Returnable packaging and fit-for-purpose heat pads help Alba Edible Oils to grow

When West Australian manufacturer Alba Edible Oils set the task of moving its canola oil and tallow across the Nullabor, the challenge was not just cost-effectiveness, but finding a solution to a ‘sticky’ issue.

Producing more than 60,000 L of canola oil a day at its 24/7 plant in Perth, Alba manufactures edible oils, fats and other ingredients for domestic and international food manufacturing and service industries.

With a growth strategy aimed at increasing production by 60% over 12 months, Alba needed a business partner to accommodate this expanding capacity.

Alba Edible Oils Chief Executive Officer and company director Ashley Palmer, whose family acquired WA-based Alba in the late 1990s, said CHEP’s returnable packaging system - featuring the HACCP certified Unicon Plus - was more cost-effective for Alba than a one-way packaging system.

Alba also needs to quickly heat and decant tallow, which is solid at room temperature, into its customers’ on-site vessels.

While CHEP’s existing heat pad suits medium-viscosity products that require a gentler heat (such as liquid sugar, honey and syrups), tallow requires heating at a higher temperature in a specific timeframe.

To address this, CHEP worked in collaboration with Alba over several months to develop the Unicon Hi Temp Heat Pad.

CHEP Australia’s Senior Business Relationships Manager, Peter Gaddes, said the project team ensured shipping efficiencies were maximised without risking the quality of the product.

“The added benefit of using the Unicon Hi Temp Heat Pad for Alba is its flexibility, as it can be simply slipped into a standard IBC where and when the customer needs it and removed when they don’t,” Gaddes said.

Ashley Palmer says the partnership with CHEP was built on a need to work with a supplier that could meet its growing demand for equipment and services.

In addition to the heat pads, Alba uses specially designed co-extruded liners with the Unicon Plus units as well as CHEP pallets and CHEPStretch for load containment.

Part of Alba’s growth is a new industrial non-food division which devises new uses for oils, particularly oils that can replace synthetic products with better environmental outcomes and better returns.

“We’ve added a million litres a month to our capacity and we intend to grow this. CHEP has the capacity to grow with us and has demonstrated this in WA by being there for us at peak periods to keep up with production.”