Beam Suntory and Frucor Suntory have announced an exciting new $3 billion partnership, Suntory Oceania, to become the region’s new multi-beverage powerhouse.
Underpinned by quality craftsmanship and a strong sense of purpose, Suntory Oceania will deliver a combined portfolio of over 40 market-leading brands, powered by two local manufacturing sites, five distribution centres and more than 1500 employees, to create the ANZ region’s fourth-largest beverage group.
Critical to the delivery of this vision is a new state-of-the-art manufacturing and distribution facility in Ipswich, Queensland.
The $400 million project is the largest FMCG investment in a single site in the last decade. The Suntory Oceania team will be able to manufacture 20 million cases at first production with the opportunity to scale up in the future.
Working alongside portfolio production sites in New Zealand, North America, Europe and Japan, the new facility will significantly expand capability and capacity.
Paul Woods, site operations director at the new Queensland facility, talks about his ambitions for the site, the culture he wants to create onsite and how the partnership will ignite the local beverage market.
Why did Suntory choose Ipswich, Queensland as the home for your new facility?
Queensland and specifically Ipswich emerged as the ideal location for us to build our future, given the availability of a greenfield site and the unique opportunity to construct a state-of-the-art facility.
We were also very impressed by the opportunity to recruit great local talent and the region’s strong infrastructure and connectivity across Australia.
What opportunities will the new facility unlock?
Our first facility in Australia, the Ipswich site will give us full end-to-end control of our $3 billion portfolio, allowing us to craft and distribute our great-tasting beverages in Queensland and send them right across the country and to New Zealand. Our partnership will unlock so many opportunities for our employees and our customers and will create a positive ripple effect right across our network.
We are looking forward to being a long-standing member of the community, bringing our Suntory values to life and offering some fantastic employment opportunities to Queenslanders.
I understand there are strong sustainability ambitions for the site – can you tell us a bit more about that?
For over 120 years, Suntory has focused on ‘Growing for Good’ and we want our new facility to set a benchmark for sustainable investment for our global business and the broader FMCG sector.
Our new facility is poised to become a benchmark for our commitment to sustainable technology, we’re actively integrating renewable energy sources, and low-emission technologies and working with strategic partners like Queensland’s own CleanCo to achieve our net-zero ambitions.
You’re going to need a lot of people to power the new site – what role opportunities are in the market?
Currently, we are in our first recruitment phase. The facility will deliver over 100 roles including highly skilled manufacturing specialists, automation engineers, electrical and maintenance specialists, and logistics specialists, just to name a few.
Further, the facility’s presence will serve as a catalyst for skill development and capability building. We’re looking into VR technology to transform our safety and training procedures and are working with our global Suntory network to understand international best practices.
As site operations director, what’s the kind of culture you’re trying to create and what kind of people are you looking for to join your team?
We value a diverse range of characteristics in our people. Alongside skills and qualifications, we’re looking for individuals who are adaptable, effective problem-solvers and possess excellent communication abilities.
We want people who want to come on this journey with us as we build our future as a $3 billion multi-beverage business.
The people working for us will be working on iconic market-leading brands like Jim Beam, V Energy, Canadian Club, Suntory Boss Coffee and more!
At Suntory, we talk about the Yatte Minahare spirit – that nothing is impossible! We have a big bright future; we need to be bold and ambitious, and these are the people we want to come on the journey with us.
In our New Zealand facility, we have people who have been working with us for more than 20 years, we have generations of families working with us. It’s a community and that’s the kind of employer and culture that we want to create here in Ipswich.
- Find out more about Suntory Oceania.
Photo caption: Top: Artist impressions of a new Queensland manufacturing and distribution facility, Suntory Oceania multi-beverage portfolio (bottom left), and construction ongoing at Swanbank.
