Contact Details

Address: 89 Whareroa Road, Hawera, Taranaki, New Zealand

Phone: +64 6 278 2300
Fonterra
WHAREROA
QUICK FACTS
Milk processing capacity (peak) 14 million
litres per day
Annual Production 428,000 tonnes
- 200,000 tonnes whole milk powder and
skim milk powder
- 95,000 tonnes cheese products
- 88,000 tonnes cream products
- 35,000 tonnes protein products
- 10,000 tonnes lactic casein
1,000 staf
10 plants including 5 milk, 2 cheese,
1 cream, 1 protein and 1 casein plants
The largest plant, Powder 5, can produce
20 tonnes of milk powder per hour
Nearly 500 20ft. containers flled every week
Relies heavily on rail transport
Whareroa
AUCKLAND
Milk Powders
Whareroas fve powder plants produce about
200,000 tonnes of milk powder per year 20
tonnes per hour for export.
These products include whole milk powder,
skim milk powder, milk protein concentrate
and butter milk powder.
Productivity initiatives implemented under
the Operational Excellence Programme at
Whareroa has seen the powder plant produce
an additional eight tonnes of milk powder per
day during the peak production period.
Cream Products
Whareroa currently produces 88,000
tonnes per year of butter and anhydrous
milk fat for export around the world.
The plant has the capacity to produce 30
tonnes of butter per hour, with a total
production of 98,000 tonnes per year.
The total number of butter cartons
produced at Whareroa each year amounts
to 176 million 500g packs, and would
stretch the entire length of New Zealand if
laid end to end.
In the heart of Taranaki, Whareroa at
Hawera collects up to 14 million litres
of milk a day and produces the largest
volume of dairy ingredients from a single
factory anywhere in the world.
Established in 1972, Whareroa processes a ffth of Fonterras
dairy production in New Zealand and turns it into 428,000
tonnes of milk powder, cheese, cream, protein and lactic
casein ingredients every year.
Whareroas team of 1000 produce enough dairy ingredients
to fll more than three Olympic-sized swimming pools each
week. Every six hours a train pulls into the factory to ship fve
containers flled with dairy products around New Zealand and
to international markets.
Fonterra Whareroa
This document is printed using vegetable
inks on certied forest paper.
Cheese Products
Whareroa has two cheese plants that can process up
to 3.3 million litres of milk per day.
The plants can produce 95,000 tonnes of mozzarella and
dry salt cheese products per year which is equivalent
to 95 million 1kg blocks of cheese.
The site currently produces 420 tonnes of product per
day the average weight of 40 school buses.
Productivity initiatives implemented at Whareroa has
seen the Cheese 2 plant make an additional 14 tonnes of
mozzarella per day during the peak production period.
The mozzarella and dry salt cheese is produced for
customers in Europe, America, Australia and
New Zealand.
Protein Products
Whareroas Milk Protein Concentrate Plant can produce
more than 35,000 tonnes of protein products per year.
These proteins are manufactured for international
customers for use in various cheese, physical, nutritional
and pharmaceutical applications.
Lactic Casein
Casein is a heat-treated whey protein generated with the
addition of bacterial starters.
Whareroa produces both edible and technical casein,
manufacturing about 10,000 tonnes of lactic casein per
year for export to international markets.
It is used as a binding agent in foodstufs,
pharmaceuticals and in industrial applications.
Environment & Sustainability
The sites gas-fred co-generation plant supplies all its
electricity. The plant produces 380 GWh of electricity
per year, and more than 60 per cent of this feeds the
national grid. Waste heat is used to run the sites milk
processing plants.
Rail is Whareroas main distribution method to and from
the site. A substantial investment by Fonterra in rail
transport, as part of its 20-year logistics strategy with
Toll NZ, removed 65,000 truck movements from North
Island roads, reducing trafc congestion and carbon
emissions. Transporting milk on this scale by rail is a
world frst.
Quality
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)
plans are an integral part of Whareroas Product Safety
Risk Management Programme, and are certifed to
the internationally recognised food safety standard
ISO9001:2008.
Whareroa was the frst site to implement lean
manufacturing practices under Fonterras Operational
Excellence Programme, which has seen it improve its
eco-efciency, energy reduction, efuent losses and
health and safety performance.
Whareroas team of 1000 produce the largest
volume of dairy ingredients from a single factory
anywhere in the world.