Dulux yesterday announced plans to construct a new state of the art factory in Melbourne, as well as a new distribution centre in Sydney.
The new Dulux factory in Melbourne will cost $165m and will produce nearly all of Dulux Australia’s water-based decorative paints.
The company’s water-baseddecorative paints are currently manufactured at its Rocklea factory in Brisbane.
Although the Rocklea plant will continue operating and refocus on the production of solvent-based decorative paints, the move is expected to result in the loss of about 60 jobs at the site.
Construction of the new Melbourne factory is expected to commence later this year with completion targeted for 2017.
The new Dulux factory will be the largest coatings plant in Australia with full production capacity in excess of 100 million litres per year.
Meanwhile, the new distribution centre in Sydney will replace the two existing centres in the city, and will be built, owned and operated by Linfox.
The closing of the two previous distribution centres is set to result in an unspecified number of jobs being cut.
Dulux announced that a provision of $9m for lay-offs at the Rocklea factory and another $8m provision for job cuts and the closure of the Sydney distribution centres will be booked for the 2015 fiscal year.
Dulux Managing Director Patrick Houlihan said that the move to the new Melbourne paint factory would set up the company’s Australian decorative paints business for decades.
“We’ve spent considerable time evaluating various options drawing on expertise from the global paint industry,” he said.
“The new paint factory is by far the most compelling option strategically, operationally and financially, delivering a solid financial return, primarily through operating cost and capital savings.
“Our Dulux paints business is world class on any measure. This investment further strengthens our product quality, innovation, customer service and cost competitiveness.”
