Global input to Westland plant

The Hokitika plant will make baby formula milk powder for markets including China. Photo / Bloomberg

Equipment for milk powder drier arriving.

Specialist equipment from around the world has started arriving in Hokitika for the fitout on Westland Milk Products' $102 million nutritions drier project.

Elements of the massive new D7 drier building were commissioned from manufacturers in China, Bulgaria, Indonesia and Denmark.

D7 project manager Felicity Lane said the completed drier would create 28 new jobs.

"Drier 7 will mean the creation of 17 new roles within the nutritional department alone. Eleven other full-time roles across the business are also required," Lane said.

The completion of the project would enable Westland Milk to produce fully formulated infant formula milk powder products - mostly destined for the lucrative Chinese market - in a standalone processing plant. The project began in May, with the first stage due to be completed in time for the commissioning of a new ingredient-handling area in mid to late February.

The first milk product through the new processing plant is scheduled for September, once the drier tower is built and all processing equipment installed.

Lane said the next two to three months would see several key milestones ticked off, including the arrival of the evaporator and assembly of the drier - two major components that would have to be lifted into the building.

Once key equipment was in place, the roof of the tower could go on, she said.

Some of the key processing equipment had been built overseas in certified workshops and shipped to New Zealand, including the drying chamber and air distributor (China), main air heater (Switzerland), high-pressure pump and heat exchanger (Sweden), evaporator (Bulgaria), shaking bed (Indonesia), almix and sifter (Denmark) and the carbon dioxide monitoring system (Germany).

The bag house, inlet and exhaust fans, silos and packing line were all fabricated in New Zealand.

The drier is being built within the boundaries of the 24,240sq m Hokitika factory site.

D7 and associated buildings will add 2150sq m.

Meanwhile, Westland Milk's other large project - a UHT (long-life milk) plant at Rolleston, near Christchurch - is also progressing well.

Lane said the site layout was in the process of being confirmed, three new staff members had been appointed, product development trials had begun and the processing and packaging equipment contract had been awarded to Tetra Pak.

- Greymouth Star