SPC Ardmona is Australia’s biggest fruit and vegetable processing company, with three production facilities in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. Each year, we process up to 180,000 tonnes of fruit, using world-leading fruit inspection systems.

Our Shepparton plant covers 21 hectares, and processes peaches, pears, apples, plums, apricots, grapes, beetroot, beans, pasta, rice and vegetables.

At Mooroopna, on 18 hectares, we process peaches, pears, apples, plums, apricots, grapes, tomatoes and mangoes.

And on 8 hectares at Kyabram, we produce our much-loved jams, fruit sauces, toppings, bakery fillings, fruit preparations and marinades.

Some other interesting information relating to our different operations across these sites are as follows:

Shepparton Site

• Processes 80,000-100,000 tonnes of fruit per annum.
• Canning lines –handling cans for 140g, 220g, 400-425g, 800-825g, 3kg.
• Utilising continuous rotary pressure sterilisers, rotary and roll through atmospheric continuous cooker/coolers.
• Single strength juice manufacture
• Juice concentrate manufacture
• Single strength fruit purees
• Aseptic fruit particulates
• World leading electronic fruit inspection system

Mooroopna Site

• Processes 50,000-80,000 tonnes of fruit per annum, 30,000-40,000 tonnes of Tomatoes per annum.
• 12 Canning lines handling cans for 400-425g, 800-825g, 850ml, 3kg.
• Single strength juice manufacture
• Juice concentrate manufacture
• Single strength fruit purees
• Aseptic fruit pastes
• World leading electronic fruit inspection systems

Kyabram Site

• Jams, Fruit sauces – various sizes up to 600g.
• Juice bottling lines
• Pail filling lines for pails 2kg-20kg

Joint Ventures

SPC Ardmona has numerous Joint Venture agreements globally. These agreements offer SPC Ardmona an extension to their fruit sourcing, access to specialist products and greater manufacturing capacities.

Current Joint Ventures include:

Distribution

A major ($15 Million) investment, The SPC Ardmona National Distribution Centre (NDC) was completed in November, 2006. Since that time the NDC has enabled us to improve delivery service to our customers while achieving new efficiencies and providing a safer and more enjoyable environment for our staff.

The NDC centralises the finished goods of SPC Ardmona products in the Goulburn Valley area. Here, customer orders are received daily, filled from available inventory and immediately despatched to the customer. Customer orders are shipped to every state and territory in Australia and to over 30 countries throughout the world.

Customer service is, of course, of paramount importance – and in that regard we can point to impressive results. After establishing a DIFOT (Delivered In Full On Time) target of 97%, we are currently performing at a 99% success rate, not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations.

As we continue to build on these results, we are achieving higher levels of order accuracy and have minimised “out of stocks”. Meanwhile, our cost structures have improved and we are taking advantage of the NDC’s capacity and flexibility to support growth and diversification opportunities (Eg. Ocean Spray).

With customer satisfaction at a high – and with employees enjoying a safer, more pleasant work environment – it’s clear that the company’s investment in the NDC is helping SPC Ardmona pave the way to continued success in years to come.

New Distribution Centre Stats and Facts
Building

• Floor area: 21,100 square metres
• Storage capacity: 32,355 pallets
• 10 truck loading bays including 5 bays for export containers
• Daily throughput capacity of the warehouse – receivals of 1,500 pallets, despatching of 1,500 pallets
• Building height: 10.6 metres
• 6,500 cubic metres of concrete – approximately 1,000 concrete truck loads
• 550 tonnes of structural steel – approximately 38kms if put end to end

Technical innovations

• Computer controlled Warehouse Management System provides total inventory management
• Forklift drivers and pickers allocated tasks via radio frequency technology

Safety and comfort

• Early Surveillance Fire Response (ESFR) fire protection system will achieve rapid fire suppression
• Extra thick wall and roof insulation to give good temperature control
• Occupational health and safety initiatives include no pedestrian traffic, protected waiting areas for truck drivers, staggered truck loading bays, clearly marked travel paths and parking areas for mobile equipment.
• Extensive skylights provide good natural light for daytime operations with minimal requirement for artificial lighting

Environment

• Bio-retention system for storage of water in landscaped areas
• In excess of 250,000 litres of underground storage for stormwater for irrigation purposes
• Energy efficient light fittings wired to enable 50% or 100% of light usage

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