52 | Edendale celebrates 140 years of production DAIRY INDUSTRY Fonterra Edendale World-famous for cheese rolls and rolled Rs, Southland is home to New Zealand’s longest running dairy manufacturing site, Fonterra Edendale, which commenced operations on January 18, 1882. “140 years on and Edendale is still recognised as one of New Zealand’s top dairy processing sites,” says Fonterra lower South Island operations manager Richard Gray. Edendale recently took out the Best Big Site and Transformation Cups at Fonterra’s annual Best Site Cup awards. “Edendale is an amazing site with awesome people,” Richard says. “I get consistent feedback around the quality culture on site. This is a result of how our teams come together, taking pride in their work environments and focus on delivering the highest quality products to the world. “It takes a whole team to do this, from milk collection through operations as well as the support teams such as maintenance, utilities, environmental, and the amenities team. “Our Co-op recently shared our long-term strategy ‘Path to 2030’ and Edendale is certainly part of that future. The team is looking forward to celebrating 150 years of Edendale in 2032.” Milk delivered by horse and cart As a young man, Fonterra farmer and Southland District Councillor Paul Duffy worked at Seaward Downs, a neighbouring cheese factory before it merged with Edendale. “One of my first memories of Edendale was seeing a farmer who lived on the fringe of the Edendale dairy factory, dropping off milk to site using a horse and cart,” Paul says. “In the late 1960’s, we shut down production at Kelly Deeks “It takes a whole team to do this, from milk collection through operations as well as the support teams such as maintenance, utilities, environmental, and the amenities team” Seaward Downs for the day and redirected all of our milk over to Edendale to go over and work there.” 28 employees were working at the factory that day, and at the time Edendale was a big employer in the local town. “It’s a real success for it to still be a big employer, with now more than 670 people involved in the site from transport to processing. On top of that, flow on industries and businesses like contractors and trucking companies have built up around it, and there is no doubt it has made a difference to the local economy right across Southland. “Everyone knows someone who works at the site, it’s a piece of history for the Edendale community.” Generations of dairy farming in Southland Fonterra farmer Gordon McKenzie’s family are fourth generation dairy farmers in Southland. He grew up on a farm run by his grandfather and father at Seaward Downs. “Back in the day, grandad and dad would drop milk off to the dairy site using a tank on our truck,” he says. “The next generation down, my three brothers and I, went into partnership to farm and now my three sons are involved. Like our family, there are a quite a few generations of dairy farmers in the region.” Gordon says initially, not many saw the potential of dairy in Southland. “I remember in my third year visiting Mystery Creek Fieldays back in 1992 we had to put up a map to show where all the dairy imports farmed. “People thought that all we had down here was snow covered pastures and icebergs in Bluff harbour. We’ve shown over the years that we can produce high quality milk.” Industrial electrical and automation engineering company EIS is a market leader with vast experience and a unique perspective, working across multiple different industries. Based in Southland and Canterbury, EIS has a dedicated team of specialists who are experts in their fields and committed to delivering quality, results, and peace of mind to their wonderful clients. “If it can be done by a machine, a robot, or an automated process, we can engineer, build, integrate, and maintain it,” says EIS business development manager Dean Addie. “We develop solutions that help operations to run more safely, reliably, and efficiently.” EIS delivers automation, compliance, and industrial electrical engineering projects all around New Zealand and overseas, for a diverse range of clients operating in different industries, with a strong presence in dairy, food and beverage, and manufacturing sectors. EIS was first established in 1996 and is proud to have grown both its capabilities and its capacity to match the requirements of some of New Zealand’s largest businesses. EIS has many strong relationships and one very important one spanning 26 years, is with Fonterra Edendale. “Our capability set matches their requirements, and also we have the capacity to meet their special characteristics like a strong health and safety consciousness and culture. Dean says one of the advantages of an exterior and independent company coming in into a place like Fonterra is the breadth of knowledge EIS brings with it. “When you work in a factory, you are exposed to only what you can see. When you are focused on what you do, you can lose track of what’s happening in the rest of the world. We are often able to give our clients another view of how something can be done.” EIS and Fonterra Edendale are in a longterm relationship that has been strengthened over 26 years of successful collaboration. EIS’s site leader for Edendale Leo Shirley has also been working at Edendale for the best part of 25 years, and knows the site better than most. “Strong relationships and a can-do attitude are the key to long-term collaboration,” Dean says. “We wish Fonterra Edendale and all its team a happy 140th, and here is to the next 140!” EIS - delivering peace of mind to industrial users Richard Gray: “Edendale is an amazing site with awesome people.” Commercial, Industrial, Residential, Civil Engineering, Construction throughout Southland and Central, West and South Otago AJAX BUILDING CONTRACTORS LTD PO Box 388 Gore Mataura Highway GORE 9740 Phone: 03 208 9145 Tom: 027 215 1037 www.ajaxbuilding.co.nz Delivering automation and electrical projects throughout New Zealand. Christchurch | Invercargill | www.eis.co.nz
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=