November 7, 2024 • 6 mins
Kiwi start-up Recorp, backed up by some of New Zealand's biggest names in business, has opened up its new aluminium facility.
The company is promising to be the most innovative can producer in New Zealand - and a direct threat to Australian competitors.
Chair Rob Fyfe says it's a huge relief to get the company up and running.
"I've been going for three years, a lot of money - and it's just, in the last couple of months, finally taken shape."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
At one hundred million dollars. This is probably New Zealand's
most expensive startup and today Recorp has finally started up.
It's opened its new aluminium facility. Now the company wants
to become a big player in the packaging industry, focusing
on aluminium cans and also bottles, and it's attracted big
name investors like Annamobraid, the rich lister and former and
New Zealand executive Rob Fife, who is actually the chair
(00:21):
and is with us now, Hey, Rob, Hi, Heather, Rob
this one. We have been following this story for such
a long time.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It feels like it's been such a long It has
been so long in the works, I mean, to be fair,
help me longer for you than for me, because you've
been there from the outset outset, so you must be
stoked to get the thing opened.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
When do you do your first runner cans?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
We've actually already done our first run, so over the
last week or two we've produced about one and a
half million cans, which is just to get going. But
you know, it kind of feels pretty elated to have
the official opening today, But at the same time it's
relief as much as anything else. Why relie. Well. You know,
(01:02):
for anyone that's built a house, you pour money into
a hole in the ground for a long long time.
It's really only at the final stage that it takes
shape and you kind of get a sense of what
that had hard work is going to realize in terms
of the end result. And this project's been like that.
And I've been going for three years a lot of money,
(01:22):
and it's you know, it's kind of just in the
last couple of months finally you kind of see this
whole thing taking shape and there's product coming out at
the end, and it's like, wow, now we can actually
get out there and start making a difference.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
And making some money. The first one and a half
billion cans have they been sold.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
They have so pretty much everything we make is specific
to order for customers. And the challenge with this plant
in New Zealand, you know, you buy all the all
the plant equipment from offshore and offshore markets. You know,
if you're in the US and you're making cans for
I don't know, Budweiser, then you know they'll do a
(01:59):
run of a million or two million cans at a time.
We was here in the New Zealand market, you know,
it was so small, so you know, Behemoth might want
thirty thousand cans at a time, or garage project wants
sixty thousand, and the equipment isn't traditionally been set up to
do really short runs efficiently. So we've had to design
(02:20):
this plant in a way that isn't like any other
plant in the world, and that's created a lot of
complexity and all sorts of challenges. But we'll solve those
challenges and we've built a plant that's specifically designed for
the scale of the New Zealand marketplace and we're pretty
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
It's a bit of a time to be opening a
plant like this with manufacturing shutting down all over the
place because of power prices.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Did that worry you, Yeah, yeah, it did worry So,
you know, it's one of the topics we discussed with
the Prime Minister. In our first year of operation. I
think we'll spend probably five times more on electricity then
we'll spend on starf half cost and the plant for example.
So we're very sensitive to both electricity in guests. So
(03:09):
it is a concern and they're not issues that are
going to be solved in the short term, but you know,
I do believe that the government is committing to putting
us on a path where we're going to increase our
capacity over the coming years.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
When you said putting us on a path, you mean
the entire country on a path, the.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Entire entire country, you know, looking at how we can
invest in more renewables, and clearly you know they're having
a close look at what we can do with natural
guests and so on.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Now, you Robert also involved in me. You've got your
fingers in a lot of pies, but you're also involved
at Craiggie Range Winery. Are you worried about those promised
tariffs from Donald Trump?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You know, we're a small trading nation that relies a
lot on market access. You kind of have to see
the full picture, right He's talking about increasing terrorists, but
at the same time he's talking about text cuts domestically,
So ultimately it's all about affordability. And you know the
(04:08):
advantage we have is New Zealand. You know, our biggest
wine export into the US is sauvignon blanc. The Californians
have been trying to replicate the flavor of the wines
we produce in New Zealand here for some time and
just haven't been able to kind of crack that nut.
So I'm confident ultimately that you know, if you love
a New Zealand Soavon blanc and the price goes up
(04:32):
by you know, however many dollars, does that mean you're
going to stop drinking that wine and drink something you
don't like it?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Probably not?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Probably not so, particularly if you've had particularly if you've
had text cuts and you've got more disposable income and
your wallet and so on. So I think we've got
to be optimistic and back ourselves that will kind of
be able to adapt to whatever whatever regime unfolds.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
And also you have to believe he's actually going to
do it right. And the thing that you keep hearing
about him is he's extremely transactional, and he can be
talked out of things, because, for example, he gave us
the steel tariffs, but he was talked out of giving
Ossie the steel tariffs. So if we if we hit
him really hard diplomatically, we may be able to get
out of it.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, I agree with that. I think you know, I
heard when some Peter's on earlier on your program, you know,
and I think the way that at a political level
that we play the next you know, three four or
five months is going to be absolutely critical in terms
of how we set ourselves up to manage this scenario.
(05:32):
And you know, there's some countries I'm being listening to
some of the commentary today, there's some countries that are
clearly on the back foot because of positions have taken
against them, you know, the president or about to be president.
And I think in that regard, I think we're in
a pretty good position here in New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I reckon you're right reason to be optimistic. Hey, Rob,
thank you very much. Oh by the way, what should
I go and buy? If I want to get my
hands on a recorp can? What should I be buying?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Well, Garatge Project. One of our first customers Behemoth give
in to some of that great New Zealand craft beer.
Great place to start.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Okay, you're telling a pregnant lady to drink beer, so
we'll just we'll just remember that, Rob. They do some
zero alcohol ones at Garage Project. Hey, thanks Rob, look
after yourself. The Shrob five Recorp Chair Strategic Advisor at
Craigie Range Winery as well. For more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive. Listen live to news talks. It'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
At one hundred million dollars. This is probably New Zealand's
most expensive startup and today Recorp has finally started up.
It's opened its new aluminium facility. Now the company wants
to become a big player in the packaging industry, focusing
on aluminium cans and also bottles, and it's attracted big
name investors like Annamobraid, the rich lister and former and
New Zealand executive Rob Fife, who is actually the chair
(00:21):
and is with us now, Hey, Rob, Hi, Heather, Rob
this one. We have been following this story for such
a long time.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It feels like it's been such a long It has
been so long in the works, I mean, to be fair,
help me longer for you than for me, because you've
been there from the outset outset, so you must be
stoked to get the thing opened.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
When do you do your first runner cans?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
We've actually already done our first run, so over the
last week or two we've produced about one and a
half million cans, which is just to get going. But
you know, it kind of feels pretty elated to have
the official opening today, But at the same time it's
relief as much as anything else. Why relie. Well. You know,
(01:02):
for anyone that's built a house, you pour money into
a hole in the ground for a long long time.
It's really only at the final stage that it takes
shape and you kind of get a sense of what
that had hard work is going to realize in terms
of the end result. And this project's been like that.
And I've been going for three years a lot of money,
(01:22):
and it's you know, it's kind of just in the
last couple of months finally you kind of see this
whole thing taking shape and there's product coming out at
the end, and it's like, wow, now we can actually
get out there and start making a difference.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
And making some money. The first one and a half
billion cans have they been sold.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
They have so pretty much everything we make is specific
to order for customers. And the challenge with this plant
in New Zealand, you know, you buy all the all
the plant equipment from offshore and offshore markets. You know,
if you're in the US and you're making cans for
I don't know, Budweiser, then you know they'll do a
(01:59):
run of a million or two million cans at a time.
We was here in the New Zealand market, you know,
it was so small, so you know, Behemoth might want
thirty thousand cans at a time, or garage project wants
sixty thousand, and the equipment isn't traditionally been set up to
do really short runs efficiently. So we've had to design
(02:20):
this plant in a way that isn't like any other
plant in the world, and that's created a lot of
complexity and all sorts of challenges. But we'll solve those
challenges and we've built a plant that's specifically designed for
the scale of the New Zealand marketplace and we're pretty
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
It's a bit of a time to be opening a
plant like this with manufacturing shutting down all over the
place because of power prices.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Did that worry you, Yeah, yeah, it did worry So,
you know, it's one of the topics we discussed with
the Prime Minister. In our first year of operation. I
think we'll spend probably five times more on electricity then
we'll spend on starf half cost and the plant for example.
So we're very sensitive to both electricity in guests. So
(03:09):
it is a concern and they're not issues that are
going to be solved in the short term, but you know,
I do believe that the government is committing to putting
us on a path where we're going to increase our
capacity over the coming years.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
When you said putting us on a path, you mean
the entire country on a path, the.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Entire entire country, you know, looking at how we can
invest in more renewables, and clearly you know they're having
a close look at what we can do with natural
guests and so on.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Now, you Robert also involved in me. You've got your
fingers in a lot of pies, but you're also involved
at Craiggie Range Winery. Are you worried about those promised
tariffs from Donald Trump?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You know, we're a small trading nation that relies a
lot on market access. You kind of have to see
the full picture, right He's talking about increasing terrorists, but
at the same time he's talking about text cuts domestically,
So ultimately it's all about affordability. And you know the
(04:08):
advantage we have is New Zealand. You know, our biggest
wine export into the US is sauvignon blanc. The Californians
have been trying to replicate the flavor of the wines
we produce in New Zealand here for some time and
just haven't been able to kind of crack that nut.
So I'm confident ultimately that you know, if you love
a New Zealand Soavon blanc and the price goes up
(04:32):
by you know, however many dollars, does that mean you're
going to stop drinking that wine and drink something you
don't like it?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Probably not?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Probably not so, particularly if you've had particularly if you've
had text cuts and you've got more disposable income and
your wallet and so on. So I think we've got
to be optimistic and back ourselves that will kind of
be able to adapt to whatever whatever regime unfolds.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
And also you have to believe he's actually going to
do it right. And the thing that you keep hearing
about him is he's extremely transactional, and he can be
talked out of things, because, for example, he gave us
the steel tariffs, but he was talked out of giving
Ossie the steel tariffs. So if we if we hit
him really hard diplomatically, we may be able to get
out of it.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, I agree with that. I think you know, I
heard when some Peter's on earlier on your program, you know,
and I think the way that at a political level
that we play the next you know, three four or
five months is going to be absolutely critical in terms
of how we set ourselves up to manage this scenario.
(05:32):
And you know, there's some countries I'm being listening to
some of the commentary today, there's some countries that are
clearly on the back foot because of positions have taken
against them, you know, the president or about to be president.
And I think in that regard, I think we're in
a pretty good position here in New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I reckon you're right reason to be optimistic. Hey, Rob,
thank you very much. Oh by the way, what should
I go and buy? If I want to get my
hands on a recorp can? What should I be buying?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Well, Garatge Project. One of our first customers Behemoth give
in to some of that great New Zealand craft beer.
Great place to start.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Okay, you're telling a pregnant lady to drink beer, so
we'll just we'll just remember that, Rob. They do some
zero alcohol ones at Garage Project. Hey, thanks Rob, look
after yourself. The Shrob five Recorp Chair Strategic Advisor at
Craigie Range Winery as well. For more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive. Listen live to news talks. It'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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