50 | South Canterbury: McCain Foods - Timaru T T Karen Phelps McCain - connecting with community The Timaru plant was nationally recognised for its commitment to sustainability winning the Large Energy User Initiative of the Year category in the New Zealand Energy Excellence awards. “The energy recovery system was a McCain first and now outside of New Zealand that technology is going live in some other McCain plants globally. So it’s a good innovation story for New Zealand.” REGIONAl DEVELOPMENT When people order French fries at many quick serve restaurants around New Zealand, they probably don’t realise that they originated in Te Tihi-o-Maru-Timaru. The McCain Foods plant is aiming to further strengthen its ties with the local community and let them know a significant global French fry manufacturer is based in their town and the opportunities this brings, says Jordan Jurcina, Plant Manager Timaru. The plant has 140 permanent employees and processes more than 550 million potatoes a year. He says McCain Foods can offer a variety of roles from operators to supervisory and other leadership roles. These roles span agriculture, supply chain and logistic and manufacturing. McCain Foods offers a core internal training programme to develop technical competencies. A specialised training department helps people gain external qualifications. “If you have ability, agility and ambition you can go anywhere in McCain Foods,” he says. Interestingly the McCain Foods Timaru plant is virtually fully staffed at the moment, something Jordan puts down to the fact Timaru offers the convenience of a big city with a small town feel. “It’s a great place to live. Located halfway between the lake and mountains you can go snowboarding one day and fishing the next. In last two years we’ve seen a significant improvement in ability to source good candidates and retain them.” The plant was nationally recognised for its commitment to sustainability winning the Large Energy User Initiative of the Year category in the New Zealand Energy Excellence awards in 2022 giving it a further boost in terms of putting it and Timaru on the radar. Investment in enhanced energy recovery systems has resulted in a significant reduction in CO2 emissions per year. A key improvement came from the plant’s Boiler Conversion Project. McCain Timaru has also invested in enhanced energy recovery systems throughout the facility. All of the initiatives mean McCain has met its Energy Transitions Accelerator (ETA) goal for its Timaru plant and is well on the way to meeting its goal of going coal-free by 2025, says Jordan. “It has exceeded our expectations and is performing even better than we thought it would,” he says. “The energy recovery system was a McCain first and now outside of New Zealand that technology is going live in some other McCain plants globally. So it’s a good innovation story for New Zealand.” Jordan says that as a global leading manufacturer of potato products, McCain has always recognised its responsibility to set an example to others in the industry by operating sustainably. “This is more important than ever before, and we knew we needed to accelerate efforts to reduce our impact on a fragile global food system, while also addressing increased consumer demand for more environmentally conscious products. “In 2019 we introduced a global initiative to ‘make planet friendly food’. “This is McCain’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions and optimise our resource efficiency through initiatives like sustainable water usage and working towards zero-waste on our sites. “We are excited to continue finding new ways to protect our planet and making a positive impact in our industry.” 03 684 9100 www.coolpak.co.nz “Coolpak Coolstores Ltd are a Proud Supplier to McCain Foods - Timaru” Cold Chain Storage Solutions & Service, With You In Mind.
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