Cadbury unveils changes

Susan French looks for defects in Easter eggs being produced at Cadbury's Dunedin factory...
Susan French looks for defects in Easter eggs being produced at Cadbury's Dunedin factory yesterday. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Cadbury yesterday unveiled some of the $69 million of changes it has made to its Dunedin factory as it endeavours to turn it into a "centre of excellence".

By Christmas, Cadbury's only other plant in New Zealand, at Avondale in Auckland, will be closed and all production will come from Dunedin.

The Dunedin plant, employing about 700 people, is just one of 30 in the giant confectionery company's global operation.

But with its floors full, or filling, with new equipment, its future in Dunedin seems far more assured than was the case in the past, when there was concern the company might leave the city.

New Zealand managing director Matthew Oldham said the $69 million investment was the largest Cadbury had made in New Zealand.

"I think that should indicate that we are serious about setting up a globally competitive centre of excellence here in Dunedin."

He did not regard the factory's location so far from Cadbury's markets as a major disadvantage.

"It has a great access to fresh, high-quality local milk, which is a key reason for us keeping the plant here."

"It is quite a way from the markets but in these days of global trade, many products travel long distances and for these value-added types of products, the freight component is a relatively small part of the value.

"It is not as if we are exporting just raw milk out of Dunedin. We are adding quite a lot of value here in Dunedin, so it does make it worthwhile for us to export it long distances."

Cadbury is reducing the number of lines produced in New Zealand from about 400 to about 100 as its four plants in Australasia become more specialised.

One of the major functions of the Dunedin plant is to produce "crumb", the base for various chocolate products.

Operations manager John Booth said the factory output of crumb was about 16,000 tonnes per year, but that could be doubled with a small amount of extra spending.

Expansion in that area was tied to the price of milk and demand from the Asia-Pacific region.

Changes at the Dunedin factory have led to 140 voluntary redundancies, the last due to leave on Friday.

The introduction of faster, more efficient machinery has meant there are fewer unskilled manual labouring jobs at the plant.

The German-made Winkler und Dunnebier Susswarenmaschinen production facility, for instance, can turn out the marshmallow for 200,000 Easter eggs in an eight-hour shift.

Mr Oldham said replacing the plant's "museum piece" equipment was required to keep the plant competitive in a global market and the "treats" it produced affordable.

"The cost of ingredients like sugar and cocoa has gone through the roof in the last two years, and we have been working behind the scenes to keep our chocolates and lollies affordable."

The changes include Moro bars being manufactured in Australia rather than Dunedin and Creme Eggs being manufactured in Britain from next year. Dunedin has taken over the production of products like Jaffas, Pebbles, Chocolate Fish and Pineapple Lumps from the Avondale plant.

Cadbury is also set to launch Dunedin-made Chocolate Fish on the Australian market.

mark.price@odt.co.nz

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement