Beam Suntory and Frucor Suntory have announced a new $3 billion partnership, Suntory Oceania, including a new state-of-the-art manufacturing and distribution facility in Ipswich, Queensland.
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.
The $400 million project is the largest FMCG investment in a single site in the last decade. The Suntory Oceania team will have the ability to manufacture 20 million cases at first production with the opportunity to scale up.
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, said, “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.
“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.”
The business has strong sustainability ambitions for the site with the new facility to set a benchmark for sustainable investment for the 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,” Woods said.
The new facility will deliver over 100 jobs, including highly skilled manufacturing specialists, automation engineers, electrical and maintenance specialists, and logistics specialists.
“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, including Jim Beam, V Energy, Canadian Club and Suntory Boss Coffee,” said Woods.
