General News
18 October, 2024
TFI's appetite for lamb game spurs $100m in upgrades, cold store wing
TFI cranks up activity in lamb processing, backed by Woolworths.
There is no doubting the faith big family-owned red meat processor Thomas Foods International has in the appetite for lamb both here and overseas, given the investments it is making in its newly-acquired lamb plant at Stawell.
A state-of-the-art cold store wing, a rebuild of the lamb boning room, an optional second shift, a new facility to process skins on site plus numerous other upgrades is all in the pipeline for the processing plant.
The building of on-site housing for workers is also expected to start within 18 months.
It will all add up to an investment of around $100 million, support an increase in the workforce to around 750 full-time jobs and pave the way for TFI to expand its global footprint.
New products, markets and distribution and supply channels are all being etched out at TFI, which runs farms, a feedlot, other processing facilities and a seafood business in southern Australia to produce more than 170,000 tonnes of premium meat annually.
Some particularly innovative ones are happening at Stawell, a region which is synonymous with sheep and grain.
The cold store facility, due to start taking product in six weeks, will provide an unbroken chilled chain that is crucial for supplying export markets at the highest level and domestic supermarkets.
About a third of TFI Stawell production goes to Woolworths.
It's a unique win:win relationship that TFI says has provided a certainty in margin that has helped facilitate the big investment in expansion it is making at Stawell.
TFI has been involved with Woolworths for four decades.
Woolworths says all its service processing partnerships work in a similar vein to what is happening at Stawell and longstanding relationships are critical given the level of investment being made on both sides.
Matthew Robinson, general manager of operations and manufacturing partnerships at Greenstock, Woolworths' red meat supply chain business,said from the processor side, the opportunity was in having processing volume underwritten and a platform for additional supply.
"From Woolies side, the opportunity is to have standardisation and consistency of quality and ever-increasing levels of animal welfare and sustainability performance," he said.
"We are intertwined and what that delivers is the ability to be as efficient as possible which ultimately delivers the best quality product to the consumer at the most competitive price."
Established in 1988 by Chris Thomas, TFI today has teams in the United States, China, Japan and Europe as well as in Australia.
After a four-year joint venture with the Frew family who had run the Stawell processing plant since the 1960s, TFI took complete ownership last year.
Operations manager Shane Wittmann said major projects completed in the past year included a lamb room extension, which would evolve into a complete rebuild of the lamb boning room over the next three years to include robotics.
New generators have been installed and wired in, new portable water tanks and pumps installed for mains cold water, a tank installed for waste salt water, the spray chiller system upgraded, new stun guns are now operational and a first aid, physiotherapy and gym facility built, Mr Wittmann said.
Mr Thomas said constantly experimenting and branching out into new markets was key to TFI strategy.
For example, the investments will help grow innovative markets like the supply contract TFI has with US universities where hearts, brains, eyes and kidneys are shipped in a special solution for research laboratory work to help train doctors and other medical experts.
The cold store development caters for 4500 cartons in the plate freezer, 6500 cartons in the dematic freezer, 6500 cartons in dematic chilled, 550 pallets in the pallet freezer and 370 pallets in the pallet chiller.
It will facilitate product flow for 100 per cent quality checks of chilled products and features conveyors to reduce manual labour and robotic palletising.
"Our plans for the future are exciting," Mr Thomas said.
"We have a sourcing radius that takes in nearly all the prime lamb production area in southern Australia and we are just two-and-a-half hours from Melbourne for further processing.
"We see a bright future for red meat production and processing."
Shan Goodwin visited TFI Stawell as a guest of Woolworths.