April 15 - Charlie's Group Limited is celebrating the successful commissioning of its new Australian production plant on 1 April 2008, with the first container loads of Charlie's premium beverage products already shipped and on their way to New Zealand.
The plant in Renmark, South Australia, was acquired in late 2007, and in less than six months has been transformed into a state of the art production facility specialising in Charlie's Honest Not From Concentrate Juices, Smoothies and Quenchers.
Situated in the middle of an orchard to which Charlie's has exclusive rights to long term supply of oranges and other citrus, the new plant gives the company total control over production from orchard to market and offers triple the production capability.
Chief Executive Officer of Charlie's, Stefan Lepionka, said: "The day we started up the production plant at Renmark was the day we took another significant step in our journey to dominate the premium beverage market.
"The new plant offers substantial long term financial benefits to Charlie's with valuable production cost savings as the company moves away from a contract manufacturing arrangement, and the increased production capacity driving economies of scale.
"With the new facility, Charlie's can more easily develop and introduce new packaging solutions to satisfy customer demand. The first of these, an innovative new packaging solution for the Charlie's Not From Concentrate range, will be introduced to the market in this financial year.
"In addition, the facility also significantly reduces the amount of time required for new product development, from conception to market delivery. This will allow Charlie's to implement an extensive new product development programme for the Charlie's Honest Not From Concentrate brand.
Stefan continued: "To enter and compete in the Not From Concentrate market you need to have a controlled supply of fruit and be able to produce the juice at source. New Zealand does not have the citrus capacity to meet volume needs which is why many of our competitors produce their juices using concentrate sourced from around the world.
"The new production facility and our exclusive supply contracts in Australia make Charlie's the largest Not From Concentrate juice brand in New Zealand, and it is this category which is driving growth in the total juice category in New Zealand and internationally.
"We now have much greater control over both quality and supply and are able to ensure production levels meet the continuing growth in demand for our products."