Northern Co-operative Meat Company’s (NCMC) Knocking Box Facility, delivered by Wiley, reached practical completion fulfilling NCMC’s commitment for this investment. The facility in Casino, NSW, Australia will improve safety and working environments for their highly valued staff, as well as providing an international standard of animal welfare, setting them up to serve the world.
This milestone saw the commencement of production, and the processing of over 200 head of cattle on its first shift, followed by a further 432 the next day, through the new facility. A significant amount considering it is expected no more than 10% of regular processing will be completed on the first day.
Wiley Senior Project Manager, Barry Murphy talks us through the successful handover.
“The first day’s production went very well with very few issues being experienced. The operators became accustomed with the new operation very quickly,” said Barry.
“Wiley Process Engineer Heath Barker (pictured below) has worked closely with the operators over the last fortnight to ensure the new processes were thoroughly understood. The continued tight knit collaboration of the NCMC and Wiley teams saw the new facility hit a production rate, in recent days, that exceeded its expected daily target throughput.”
“This completion represented a journey from contract signing through design development, construction and commissioning in just 21 weeks. Given the complexity of this project, this was an incredible achievement,” Barry continued.
“This remarkable result was only possible because of the efforts, collaboration and commitment of the entire project team. Each member of the Project Control Group, supported by their respective teams, made an outstanding contribution. Each member and group had very different roles to fulfil but all critically important to the successful outcome.”
“The cooperation between the various NCMC teams and the design and construction team was outstanding with everybody working towards a common goal, equally recognising the constraints placed on the project. Tremendous credit goes to the key subcontractors and consultants for their work towards achieving this goal.”
Barry commented that this milestone sees the conversion of what had been a constraint for the growth of the operation into a fantastic new opportunity. One which will allow NCMC to expand and modify their operations to ensure their producer shareholders can service all major global markets as they grow their business well into the future.
In response to NCMC CEO Simon Stahl’s question on how he likes the new veal race, Chris Cole, NCMC Knocking Box Foreman said – “It has greatly exceeded my expectations.”
“It gave me significant satisfaction to be trusted by the NCMC Board to deliver such a critical project which future proofs their facility. Thank you and well done to all who contributed,” Barry concluded.
As part of a four-stage project, Wiley have finished early works on cold chain management system project and the steam repair and relocation project is progressing well. Commissioning is now underway on the Tannery upgrades with practical completion planned for early April. This is the next major milestone for Wiley’s continuing works on at the Casino site and further testament to the excellent working partnership we have with NCMC.
Interested in learning more about the NCMC project or discussing your facility needs? Contact Wiley Senior Project Manager, Barry Murphy on 1300 3859888 or connect@wiley.com.au
