Spotlight: Apollo mega-factory

Consider this: Apollo Tourism & Leisure Limited believes its new, 20,000 sq. m caravan and motorhome plant in Brisbane that opened last December is second only in size to Jayco and is the industry’s largest RV manufacturing facility outside Victoria.

True or not, it certainly gives Avan’s expansive Pakenham factory a mm x mm run for its money.

It’s a seismic shift that highlights the importance of the Queensland market to the future health of the Australian leisure travel industry.

Looking to the future

Apollo’s decision to relocate its manufacturing facilities to the 4.8 hectare former Boral plasterboard site across the road in Nudgee Road, Northgate, was originally designed to allow for strategic future growth, as Apollo shifts its balance from its origins as a camper hire operator, to a mainstream caravan manufacturer.

The company, which has been in the leisure rental business for 30 years and began building its own campers and motorhomes 12 years ago at Northgate, is currently employing only 150 people on the factory floor, whereas the new facility has been designed to house around three times as many employees.

“We’ve set the new factory up with growth in mind,” Apollo’s Executive General Manager - Manufacturing & Product, Paul Truman told caravancampingsales during a tour of the new premises.

“For example, the material delivery systems have been designed with linear flows to maximise efficiency and the production lines have been configured with flexible work cells to allow them to support further growth and increased output.”

Retail to boost rental 

The ASX-listed Apollo runs large rental fleets in Australia and overseas, manufactures Winnebago-branded caravans and motorhomes and is the Australian distributor of Slovenian-built Adria RVs.

Apollo used to retail its own locally branded Talvor caravans and motorhomes prior to taking up the Winnebago franchise, but future plans are to apply the Talvor name only for their campervan and motorhome rental fleet.

Apollo also has a 25 per cent stake in the RV sharing platform Camplify and owns a number of caravan dealerships, including Queensland’s Kratzmann Caravans, Sydney RV Group and George Day Caravans in Western Australia, giving it a solid and diversified footprint in the Australian RV market.

Big Aussie brands acquired

How fortuitous then that Apollo Tourism and Leisure has just bought the Coromal and Windsor caravan brands for $1million from the Perth-based Fleetwood Corporation to add to its expanding multi-brand portfolio.

While Truman says final decisions have yet to be made, it seems unlikely that many of Fleetwood’s 200 soon-to-be-redundant employees will be swapping Perth’s sunshine for Brisbane’s (although Truman says most will be welcomed if they do).

Although Apollo can’t confirm details in these early days of its Fleetwood RV purchase, Truman said that Apollo is currently reviewing the designs of both brands with a view to capitalising on their strengths.

“Final decisions and timing are all part of the phase-in programme,” he said. “There’s a lot of cross-pollination amongst models here and it would be reasonable to expect this to continue.”

Fibreglass caravan future

It is also reasonable to expect that all caravans produced in the new plant – as is the case currently with Apollo motorhomes and Winnebago caravans – will be fitted with fibreglass composite panels for their walls, roof and floor, rather than the cocktail of clad framed aluminium and full thickness composite walls that are currently used for those brands in Perth.

“From every point of view, we have determined that fibreglass composite panels are the way to go,” said Truman, with Apollo sourcing its walls pre-cut for doors and windows from three separate suppliers located in Victoria and Queensland.

All cabinetry for the factory’s 50-odd different model variants is produced in-house employing lightweight plywood – not MDF – in its construction. This is assisted by three flat-bed CNC machines driven by CAD programmes to ensure that cabinet fit and finish is repeatable, with separate work groups responsible for the furniture of motorhomes/campers and caravans to maximise familiarity and hence, quality.

It’s a similar story in the dedicated upholstery department, where all trim for campers, motorhomes and caravans emanates.

More to come

However, the good news for Apollo is still not over.

The vacant factory space left across Nudgee Road after production moved to the new premises is now being utilised for sales of new RVs and caravans, while within two or three years’ time, the former Boral office outside the factory at 733 Nudgee Road  will make way for a new, state-of-the-art corporate head office for Apollo to handle the company’s increased global growth.

This will give Apollo an even larger and appropriate presence on this major Brisbane city-edge location.

“We are now well-positioned for a new major growth phase,” said Truman. “The future for us looks exciting.”