“Consumers around the world want complete confidence in the safety and quality of the products they’re purchasing, particularly around infant formula for their babies,” Synlait managing director and chief executive John Penno says.
“We’ve invested in our business to provide that confidence at the point of purchase to consumers.”
Synlait doesn’t own any consumer brands but partners with a range of customers who distribute and sell their products around the world.
“It’s vital we understand the needs of consumers purchasing our customers’ products around the world.
“We’re able to innovate with that understanding and it brings our value-added strategy to life,” Penno says.
Synlait’s supply chain begins with 173 suppliers in Canterbury.
The firm offers several opportunities to differentiate milk onfarm, including a best practice dairy farming programme, Lead With Pride.
In the 2015-16 season more than half of Synlait’s milk supply will attract a premium payment over the base milk price because a supplier has done something onfarm to create value.
These programmes are known as Special Milks.
The latest is a partnership with United States-based Munchkin to produce grass-fed infant formula using milk exclusively produced from pasture-fed cows.
Another is for the a2 Milk Company. Synlait is the exclusive manufacturer of its a2 Platinum infant formula range old in New Zealand, Australia and China.
Milk from suppliers is processed at Synlait’s single Dunsandel site, considered one of the largest and highest-specification infant formula production sites globally, Penno said.
A $250 million investment saw six key infrastructure projects completed in 2014 and 2015, including a state-of-the-art blending and consumer packaging facility and Synlait’s third large-scale spray
dryer.
“We now have the suppliers, customers, people and manufacturing capability needed to achieve our growth targets,” Penno said.
New suppliers could now join Synlait in Canterbury.
“Our forecast growth in the 2016-17 season has created a window for current suppliers to expand their milk supply and for others in the region to consider being a part of something truly unique with us,” Penno said.
Anyone interested in learning more about supplying milk to Synlait should contact Mark Burnside on 027 442 3355 or visit www.synlait.com.
Room for more suppliers
Synlait has spent the last two years transforming and growing its business to create an integrated supply chain controlled from start to finish and now has room for new suppliers.
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