Heinz Wattie's full of beans for NZ

By DITA DE BONI

Heinz Wattie's Australasia has given a vote of confidence to New Zealand manufacturing by expanding its food-processing plant in Hastings at the expense of an Australian operation.

Up to 190 workers at the company's Dandenong plant in Melbourne will lose their jobs when the factory closes in November.

Hastings' annual production of Heinz-branded baked beans, spaghetti and soup will rise by 39,000 tonnes.

Initially, 50 workers from Hawkes Bay and surrounding regions will be hired to handle the increase.

Heinz Wattie's says the 45-year-old Dandenong plant would have required a $30 million input for upgrading, making Hastings "an attractive alternative."

The Hastings decision follows the transfer of 30,000 tonnes of soup and sauce production from Japan to the same plant in April.

While 70 per cent of the company's production line is consolidated this side of the Tasman, corporate office functions will be in reverse. The company's split corporate office in Auckland and Melbourne will be unified in a single Melbourne location, with 15 positions lost. Some New Zealand staffers will move to Australia and others transferred to Hastings.

Then, Heinz Wattie's will have a sales and marketing-led staff of 80 in Auckland. In production, there will be 1200 workers in Hastings, and 300 workers in the Christchurch and Feilding frozen-food processing operations. A large group of workers is also employed on a seasonal basis.

Heinz Wattie's sales director Nigel Comer said it had spent $100 million in the last six years upgrading the Hastings plant to become an "efficient world-scale site." It would expand its production as the company grew in Australasia and Asia.

The plant is now one of the largest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere, handling 200,000 tonnes annually.

"We've invested a huge amount of capital in the Hawkes Bay and are very excited about the opportunities," he said."We are committed to NZ, as the Wattie's brand [here] enjoys the highest penetration of any Heinz-owned brand [globally]."