ZIWI ramps up production in Christchurch after Awatoto flooding

Pet food company ZIWI is focussing on increasing production at its Christchurch plant as its Awatoto facility remains out of action due to flood damage – the full extent of which is still unknown – says operations director Richard Lawrence.

Despite the damage, ZIWI remained committed to the region, he said.

The Awatoto facility is an $85 million state-of-the-art, brand new pet food production facility, and is the largest of its type in the country. It was completed only last September and contained a cold store, front-end mixing, drying, packaging and distribution capabilities.

Before Cycle Gabrielle, it had been operating 24/7 and employed about 200 people, who continue to be paid, he said.

“We have five production facilities and three of these are in the Hawke’s Bay region. The teams have worked extremely hard since the Cyclone, and we are delighted to have two of these sites – Freeze Dried Foods and Greenmeadows – back up and producing already with the support of generators …

“Like many, we are in clean up mode and will continue to work closely with our partners Beca to develop a full recovery plan which is likely to take several weeks. In the meantime, we have ramped up production at our Christchurch facility to help cover the lost production at Awatoto and will continue to utilise our Mt Maunganui site,” he said.

In a statement last week, Lawrence said that he was thankful that all staff were safe and had been accounted for and attention was turning to developing a robust recovery plan for the site.

“We are 100% committed to the Hawke’s Bay region and will continue to do everything we can to get our world class facility back on its feet whilst also supporting the wider community recovery. The strength of character and hard graft shown by our local team over the past week has been phenomenal and we’ve been humbled by the outpouring of support from other locals and businesses around us to get together and move forward,” Lawrence said.

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