Cryovac wins five-year deal with Fonterra

More than 70 jobs will be created after the Cryovac packaging plant in Rotorua secured a $125 million contract with Fonterra.

The five-year deal means the plant, which employs 92, will soon expand its on-site workforce to 164. Several sub-contracted positions will also be created.

This effectively reverses the employment losses of five years ago when the company, then known as Holmes Packaging, lost a similar lucrative contract with Fonterra's predecessor New Zealand Milk Products.

The new contract requires the supply of 50 per cent of Fonterra's total packaging requirements -- 21 to 30 million milk powder bags -- with the provision that a further 20 per cent could be secured.

Production manager Simon Rees said the deal would be a boon for both the company and the local economy.

"It's fantastic because we now have some real longevity. There has been a lot of background work, particularly by our sales department to get the business back on the footing it is today," he said.

Following the loss of the original contract with New Zealand Milk Products, the company's then owner Wayne Holmes opted to sell the business to United States-based company Sealed Air, which bought the company under the banner of its Cryovac chain of packaging companies.

Cryovac business unit manager Kevin Paccione deserved much of the credit for the new deal, Mr Rees said.

"He was the general manager at Holmes when they lost the contract.

"He worked very, very hard to get it back again. It's been his pet, really."

A major upgrade of the plant was underway to give it the production capacity needed to cope with the new contract's requirements.

Stock was already being shifted and floor space created for machinery to be installed.

Key to the upgrade was an improvement to the factory's "multi-wall conversion plant" -- which creates plastic lined bags made of several layers of paper -- and a new press machine for printing on the packaging.

"Basically we start producing bags from next week. We had a fairly late notification that we had the contract and we have been working pretty hard to make sure we are all up to speed, including hiring temporary trade staff to fill some of the immediate holes."

The plant would shortly shift to a 24-hour, seven-day working week.

"This affects every department from the administration staff to needing more cleaners.

"There's also the flow-on effects to the local economy, from the spare parts for the machinery that could be sourced locally to the extra coffee we will need," Mr Rees said.

The Rotorua Cryovac plant, one of four factories in the company's chain in New Zealand, manufactures a variety of packaging, from Mainland cheese wrappers to paper potato sacks and wrapping for Cadbury chocolates.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)