orchard gate returns in the industry.” He puts this down to a combination of site layout, technology and good people. For example when fruit arrives at Mpac it is put in a unique temperature and humidity controlled bin curing room for 24-48 hours. “This allows the fruit to cool slowly and by keeping humidity at 99% the fruit isn’t losing weight, which improves growers pack outs. This facility was custom designed and has been a significant benefit to our growers.” He says the market continues to have a strong appetite for Sungold and the Zespri brand, which has been popular for its very sweet taste with higher sugar content. Mpac is majority owned by experienced Bay of Plenty kiwifruit operators who formed JACE Group. JACE Group can cover the entire supply chain of kiwifruit from the orchard to the consumer. As the majority shareholder of Mpac, JACE Group owns three other subsidiary companies of Mpac - Apac, GroPlus and Pollen Plus. Brendon says that Mpac has developed a solid reputation among growers for trust, respect, integrity and all-round excellence. He says Mpac aims to pass savings created by its efficient service directly on to growers. “The philosophy is to achieve business excellence through ethical practice, team work and loyalty, participation in the community and consistent long-term financial growth giving the best possible return to our grower customers.”
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