While winter brought a pause in production at the Co-op's local manufacturing plants, it was still full steam ahead on the ground.
The colder months provide an important chance to carry out critical maintenance and upgrades across our 22 New Zealand-based manufacturing sites.
This annual winter shut is one of the Co-op’s largest and most complex operations, with more than $64 million invested in carrying out deep cleaning, servicing, and thorough equipment inspections. Taking place over several months, the winter shut ensures every asset is in peak condition to process the more than 16 billion litres of milk that flows through the Co-op’s network each year.
Winter maintenance is an opportunity to set up the Co-op’s assets so they run at maximum efficiency without unforeseen downtime, which can otherwise result in costly production losses.
Global Engineering Chief Engineer Aaron Goldsbury knows just how much goes into making this all run smoothly.
“It’s a substantial volume of work,” Aaron says.
“This season, [we aimed] to complete more than 23,000 maintenance tasks. It’s a massive effort involving careful coordination between our engineering, operations and contractor teams. Planning for this begins months in advance so we can hit the ground running.” Global Engineering Chief Engineer Aaron Goldsbury says.
Over 1,600 employees and more than 640 vendors – ranging from large firms to local specialists – have joined forces to carry out the work. Before any maintenance begins, safety reviews ensure all equipment is properly shut down and safe to work on. This year, the Co-op’s rollout of a new ePermit System is enhancing on-site security with the new digital tool streamlining permit and safety checks, adding another layer of protection for both people and equipment.
“Every step we take – from pre-start reviews to rolling out digital permits – is focused on creating the safest, most productive environment possible,” says Aaron.
“We owe that to our teams, our Co-op, and ultimately, to our farmer owners. Doing the job safely, and doing it right, sets us up for a strong, successful new season.”
Ensuring the cream of the crop
Our Tākaka site has seen a big uplift in activity during this year’s winter shut, with a key focus on maintenance and capital investment, including upgrades to safety systems and site security.
Sustainability also remains a priority, with actions underway to reduce energy consumption and improve water uptake reliability.
Another key project has been around enhancing cream quality, which aims to improve on-site cream processing and storage.
In response to weather disruptions and road closures in the Tasman region, the Tākaka site is installing two new cream silos to improve storage conditions and provide greater flexibility in managing transport challenges the weather might bring. This means the site is better equipped to maintain product quality and continuity, even in the face of logistical disruptions.
Making way for new boilers
Meanwhile, at our Edendale site, the team is preparing to replace two coal-fired boilers with electrode boilers – a major step toward reducing emissions across both the site and wider Co-op.
With demolition of the old boilers set to begin in early October, and to run in parallel with the new boiler builds, the team made use of the winter shut period to relocate staff from the old cheese lab building to temporary spaces.
Alongside removing outdated infrastructure, existing areas will be cleared and repurposed for the new boiler water treatment equipment. Planning and site activity will then continue through the coming season and into the next winter shut.