The Government has plans and incentives to promote employment opportunities for the youth in general and those keen on becoming technocrats in particular, Prime Minister John Key has said.
“We have made sure that our youngsters are given opportunities to progress in training. Young people in business get world-class facilities in New Zealand,” he said, opening a production facility at GMP Pharmaceuticals Limited factory in Auckland’s East Tamaki on June 29, 2012.
Mr Key said that his Government was bringing about ‘remarkable changes’ to transform New Zealand into a more progressive and prosperous country.
“New Zealand will be wealthy with great opportunities. We need youngsters with ‘good creative behaviour’ and good educational background. It is great to see youngsters coming out successfully from educational institutions and working for technology at such plants,” he said.
Mr Key later inaugurated GMP’s new pharmaceutical grade infant dairy formula production facility. Stated to be the most-advanced of its type, the factory’s products target overseas markets, especially China.
GMP New Zealand was established in 2004 as a ‘contract manufacturer’ for providing a wide range of health food and dietary supplements.
Target Export
General Manager Minesh Patel said that the new facility would address the rapid increase in global demand and a shortage of high quality wet dairy infant formula products.
“With the new $8 million plant running to optimum capacity, we expect an annual production of 20 million cans of infant formula for the export market by the end of this year,” he said.
Mr Patel said that the new factory took more than a year in planning, investment, construction and other related tasks.
“Although many associate the increase in demand for value-added dairy products exclusively with infant formulas, functional protein dairy powders continues to be a growth market. These are used worldwide as meals for almost everything, ranging from hospital meals to professional athletes,” he said.
Additional jobs
According to Mr Patel, the new plant will provide employment opportunities to an additional 50 persons, taking the staff strength to 300 over the next three years. The current annual turnover of $50 million is also expected to double to $100 million in the next two years or so, he said.
China, with its rapid rise in the infant formula market, would be the target for GMP’s exports, he said.
“Infant formula is extremely sensitive to hygiene and hence our new plant has maximum automation facility. We have avoided human contact, which is the biggest source of contamination. The four-level production plant uses gravity to transfer products with high quality control employed throughout the production process,” Mr Patel said.
He said that although dairy products had the largest share in New Zealand exports, they were mostly commodity based.
“But manufacturers like GMP add value to the dairy sector and exports, apart from increasing earnings, will also create more jobs,” he said.
Business Award Winner
GMP Pharmaceuticals Limited has been a consistent winner in the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards over the past three years. The Company won the ‘Best Large Business’ (2009) and the ‘Best Innovation’ Awards (2010 and 2011), apart from being a finalist in the ‘Best Large Business’ category in 2010. Entries for the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards 2012 will close on August 31, 2012.
Free Workshops
Three free workshops for potential entrants have thus far been held in Auckland. The fourth and final free workshop will be held on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 6 pm at Unitec Institute of Technology, Mt Albert Campus, Building 48, Conference Room 1070, Gate 3, 139, Carrington Road, Mt Albert, Auckland. To register, please email: dsharma@unitec.ac.nz
Awards Night
A panel of independent judges will evaluate the entries and the names of finalists and winners will be announced at the Gala Black Tie Cocktails and Dinner Awards Presentation Ceremony and Sponsors’ Exhibition scheduled to be held from 5 pm on Monday, November 19, 2012 at Sky City Convention Centre, Auckland City. For details, write to editor@indiannewslink.co.nz
