The opening of the Podravka food factory

Podravka formally opened the new Podravka food factory. The opening of the new factory was attended by high state officials, and the factory was officially opened by Zlatko Tomčić, President of the Croatian Parliament.

After the official opening ceremony, the factory will hold its traditional celebration for the staff and retired employees of Podravka. This year, Podravka will again award its retired workers a bonus of 24 HRK for each year of service.

The new factory has been established as an annex to the industrial complex which covers an area of 17,699 square meters. It has been built next to the Vegeta factory. The construction of the factory, which was started exactly a year ago, was brought to completion today. The factory’s production capacity is around 12,500 tons a year, which means a production of about 130 million different individual packaged products. The total useful surface area of the annex buildings is around 7,000 square metres, and the value of the entire investment is around 123 million HRK. The factory alone will employ around 230 workers.

The construction of the Podravka food factory included the construction of warehouses for the storage of finished products (a range of 6,000 products), an annex for the packaging of soups and ready-made foods, as well as warehouses for the storage of pre-mixes, and half products. The complex also includes office space. The rest of the infrastructure, which makes up 40% of the entire industrial complex and is used both for the production of Vegeta and Podravka food, has been adapted to satisfy the needs of both factories. This includes warehouses for the storage of production materials, the mixing tower, and a part of the logistics equipment.

The modern and sophisticated technology will cut the costs of production materials, raw materials, packaging and energy. Communication within the factory is established via a computer system, which ensures constant monitoring of processes and activities.

The Podravka food factory will handle the production of Podravka packet soups, soup cubes, Fant products, instant Fini-Mini soups, ready-to-cook and ready-made foods – Talianetta, the gastronomic programme, and Vegeta Twist from the Vegeta programme. The new factory will bring great flexibility in initiating new programmes and in developing new products, such as instant soups in mugs.

Nowadays, Podravka soups are sold in over 30 countries worldwide, and along with packet soups, new categories of products have been launched, including ready-to-cook foods – Talianette with pasta and rice, Fant – special food complements, and instant Fini-Mini soups. The sales revenues of the Podravka food programme reached 131.5 million HRK in the first half of 2003, marking a 4% increase in comparison with the same period last year. The new Podravka food factory also opens up other opportunities, such as production in cooperation with other food companies in the region.