Food industry design and construction company Wiley has received the go-ahead for construction of the second stage of a multi-million dollar expansion of the Primo Smallgoods manufacturing facility in Brisbane.

The project involves construction of the largest Australian factory of its kind, with a combined project floor area of 40,000sq m, making this the biggest smallgoods and value-added meats factory in Australia.

Stage one was completed recently and included construction of a raw material freezer and distribution chiller (see earlier Beef Central article "Primo's big expansion plans"), while stage two will include construction of a smallgoods, value-added meats, ham, bacon and salami processing operation and corporate offices.

Wiley Managing Director Tom Wiley said construction and operation of the ‘best in class’ large-scale manufacturing plant was expected to create 600 new jobs in Queensland.

Wiley would undertake all design and construction for the second stage of the Primo Smallgoods plant, situated at Wacol, west of Brisbane, having recently completed work on the first stage of the facility.

The new state-of-the-art factory consolidates three separate plants under one roof on an 8.6 hectare greenfield site. It will almost double Primo Smallgoods’ production capacity and will markedly boost efficiency.

“In addition to the many construction and operational jobs created by this project, Wiley will require additional resources, creating employment opportunities for local people and a variety of subcontract trades,” Mr Wiley said.

Primo Smallgoods is the largest producer of ham, bacon, salami and smallgoods in Australia.

The company is a national brand with a strong presence in processed and value-added pork, beef and other items in major supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths, as well as a solid export market.