INSIDE QUEENSLAND’S HUGE STATE-OF-THE-ART MANUFACTURING FACILITY

Queensland manufacturing has a bright future, thanks to a $400m investment from Suntory, which is creating a multi-beverage partnership between its alcohol and non-alcohol businesses.

From mid-2025, Suntory Oceania is set to become home to more than 40 well-known brands, such as V Energy, Jim Beam and -196, and the fourth-largest beverage player in the Oceania region, with more than $3 billion in retail sales.

To facilitate this feat, Suntory is building a large state-of-the-art facility at Swanbank, near Ipswich, which will make ready to drink (RTD) and non-alcoholic beverages.

It represents a huge vote of confidence in Australian manufacturing, marking the largest investment in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) production in the last decade.

“The facility will unlock more local capacity and capabilities including beverage processing, packaging, warehousing, and distribution.

It will be able to produce 20 million cases of beverages each year at start-up, strengthening our ability to service the growing Australian market,” said Ian Roberts, Chief Supply Chain Officer of Suntory Beverage & Food Oceania.

“To date, the facility has delivered approximately 450 construction roles and installation jobs and once operational, will support 160 long-term local roles.”

Queensland was an obvious choice because it provided the opportunity to break ground on a greenfield site with access to quality logistics and a skilled workforce.

Importantly, Suntory Oceania’s executives say it meant they could incorporate the company’s legacy of craftsmanship and innovation into the design.

The new “smart” facility will be carbon neutral, using a combination of renewable energy, new technologies and a power-purchase agreement with the government-owned CleanCo.

“Our aim is to minimise environmental impact, while increasing efficiency and reducing waste – which is important to Suntory, as well as our customers and increasingly, consumers,” said Mr Roberts.

Work on an enormous 14km solar panel installation commenced in May, with 7000 solar panels stretching the length of nine soccer fields, set to power the production of more than 20 million cases of beverages per year.

The 17ha site also has a biomass boiler, which uses offcuts from a local sawmill as fuel to generate the heat needed for manufacturing, as well as an organic Rankine cycle generator, which is a new technology designed to capture waste heat and turn it into green energy that can be fed back to the grid.

“We recently switched on a biomass boiler, which represents a significant step towards renewable energy usage in manufacturing, offering a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels,” said Ian Goldschmidt, Sustainability Director at Suntory Beverages & Food Oceania.

“This approach represents a leap forward for Australian manufacturing and showcases our commitment to growing for good.”

Sustainability and innovation are also increasingly important in a market where companies are evaluated not just on the products, but their environmental impact and capacity to innovate.

A recent report entitled Security Australia’s Manufacturing Industry, by consulting firm RSM Australia, found sustainability is emerging as a strategic business imperative for manufacturers as stakeholders and markets look at factors such as decarbonisation, waste, waste and the impact companies have on communities.

“To fund new projects and to grow businesses, it will be important for companies to demonstrate their sustainability credentials and performance,” said Nicole Mohan, RSM Australia’s National Sustainability Lead.

On top of that is an undeniable competitive advantage. The new Swanbank facility will increase Suntory’s foothold in the region, allowing it to take full end-to-end control of its portfolio and oversee everything from manufacturing to sales and distribution directly, with extraordinary capacity to fast-track change.

Some 35,000 pallets (or 2.5 million cases) can be stored at the new distribution warehouse.

With capacity set to increase in the future, this boosts Suntory Oceania’s ability to work as part of Suntory’s global supply chain and import famous international brands, including Maker’s Mark, Laphroaig and leading Japanese whiskies such as Yamazaki, Hibiki and Toki.

The facility is also the newest project to cement Southeast Queensland’s reputation as a technology hub.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently told the Queensland Press Club the state has a “pivotal role to play” in realising his vision for a future made in Australia, particularly in terms of innovation and energy.

“For Australia to seize the opportunities of the next decade, for our nation to generate the energy, skills, jobs, technology and investment that will power our future prosperity, we need every community in Queensland included, involved and empowered,” he said.

“We need Queenslanders – everywhere – breaking ground on new infrastructure, building new energy projects and mastering new technologies.”

Suntory Oceania’s new Swanbank facility certainly ticks those boxes.

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