10 | Southland: Fonterra Edendale T T Russell Fredric Top performing plant on a mission Fonterra Edendale factory is recognised as one of New Zealand’s top dairy processing sites. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Southland Plumbing & Pumps 85 Bill Richardson Drive Avenal Invercargill (03) 214 3136 Need Water Filtration? New House Pump? For all your Domestic & Commercial Plumbing, Gas Fitting and Water Filtration needs. 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 +64 21 684634 sarah.skinner@ixom.com www.ixom.com Proudly supporting Fonterra Edendale Our Key end Markets: Our Products include: • Speciality and commodity chemicals • Membrane chemicals and specialist services • Chemical storage and dispensing equipment solutions • Chemical monitoring and reporting tools • Cleaning verification and validation • Specialist consulting services • Alkali Detergents • Acid Detergents • Membrane Detergents • Specialty Chemicals • Sanitisers • External Cleaners • Food Additives Our Services include: • Cleaning and Process Expertise • Chemical Handling & Storage • Innovation & Development • Total Chemical Management With 140 years of operation to its credit, Fonterra Edendale factory is recognised as one of New Zealand’s top dairy processing sites. A significant employer in Southland with a staff of 650, the plant makes a large financial and social contribution to the region. Every day during the peak season, its fleet of 63 tankers transports 13.5 million litres of milk to the plant for processing into a variety of products, mostly for export, and has continued to enhance its operations through investment in key upgrades, with the most recent designed to mitigate constraints on its water supply. ED1/ED2 south plant manager Julie Walkinshaw says Fonterra Edendale is categorised as a water constrained site. “All of our water that we need to turn milk into a product is sourced from the Edendale aquifer and for the last couple of years we’ve had extremely dry summers in Southland and that’s put a lot of pressure on the aquifer and the province. “It also creates risk to us as a processing site because we don’t have an alternative water source.” Consequently, the plant has invested in a project, known as Cow Water Max, that recycles water from the milk evaporation process. “We capture that, we purify it through a membrane plant, and now we can use it for processing milk. We use it for cleaning silos, cleaning evaporators and dryers.” The result is a reduction in the water abstraction from the aquifer of 750,000 to 912,000 cubic metres of water a year. The project was undertaken over a two year period, with Invercargill engineering firm Bmac Engineering as the main contractor and Tetra Pak New Zealand the designer of the system. “It was a big project that is a big success. To see results almost instantly [on completion] is pretty remarkable.” Nationally, Fonterra is working towards other sustainability goals such as its decarbonisation strategy with the aim of reducing scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and is currently assessing biomass, electrification and heat pump technology at Edendale. Fonterra sees these technologies as the best solutions possible at this stage. Fonterra is also trialling alternative energy options for its tanker fleet and currently has a fully electric tanker, Milk-E, operating in the North Island. “Our onsite pool cars have all been converted over to electric vehicles, that’s where we are heading as well.” Fonterra Edendale produces whole, skim and buttermilk powder and fat filled milk powder. With increased competition for milk supply in Southland and Otago in recent years and a more limited supply, it aims to add as much value as possible from the available milk pool as well as considering future investment in manufacturing higher return products. “That is why in the last substantial expansion we added the milk protein concentrate plant; that’s earning good revenue and we put in an additional AMF line which processes cream into pure fat which is also very valuable. “As a cooperative, we are owned by our farmers and it’s exceptionally important to us to make sure that we add as much value to their product as possible.” Fonterra Edendale has a significant presence in the local community and greatly values this relationship and the support it provides through various programmes and grants. There is an ongoing need for trade and higher educated staff, and vacancies in these areas are often difficult to fill, Julie says. However, Fonterra is very proactive in providing incentives for qualified people to move to the region, and to assist university students with work experience and to become a part of its team when they qualify.
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