SA juicemaker’s A$10 million boost to operations
South Australian juice-maker Nippy’s has unveiled plans to spend A$10 million on increasing its packaging capacity and expanding its milk processing operations at Waikerie and Moorouk in the Riverland region.
The Riverland adjoins the Murray River near South Australia’s border with Victoria.
Nippy’s, which is owned by the Knispel Group, has been awarded a State Government grant of A$2.61 million to help with this expansion.
Managing Director of the Knispel Group, Jeff Knispel, said the upgrades would boost production, employment and sales. He said, “We’ll be installing a new auto packing machine and feed line at the Waikerie plant in addition to upgrading the site’s contract worker accommodation and factory shop.
“At Moorook, we’ll be installing a new filling line to meet an increased demand for packing services for other drink manufacturers, together with new mixing and blending tanks for Nippy’s brand products.”
In addition to creating up to 25 new jobs in the Riverland, Mr Knispel said he expects that increased production will help further promote Riverland produce and create flow-on benefits for independent growers.
The Waikerie upgrade is due for completion in June 2012, while work at Moorook is due be completed in December 2013.
The South Australian Minister for Agriculture, Food and Regional Development, Gail Gago, said the grant to the company was coming from the Riverland Sustainable Futures Fund and would position the company to ramp up sales in local, national and overseas markets.
Ms Gago said the grant will help implement a four-stage strategy as part of a A$9.9 million investment aimed at increasing processing and manufacturing capacity, and improving efficiency across all three sites.
“This funding will contribute to stages one and two of this strategy, to increase the processing capacity at Moorook and improve quality assurance and packing capacity at the Waikerie site,” she said.
The South Australian Government established the Riverland Sustainable Futures Fund to assist with industry restructuring in the Riverland following a severe drought and depressed economic circumstances.
