Latest / Best of Business / Rob Fyfe: Former Air NZ CEO appoints CEO for new Recorp venture

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Rob Fyfe: Former Air NZ CEO appoints CEO for new Recorp venture · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: Here The Dupless In New Zealand, Boss Rob Weis's new business, Recorp,
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  Speaker 2: is set to open an aluminium can manufacturer in September. Today,
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  Speaker 2: Recorp announced its first CEO, former House of Travel boss,
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  Speaker 2: former and New Zealand executive Bruce Parton. Now, the plant
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  Speaker 2: cost one hundred million bucks to build and it's going
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  Speaker 2: to be able to churn out eighteen hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 2: cans a minute. And Rob Fife is with us to
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  Speaker 2: talk about this.
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  Speaker 3: Hey Rob, Hey, Heather, how are you very well?
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  Speaker 4: Thank you good to talk to you.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it sounds to me pretty amazing that you
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  Speaker 2: guys managed to scratch together one hundred million bucks just
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  Speaker 2: from New Zealand investors. Is it.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you what. It gives you a sense
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  Speaker 3: of confidence that, you know, as tough as things are
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  Speaker 3: out there, there's sort a bunch of people that really
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  Speaker 3: believe in New Zealand and the opportunities here. So the
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  Speaker 3: vast majority of that money came from six or seven people.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, this industry today is dominated by couple
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  Speaker 3: of Australian companies and they're just passionate about seeing the
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  Speaker 3: benefits and the rewards in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 2: Did I am I reading this correctly? That Anamobra who's
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  Speaker 2: one of the investors that you've got there, wants to
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  Speaker 2: get aluminum cans to basically steal market share of glass
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  Speaker 2: and plastic.
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  Speaker 4: Is that right?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely? You know, if you look today glass in
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  Speaker 3: terms of single single serve containers, glass makes up about
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  Speaker 3: forty percent of the market. They weigh ten times more
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  Speaker 3: than an aluminum container. There's obviously a whole lot more material, carbon,
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  Speaker 3: fragile and so on. Plus we all know the issues
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  Speaker 3: with plastic and they finally were into our waterways, our
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  Speaker 3: food system and so on. So aliminem without doubt is
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  Speaker 3: the fastest growing container type, and it's the one that's
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  Speaker 3: the most food safe. The material is infinitely recyclable. The
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  Speaker 3: story is an amazing story, and they say it's a
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  Speaker 3: bunch of New Zealanders to get behind it and bring
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  Speaker 3: it to life. Not for the faint hearted, This is
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  Speaker 3: a this is a really big project.
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  Speaker 4: Why do you say not for the faint hearted?
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  Speaker 3: You know, to as you say, you know, there's one
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  Speaker 3: hundred million being invested in this. The Bank of New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand's got behind it with a big chunk of bank finance.
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  Speaker 3: To spend that sort of money before you to your
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  Speaker 3: first dollar of revenue, you need a lot of passionate
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  Speaker 3: people that really believe in in a vision. And as
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  Speaker 3: I say that, that certainly isn't for everyone, but you know,
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  Speaker 3: we're very very committed.
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  Speaker 2: Rob What am I getting at the moment in plastic
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  Speaker 2: or glass that you would like me to get an aluminium.
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  Speaker 3: Well, ultimately, I mean I've just come back from overseas.
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  Speaker 3: You know, water now around the world is all moving
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  Speaker 3: into aluminium, a combination of both aluminum cans as we
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  Speaker 3: think of them today and also screw top or resealable
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  Speaker 3: alimeneum bottles. So many, particularly news but also a lot
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  Speaker 3: of hospitality venues are just banning plastic bottles and toto
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  Speaker 3: so water is a big one. Soft drinks are glass
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  Speaker 3: now overseas you're seeing glass sorry, beer is moving more
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  Speaker 3: and more away from glass into aluminium, both again cans
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  Speaker 3: and aluminium bottles. At the moment, you know, there's no
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  Speaker 3: alumineum bottles made in this part of the world at all.
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  Speaker 3: And that's certainly on our roadmap to bring alumineum beer
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  Speaker 3: bottles and water bottles into this market.
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  Speaker 2: I feel weird about that because I feel like I
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  Speaker 2: feel like screwing it would sort of like let little
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  Speaker 2: bits of metal into my drink. Am I just is
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  Speaker 2: it I'm overthinking.
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  Speaker 3: In I definitely am overthinking it. So not that I
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  Speaker 3: accused you of overthinking, but it's you know, alumineum in
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  Speaker 3: terms of in the food system, in the body. You
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  Speaker 3: know it's not a good thing, but the alumineum that
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  Speaker 3: comes into our food source doesn't come out of containers
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  Speaker 3: or alimineum in that state it's very very stable and
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  Speaker 3: you know, don't flake off and so on. Aliminium comes
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  Speaker 3: in through various foods and minerals and our souls and
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  Speaker 3: that sort of thing. That's the biggest risk of alimineum
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  Speaker 3: into our diet. Alimenem bottle or containers absolutely safe.
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  Speaker 4: So Bruce Parton, you'll have worked with him at a
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  Speaker 4: New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've worked with Bruce for twenty years, so you know,
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  Speaker 3: we've got a great relationship, very very passionate. It's not
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  Speaker 3: like we're trying to create a New Zealand old boy network.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, working with people you really don't trust.
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  Speaker 3: I think Chris is a bit busy at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: but yeah, you know, I'm really I love working with
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  Speaker 3: people who I know can deliver the results, and Bruce
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  Speaker 3: is definitely one of those.
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  Speaker 4: What do you like about him?
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  Speaker 2: I think I saw somewhere that you were quoted as
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  Speaker 2: saying he learns, he takes not necessarily criticism, but he
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  Speaker 2: takes direction.
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  Speaker 3: No, no, he takes criticism really well. I mean I
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  Speaker 3: made a comment that you know, I mentor a lot
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  Speaker 3: of young, up and coming entrepreneurs and one of the
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  Speaker 3: things I'm always saying to these, to these focus you know,
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  Speaker 3: the people that learn the most, that grow the fastest,
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  Speaker 3: that achieve the most, are the people that make it
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  Speaker 3: the easiest to give feedback to because are the ones.
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  Speaker 3: You know, if a're too defensive, then you're a little reserved.
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  Speaker 3: And what you say to them, Bruce, you can give
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  Speaker 3: it straight between the eyes and varna exactly what you think.
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  Speaker 3: He just soaks it up. He listens, he considers, he responds,
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  Speaker 3: and the adepts and he's just one of the most
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  Speaker 3: adaptable people I know and that's I guess one of
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  Speaker 3: the reasons he because your feedback exactly back the other way.
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  Speaker 3: So we have a really really strong relationship. Can be
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  Speaker 3: a bit sporty at times, but that's how you create
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  Speaker 3: healthy outcomes and great rob.
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  Speaker 2: Give me your take on right, you've been overseas, as
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  Speaker 2: you say, give me your take on coming back to
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand.
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  Speaker 4: What's the mood like here? It feels like it might
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  Speaker 4: be a little gloomy.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it does feel gloomy, and it does feel
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  Speaker 3: at the moment very introspective. You know, I've just come
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  Speaker 3: back as in London. In London, you would argue or
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  Speaker 3: the UK definitely has many of the issues that we have,
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  Speaker 3: some of them even worse and more amplified than our
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  Speaker 3: So the crime on the streets in London is deeply,
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  Speaker 3: deeply concerning. Yet when you go out and have dinner
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  Speaker 3: with people or you're socializing with people, no one seems
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  Speaker 3: to be as consumed by all those issues as we
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  Speaker 3: get here in New Zealand, and we're talking about you know,
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  Speaker 3: what's around the corner, the upside, the possibilities, you know,
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  Speaker 3: and the opportunities, and it's it's just a mindset that
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  Speaker 3: doesn't allow them to get so consumed by the to
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  Speaker 3: say that, you know, the stuff that we seem to
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  Speaker 3: just allow us to drag away from the great possibilities
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  Speaker 3: and opportunities for this for this country. So I'm sitting
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  Speaker 3: outside New Zealand, I get more optimistic about New Zealand,
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  Speaker 3: and I feel it's ourselves and our mindset that's the
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  Speaker 3: biggest constraint on the possibilities for this country. Nothing that's
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  Speaker 3: structurally wrong about this company country, or nothing that's politically
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  Speaker 3: constraining us about this country and a great country, really
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  Speaker 3: talented people. We just have to get that self belief
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  Speaker 3: in a bit of mojo back.
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  Speaker 4: I think there's some good advice in that. Rob, thank you.
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  Speaker 2: I really appreciate it's nice to have you back in
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  Speaker 2: the country doing great things. It's Rob five, Chairman of recour.
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