Fonterra Spreyton celebrates 20 years!
Twenty years after quality Tasmanian dairy product first rolled off the line, Fonterra’s Spreyton site has celebrated two decades of operation.
Members of the Spreyton team, both past and present, celebrated the milestone with a morning tea and birthday cake on Tuesday, swapping stories and reminiscing about the plant’s first twenty years with local members of parliament, industry leaders, and farmers.
Plant Manager Douglas Overdijk says that the Spreyton site was known for producing high-quality butter and powders, and plays a central role in Fonterra’s strategy with Australia as its global ingredients hub for cheese, whey and nutritionals, complementing its domestic foodservice and consumer businesses.
“The products we produce at this site are part of a global growth story. For example, demand for products like quality butter and cheese has seen Fonterra’s global foodservice business grow to a $2 billion operation on its own.
We’ll be part of this growth story for another 20 years with Fonterra Australia looking to expand both our milk pool and our production capacity,” said Doug.
“Spreyton produces milk powders for the domestic and global markets, including whole milk and skim milk powders from milk sourced from around 280 suppliers in Tasmania.
"Sales of these Tasmanian-made powders contributed to Fonterra Australia’s sustainable performance in ingredients in its annual results announced last week.
“The fats from the skim milk powder are made into butter, including Tasmania’s own Duck River Butter, and from Spreyton we send dairy products around Australia and across the world.”
Butter Plant Supervisor Adrian Wells has worked at the greenfield site since it began production in October 1997, and says that what really makes Spreyton such a special place to work is the team.
“There are a number of us who have been here since day one, and it really does feel like family,” said Adrian.
“We take pride in what we do, and work together as a team to maintain our reputation for high quality product.
“We have a proud history here in Tasmania and we look forward to the next twenty years – and many more after that!”