Food Factory Design in Australia: How to Build World-Class Facilities for Less
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK0kiBg3N0Q
If you walk down any aisle in an Australian supermarket and pick up a food product, there’s a reasonable chance the factory that made it was designed or built by someone like Pete Taitoko.
Pete is the founder of RMR Process, an engineering firm that has spent more than three decades designing and building food manufacturing facilities across Australia. From small startups with a single product line through to multinational operations running high-volume production, RMR Process has been involved at every scale of Australian food manufacturing.
In a recent conversation, Pete shared his perspective on the current state of the industry and why the biggest barrier to building food factories in Australia isn’t what most people think.
The Real Cost Barrier Isn’t Labour
There’s a persistent narrative in Australian manufacturing that cheap overseas labour makes local production unviable. Pete challenges this directly.
The reality is that modern food manufacturing, even in low-cost countries like China, is heavily automated. Chinese factories import automation equipment from Europe and the US. They don’t have significantly more people on the factory floor than Australian facilities do. As Pete puts it: “The labour cost is not really what kills us.”
What does kill projects is the capital cost of establishing manufacturing in Australia in the first instance. Construction costs are high and climbing. The ROI calculation on a new-build factory frequently doesn’t stack up, and promising projects get shelved before they begin.
This is where smart thinking about facility design becomes the differentiator.
Rethinking How We Build Food Factories
Pete’s approach flips the conventional model. Rather than defaulting to a purpose-built new factory — with all the construction cost, timeline risk, and capital intensity that comes with it — RMR Process works with manufacturers to identify existing facilities that can be fitted out to world-class food manufacturing standards at a fraction of the cost.
The logic is straightforward. Australia has no shortage of underutilised industrial sheds and warehouses. Many of these can be transformed into compliant, efficient food production environments with the right process design expertise. The savings on construction alone can make the difference between a project that gets the green light and one that dies on a spreadsheet.
This doesn’t mean cutting corners. It means being smarter about where capital gets deployed. The money saved on bricks and mortar can go into automation, process efficiency, and the equipment that actually drives production output.
What Good Food Factory Design Actually Looks Like
At its core, food factory design is about matching the manufacturing process to the facility — not the other way around. RMR’s methodology starts with the product and works outward:
Process design: What does the product require? What are the critical control points? Where are the contamination risks? The process dictates the layout, not architectural preferences.
Facility selection or adaptation: Does the manufacturer need a new build, or can an existing facility be adapted? What structural modifications are required to meet food safety and regulatory standards?
Automation strategy: What level of automation is appropriate for the production volume and product type? Over-automating a small operation is as wasteful as under-automating a large one.
Scalability: Can the facility grow with the business? A well-designed factory allows for expansion without requiring a complete rebuild.
This is the difference between a factory that works on day one and a factory that’s still working efficiently five years later.
The Opportunity for Australian Manufacturers
Pete’s view is that Australia could be a genuine superpower in food manufacturing. The raw materials are here. The agricultural base is world-class. Export markets in the Middle East, Asia, and beyond are actively seeking high-quality Australian products and are willing to pay a premium for them.
The gap isn’t capability — it’s capital efficiency. Manufacturers who can find ways to reduce the upfront cost of establishing production, without compromising on quality or compliance, are the ones who will win.
That starts with how you design and build the factory.
Work With RMR Process
RMR Process has spent over 30 years helping Australian food manufacturers design, build, and optimise production facilities. Whether you’re a startup bringing your first product to market or an established manufacturer looking to expand capacity, RMR can help you find the most cost-effective path to a world-class facility.
Ready to talk about your factory project? Get in touch with the RMR Process team for a no-obligation consultation.