Oji Fibre Solutions (OjiFS) has unveiled upgraded and expanded facilities at its Auckland paper bag manufacturing plant.
According to the company, the NZ$30m ($27.7m) capital investment lifts production capacity and provides a world-class food safety environment that aims to future proof the business and continue to set the global standard in dairy bag production.
The new facilities were officially opened on Friday by the Minister for Economic Development, Hon Simon Bridges.
OjiFS chief executive Jon Ryder said the event marks one of the first milestones in an exciting new chapter in the company’s history.
“The decision to invest $30 million into this site was made in February 2015, within months of the purchase of our business (formerly CHH Pulp, Paper and Packaging) by Oji Holdings and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) in November 2014. It is a strong sign of Oji’s commitment to New Zealand and our intent to grow the Oji Fibre Solutions business in NZ and Australia,” said Ryder.
Ryder said the business has traditionally been a supplier of commodity products – the Penrose investment reflects its transition to become more of a solutions company for its customers.
“We are determined to develop a portfolio of value added products that address the sectors we support; in this case dairy, flour and sugar. Our investment provides a world- class food safety environment which is vital to ensure the integrity of the supply chain,” he said.
The investment project has seen the extension of the plant’s existing hygiene hall and upgrade of a conversion line that produces multi-walled bags for dairy and food powder packaging. It entailed upgrading of all aspects of critical hygiene, installation of state of the art bag-making equipment and construction of an additional 3,000m2 of onsite warehousing and associated facilities.