Red meat sector reaffirms commitment to China
The next phase of the Taste Pure Nature campaign has been launched in Shanghai, China.
Alliance Group is investing $16 million in a fully integrated storage and warehouse management system (WMS) for frozen products at its Lorneville plant near Invercargill.
The programme, the latest in a series of major investments planned for Lorneville, will introduce automation to the warehousing system and laser-guided vehicles for the storage and retrieval of product.
“The plant’s current frozen product warehouse operation is over 30 years old,” says David Surveyor, chief executive of Alliance Group.
“This is another step in ensuring Alliance remains a world-leading processor.”
Surveyor says the new WMS will improve health and safety at the plant and enable the co-operative to unlock advantages of scale and lift the efficiency and competitiveness of the plant.
“Approximately 66 people are required to work in the operation during peak processing and manual handling of the fresh product.
“With each box weighing around 22kgs, this poses a risk of muscular skeletal injury to employees,” he says.
The new system will be coupled with the implementation of the next phase of the co-perative’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology project, Surveyor says, adding that he believes the move will result in greater efficiencies and improved handling of cartons and product.
“There will be reduced use of forklifts and fewer cases of conveyors jamming, which result in downtime in the further processing rooms.
“Frozen product boxes also do not stack well in the current system, leading to product damage and potential safety risks.”
Alliance says no jobs will be lost as a result of the project, which will be carried out in two phases over an 18-month period. Employees will be re-deployed to other areas of the plant.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Groundswell is ramping up its 'Quit Paris' campaign with signs going up all over the country.
Some farmers in the Nelson region are facing up to five years of hard work to repair their damaged properties caused by the recent devastating floods.
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