Moscow, January 26, 2004 — Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC (NYSE: WBD) announced today the installation of new manufacturing lines at the Company?s two dairy plants located in Ukraine. This investment is part of a company-wide programme to install the latest high technology equipment in the dairy business to enhance productivity. Total investment in equipment was over US$13.3 million.
Equipment made by ASMA (Italy) has been installed for the bottling of milk products in plastic bottles (PAND) at Kiev Dairy Plant ? 3 OJSC. Its production capacity is 15,000 bottles per hour. The equipment is capable of bottling products in 450g and 900g formats. The Company plans to use this equipment to provide new packaging for the product range under the Little House in the Village trademark. The same equipment will also be used to launch drinking yogurts under the Chudo trademark. The total cost of the project exceeded US$6.1 million.
At the Kharkov Dairy Plant PJSC, the Company installed and launched a filling line for pasteurized dairy products packaged in 500g and 1,000g Tetra Brik Square containers, made by Tetra Pak (Sweden), with a production capacity of six thousand containers per hour. The line is also equipped with a device for the production and fitting of Flexi-caps and equipment for secondary packaging. The Company plans to use this equipment for the launch of a new product range under the Happy Milkman trademark. The total cost of the project was approximately US$1.1 million.
In addition, Wimm-Bill-Dann installed an ERCA-47001, made by ERCA-FORMSEAL (France) for the filling and packaging of cheese desserts with a production capacity of three tons of finished products per hour. The line fills 125g and 200g tubs. The Company plans to use this equipment for the launch of a new whipped cottage cheese product under the Frugurt brand and a fruit flavored cottage cheese product under the Chudo brand. The total cost of the project was approximately US$6.1 million.
These investments were undertaken as part of a Company-wide program to modernize the production base across all of its operations. The current project is aimed at satisfying consumer demand and enhancing operating efficiency through the introduction of high technology to dairy production.
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