24 | Eastern Bay of Plenty: Waiū Dairy REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Richard Loader Access to geothermal power a plus Waiū Dairy is a collaborative effort by 12 entities based in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua regions. HILTONHAULAGE PROUDLY SUPPORTING WAIŪDAIRY Design to Delivery Project and Process Supporters of Waiū Dairy www.d2process.nz Nestled at the foot of Pūtauaki Mountain, just to the east of Kawerau township, Waiū Dairy is in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, where approximately 400 million litres of milk is produced annually, representing 2 percent of the North Island’s total milk supply. This is an ideal location for Waiū Dairy’s size of operation, with access to a secure milk pool in close proximity to its shareholders and key suppliers. The location also allows Waiū Dairy to access geothermal steam from Tuwharetoa Geothermal to power its thermal energy requirements and reducing Waiū Dairy’s carbon footprint, with between 55%-70%, of its energy coming from geothermal. While energy is such a large input cost for milk powder production, Waiū sees this geothermal energy source as a sustainable cost advantage for the future. Waiū Dairy also recycles most of its water via a Reverse Osmosis plant (RO plant), reducing overall wastewater its plant generates. Established in 2019, Waiū Dairy is a collaborative effort by 12 entities, eleven of which are Māori entities and trusts based in the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua region, and Cedenco Dairy Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Imanaka — a 138 year-old-family owned Japanese business. While the commercial and business reasons for Waiū Dairy’s location are clear, creating jobs and opportunities for the people affiliated to the trusts and entities, was a major driver for the shareholders, and remains a very important part of the business’s reason for being. Waiū Dairy is committed to the local region and always looks locally first before seeking services from outside the region says General Manager Oksana Kahlenberg. “This goes for staff, contractors, and suppliers. We work with a number of local suppliers who provide us with various goods and services such as energy, freight, engineering services, and waste management to name a few. The majority of our staff are local, and we are proud to be able to offer jobs and career opportunities to the people in our community. We have also worked with Tarawera High School since we first started operations. “Their students visit our facility when they have career days and get the chance to experience what the dairy industry is all about. We also got involved with the High School’s career expo events, telling the students a bit about Waiū Dairy, future career opportunities and the different roles that we can offer to them. “ As a member of the community, we feel a strong responsibility to contribute to the overall well-being of the local people, and that supports our shareholders original vision for the business.” A total of 60 staff are employed by Waiū Dairy, an increase of 15 since last season, predominantly driven by the significant increase in milk volumes and product that will be made this year. Most of these roles are permanent due to the nature of the work and a commitment to building a team culture that embraces ownership and inclusiveness. “We have people in a wide variety of roles, from production to environmental management, health and safety, quality, supply chain, and finance,” says Oksana. “Of the sixty staff, over thirty are involved in production roles. We strongly encourage those people to participate in Primary ITO’s Dairy Industry training, completing levels 3 – 4. About 70% of all learning takes place at work through onthe-job learning.” Utilising the latest technology Waiū can process approximately 200,000 litres of milk per day, up from approximately 160,000 litres per day last season, and produce between 6- 7 metric tonnes of Milk Protein Concentrate 85 (MPC85) powder and 8-9 metric tonnes of butter per day. The facility can stream different types of milk, including organic and conventional, into MPC85 powders and butter products for export markets. Specialty technology separates the cream and the protein from the raw milk, and then concentrates the protein to 85% which is then dried through a spray dryer to produce MPC85 (85% protein) powder, which is then packed into 20-kilogram bags for export. Cream is sent to the butter plant and packed into 25-kilogram bulk butter cartons for export. A new consumer-ready, butter packing line is currently being installed, which can produce 227-gram and 250-gram foilwrapped butter for export. The new line is expected to be commissioned early 2023. The main markets for Waiū products are the US and Australia, for organic and conventional products, respectively. “The proportion of organic and conventional milk products is approximately a 40/60 split respectively. Waiū also supplies a small amount of product to a range of southeast Asian countries as well as to a select number of companies in New Zealand”, explains Oksana. Waiū Dairy’s milk is sourced from within a 50-kilometre radius, and is currently supplied by local farmers, organic dairy farmers throughout the North Island , and Fonterra under the Dairy Industries Regulation Act.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=