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Production increase for Greenham plant - Burnie Advocate

Changes at Greenham Tasmania's Smithton plant will make the operation both bigger and better. Managing director Peter Greenham said renovations to the boning room recently finished.

Building started in July this year  and a shutdown lasted for two weeks. "We're about back up to what we were doing (capacity) before the shutdown," Mr Greenham said. The North-West and Northern Tasmania innovation and investment fund provided $1,33,750 towards the renovations. The boning room is now twice the size of what it was.  The capacity of product through the door will also increase.

Mr Greenham estimated the plant would see 420 cattle processed a day, compared to the 340 before the renevations. At the moment, the same amount of cattle is being killed as before the upgrade. The increased  capacity will mean more jobs - welcome news to the Circular Head region, which has experienced several blows including the closure of the McCain processing factory.

Mr Greenham said near Christmas time there would be about 20 new positions at the Smithton factory. A lot of processors have changed and operations are now more streamlined. "We use to move a lot of things around in tubs," he said. "now we've got conveyor belts (and) machines to make things a lot easier - it helps to get the product through." Mr Greenham estimated it would be about a month before workers were used to the new layout and the changed processes.

"It's made things a lot easier, but it has also made things different," he said. "you've got to go two steps back to take three steps forward. "All we need to do is update the slaughter hall." The renovations to the slaughter floor are relatively minor and will only take a few days to complete.  However they are vital to get more cattle through the door.