Page 29 - Food&Drink Business magazine October 2022

necks (and frustrations) to improve our output and meet growing demand.
QWHAT WAS THE DESIGN AND FITOUT PROCESS LIKE?
Fortunately we’ve had some great local companies helping us through the process.
Process and facility design specialists RMR Process helped with the initial concept development and early design stages before handing over to Paul Brady Building Group to finalise plans and manage the building phase.
40%
INCREASE IN REVENUE IN FY22.
We have tried to use local equipment suppliers where possible. Enmin built our product transfer equipment in Melbourne while A&D Australasia and Perfect Automation supplied our packing and inspection equipment.
We are starting to automate slowly were possible, however, for flexibility sometimes it’s best to have a person do the job.
We love employing people in Ballarat and the partnership we have with 80 local families is something we are proud of.
QDID YOUR GLUTEN FREE PRODUCT RANGE IMPACT PLANS?
Being BRC certificated, the biggest challenge of growth has
been keeping our quality system up to date.
We have great quality and production teams who are very aware of the need to prevent cross contamination and ensure food safety and quality is the primary focus for our manufacturing business.
To ensure the lines remain allergen free, we plan process flow to limit the opportunities for accidental cross contamination. We do a lot of allergen cleaning and testing.
Springhill Farm launched its first gluten free range in 2005, and we had a gluten free product in a major supermarket years ago, when it was quite revolutionary and the category was under-developed.
Our gluten free and plant- based slices account for more than 60 per cent of our slice sales. With the launch of Boodles we are expecting that, as a percentage of the business, will grow considerably.
Taste comes first for us in everything that we make, however we always strive to also meet people’s dietary needs. We don’t position our products as dietary and non-dietary; they are all mouth-watering treats that might happen to tick a box for a catering company or customer.
Q
Allergen control, cleanliness, and quality were the primary focus. Improving drainage for cleaning, as well as straightening production lines to prevent cross contamination and warehouse space to allow temperature
control and allergen segregation. After that, the design needed
to ensure that we maximised our opportunities for growth on our site.
We have lifted ceilings to five metres in production spaces, allocated larger areas for staging ingredients and planned the layout to accommodate up to six production lines. ✷
ABOVE: Springhill Farm started with a muesli slice made for school tours to the family farm.
PLANT DESIGN & FITOUT
RMRPROCESS.COM +61 (0)3 9023 9130
Specialists in Food & Beverage Process and Facility Design
Delivering
Australia’s most cost effective world class food facilities
WHAT WAS ESSENTIAL
IN THE FITOUT?
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | October 2022 | Food&Drink business | 29