Recopak Machinery, the Australian family-owned packaging machinery manufacturer founded in 1986, has today opened its new facility in Cobram, Victoria. PKN was in attendance.
The company started out with a focus on reconditioning packaging machinery – hence the name, Recopak – but over time evolved into an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of case packing machinery, and ultimately a supplier of full packaging lines, supplementing its own equipment with that sourced from international suppliers. As demand for its products has continued to increase, it has outgrown its premises several times.
This new factory will allow Recopak to streamline its in-house manufacturing, offering more thorough testing of machines and faster delivery times.
Addressing guests at the official factory opening, Bill Dopper, founder and managing director of Recopak, thanked friends and partners of the business who had come from far and wide to witness this special occasion.
He also paid tribute to the company’s staff: “We owe our success to our passionate and skilled team, many of whom have been with us for more than 20 years, in fact our current employees have more than 300 years of collective experience in the packaging industry.”
He relayed a brief history of the company, which was established 37 years ago. He said the company has expanded into new facilities twice before this one, which it started building in 2020, a project that was not without its challenges, due in large part to Covid-restrictions that had to be worked around.
Bill runs the company with his son Luke, who has been with the business for 20 years and was instrumental in seeing the project through to its successful conclusion.
Luke said, “Recopak has a strong reputation in the Australian packaging industry and an extensive range of machines-built right here in this factory. With our machines, together with a variety of machines from European companies, there is no job too big or too small.
“Recopak’s future is looking bright and we have no intentions of slowing down. We currently manufacture 90 per cent of our machines and components in-house, with some additional equipment currently on order it will be more like 95 per cent, that is all done in this factory.
“Australian-made is something we are committed to, as a lot of other companies are taking their manufacturing offshore,” he said.
“While we can, Recopak will continue to do this as it gives us full control of our manufacturing capabilities and keeps our great team employed.”
Today Recopak employs 30 full time staff with a lot already hitting milestones of 10, 15 and 20 of years of service.
Bill added: “Recopak will continue to keep Australian manufacturing alive by investing in new equipment, technology and training.
He tells PKN Recopak sees the future as “extremely promising with plenty of orders in the pipeline”.
“Our challenge is managing cashflow when ordering stock in advance to ensure competitive delivery times. Opportunity is on the rise with wages reaching an all-time high as manufacturers are opting for automation to minimise the effect of labour shortages,” he said.
With this investment behind it, and charting steady growth over the next five years, Recopak believes it has placed itself in a more competitive position in the Australian packaging machinery industry.
PKN will cover the plant opening in more depth in the July-August print issue.
