Late last year, Beam Suntory (now Suntory Global Spirits) and Frucor Suntory (now Suntory Beverage and Food) officially launched Suntory Oceania, a $3 billion partnership poised to become Australia and New Zealand’s fourth-largest beverage group.
At the heart of this new venture is the construction of a state-of-the-art, carbon-neutral manufacturing and distribution facility in Swanbank, Ipswich, Queensland. This $400 million facility marks the largest FMCG investment in the region in over a decade, with an initial production capacity of 20 million cases and plans for significant future expansion. The company kickstarted production at the new facility on 18 September – a significant milestone in the lead-up to the launch next year.
Suntory Oceania will unite a portfolio of over 40 market-leading brands, including Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Hibiki, Canadian Club, and Minus 196. Backed by two manufacturing sites, five distribution centres, and a workforce of over 1,500, the partnership will bolster Suntory’s local production and drive innovation and channel expansion.
Suntory Oceania has recently joined the Drinks Association as a Category One member, so we took the opportunity to speak with the company’s Sales Director, Gordon Treanor, and Warwick Parks, Head of Route-To-Market Transformation, to explore Suntory Oceania’s strategic direction and ambitions.
What was the driving force behind the decision to form Suntory Oceania, and how does this align with Suntory's global growth strategy?
Gordon: The driving force behind Suntory Oceania is really “Yatte Minahare”, which is a core part of Suntory’s values and a hugely important part of our culture. Yatte Minahare is a bold ambition; it's a pioneering spirit; and an unwavering commitment to growth and to achieve.
So that's clearly the heart of why the business is investing so heavily behind Suntory Oceania, investing in the facility in Swanbank, and creating a platform for growth across the organisation for the long term. This is underpinned by a desire to bring the best of Suntory to Australia and to New Zealand. This is the first market in the world where Suntory is moving to this footprint where we have the alc and non-alc portfolio all under one roof and building our own route-to-market. So that's really exciting.
Suntory Oceania is set to become the fourth-largest beverage group in Oceania. How do you anticipate this will reshape the competitive landscape in Australia and New Zealand?
Warwick: At the moment, both [alcohol and non-alcohol] businesses are performing strongly in their relative market segments. But to now have full end-to-end control of our supply chain brings agility from an innovation and market dynamics perspective. We're looking to unlock that next wave of growth, whether it be in energy, whether it be in RTDs or other offerings that we take to market, while innovating for the future within adjacent segments as well.
With operations expected to be fully functional by mid-2025 in Australia, what are the key milestones in preparing for this transition?
Gordon: One of the biggest components of Suntory Oceania is building a leading-edge facility in Queensland and investing in a facility that's fit for the future. This project is absolutely on track. When it's complete, we'll have invested circa $400 million in the facility. It will be completely carbon-neutral, and we will have the capability to produce over 90,000 cans per hour on the canning line and produce over 20 million cases with the capacity to more than double that in the long term.
The other key component is assembling a route-to-market team and recruiting a leading commercial sales team to service the needs of our customers. We are well advanced on that front, with some outstanding talent reaching out to join the Suntory family.
You mentioned that the new facility in Swanbank (Ipswich) is carbon neutral. Can you elaborate on the sustainable technologies being implemented?
Gordon: In creating this facility, we have aligned with one of our other key Suntory leadership principles, “Growing for Good”.
We've invested in over 7,000 solar panels; if you were to stretch those solar panels out end to end, it would be 14 kilometres long. The site has a biomass boiler, which means that we'll be able to use some of the local sawmill fuel to generate some of the power and heat for the facility. There is also an organic Rankine cycle generator, a new technology designed to capture waste heat and turn it into green energy that can be fed back to the grid.
So, it really is leading-edge technology setting a standard for the industry.
Suntory Oceania has been actively promoting a recruitment drive across all positions. How is that progressing?
Warwick: Our recruitment drive is well underway. We're basically building a structure that effectively delivers on the needs of today and the requirements of tomorrow. So it will be a focused channel structure with customer-centric teams at the heart of how we go to market. In the Licensed team, we are recruiting 130 new positions. There's a founding team of about eight of us now, but many more coming on in the next months as we build towards launching on July 1 next year.
How do you plan to innovate and expand your diverse portfolio of market-leading brands to cater to evolving consumer preferences in the ANZ region?
Warwick: The end-to-end ownership of our supply chain will enable us to deliver on our core segments as well as the growth segments within the market. The model allows for real speed and agility to innovate quicker than ever before. And given the fast-paced trends that exist in this market, the ability to quickly innovate against them is really important.
Gordon: Just add to that, we have market-leading brands in Jim Beam, Canadian Club, Makers Mark and, of course, Minus 196, so with the local manufacturing facility and innovation capability, we will be bringing new products to market behind our core brands, but also looking to innovate in the adjacencies while also bringing in some of the best of Suntory’s portfolio that will be new to this market in the future.
Finally, we are thrilled that you have joined the Drinks Association as a Category One member. Why have you joined, and what do you expect to gain from your membership?
Gordon: The work that the Drinks Association has done over the last three to five years has been amazing in terms of fostering collaboration, making sure that the industry is addressing the needs of the community, and promoting diversity and inclusion across the board. So we're really keen to be part of that. We're excited about collaborating with our peers in the industry and helping to move the industry forward as a whole.
Suntory Oceania is a Category One member of the Drinks Association.