Photo: NEWS

Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Employment Vicki Ward joined Member for Thomastown Bronwyn Halfpenny on a tour of the state-of-the-art dairy sack manufacturing line at Orora Limited.

The new $25 million manufacturing line at Orora’s Thomastown facility will enable the company to service global markets, secure 102 local jobs and employ several workers displaced from the automotive industry.

So far, the project has enabled Orora to generate additional sales and secure new contracts to export its products to countries like New Zealand and the United States.

Orora is an Australian publicly-listed company with operations in seven countries that manufactures and supplies packaging products and services to the grocery, fast moving consumer goods and industrial markets.

The company employs more than 1,100 people in manufacturing and distribution across 13 locations in Victoria, producing and supplying a wide range of packaging solutions – including boxes and cartons, bags and sacks, glass bottles and aluminium cans, and packaging materials and supplies.

Victorian manufacturing contributes $27.7 billion to the Victorian economy and is home to more than 13,000 businesses employing more than 286,000 people.

To date, the Labor Government has committed $120 million in manufacturing support, which is creating over 6,000 jobs and driving $1.6 billion in private investment.