All businesses have faced significant challenges over the last 24 months and Cranecorp is no different. However, a continued focus on teamwork and a positive workplace culture has enabled the business to expand and attract new faces to Cranecorp’s executive team. Rod White, Cranecorp Australia Holdings’ Chief Executive Officer explains more and introduces some of the new team members.
“Over the last two years or so, the team at Cranecorp has worked to maintain our high standards of customer service and support which includes the continual renewal of our crane fleet. This has enabled us to attract new customers and high calibre people to the business,” Rod says.
Group Finance Manager Lorraine Sumich
One of those is group finance manager Lorraine Sumich, who started with Cranecorp in October 2022.
“For the past 25 years I’ve worked in the construction and resource sectors, and I was looking to move into another finance management role and be fully invested in a company,” Lorraine says.
“Because I do stay in roles for quite a long time, it was a very careful decision to actually start at Cranecorp Australia, but I have definitely made the right decision.”
“I was looking for a sensible business structure, an excellent business model and an executive team which included professional and approachable individuals with comprehensive business experience, Cranecorp ticked all the boxes,” she says.
As part of its comprehensive offering to customers, Cranecorp provides core services to mining companies including shutdowns. Typically, this requires large capacity cranes at a high price point. Lorraine explains some of the financial challenges she manages within the overall growth of the company.
“I have a lot of experience in equipment rental and in that industry you are keeping up with multiple moving parts which is very similar to managing a fleet of cranes,” Lorraine says.
“The cranes are constantly moving to different depots and customer sites with new cranes arriving and old cranes being sold, it is a challenge to keep the fixed asset register up to date and ensuring that the 10 year refurbishments are current and processed in the system.
“It’s exciting working with more than 250 plus pieces of equipment that require all this and it’s quite a simple, straightforward model.
“The cranes are moving parts and it’s a case of maximising utilisation during the busier times of the year and maintaining them when the organisation is not so busy. I enjoy the challenges of coming into this organisation,” she adds.
“We are constantly examining ways to improve our internal processes to ultimately benefit the customer. This is very achievable in an organisation like Cranecorp because it is a very collaborative environment across the disciplines.
“I feel comfortable to say what I can see is working well and to make suggestions on what we could be doing better. I talk to the CFO about what I’ve seen in my past and to hopefully change things for the better for the organisation.
“Suggestions can include improving the customer invoicing processing timeline to get things out sooner to the customers, ensuring the invoicing is accurate and ensuring that customers are paying on time. We need to ensure the ‘order to cash’ process is seamless and streamlined so the business runs at its optimum in terms of cash flow,” Lorraine says.
Health, Safety, Environment, Quality and Training Manager Chris Nicholls
Chris has been in the health, safety, environment, and training area of cranes and lifting since 2008 and joined Cranecorp in January 2023.
“Since then, I have been spending time in the field with our operational personnel making sure everything’s compliant with safety, putting forward field leadership and discussing the proactive nature of safety.”
“I can see a key element of my role will involve systems integration ensuring that what we say happens on paper actually happens in the field,” he says.
“It’s an alignment between the way we’ve structured our policies and procedures and how we plan to undertake work and then testing that in the field to ensure everything in the field is being done according to our processes.”
“It’s not strictly to make sure everyone is adhering from a policing perspective. it is empowering individuals to make the right decisions when it comes to safety. My objective is to spend a lot of time in field with the operational crews, not necessarily managers, but the field leaders, which include the supervisors, the branch managers, the leading hands, and the operators and riggers, because they’re the interface between Cranecorp or Goldfields Crane Hire and the customer, that’s the interface right there and that’s where we work,” Chris says.
“Spending time in the field and making sure our field leaders are spending their time effectively, not just at getting the job done, but looking with new eyes or from a risk-based perspective. We want them to analyse the work holistically rather than just looking at it from a production perspective.
“I want to make sure good field leadership comes from delivering a job properly on all aspects, safety, quality, environmentally, not just meeting the bottom line.
Chris says Cranecorp’s values of leadership were what attracted him to the company after years in the industry.
“The values of leadership drew me to Cranecorp. The discussions I had in the lead up to taking the role really showed me that the leadership here is aligned to the values I hold as a person, and that will benefit my career in terms of health and safety. I chose to work in an area which involves working with and looking after people and Cranecorp is completely aligned to these values,” Chris says.
Regional Operations and Special Projects Manager Chris Vas
Chris Vas joined Cranecorp in 2022,
having worked in the industry since 2012.
“I initially started in metro doing taxi hire work for a company and ended up in the Pilbara working out of Port Headland, taking care of the East Silver region primarily,” he says.
“With my new role I have full responsibility in terms of developing the Perth metro and the southwest as well as project scope.
“That’s very much all-encompassing in terms of operations, developing my people, financial management, key management, leadership, client relations and contracts.
“A big part of the role is developing and growing this region and our footprint in the metro and in the southwest,” Chris says.
A meeting with CEO Rod White was instrumental in his decision to join the company, he says, after the two had a long discussion on an array of topics.
“I got on very well with him and I was particularly drawn to his ideals in terms of leadership and the valuing of people and winning their hearts and minds with praise.
“That really related to me, and I’m a firm believer that if you build the people, you build the business. Most businesses are fairly similar, it’s the people that make a difference,” he says.
Since then, Chris says the role is evolving as Cranecorp continues to grow.
“These are really exciting times for the business. I work with a lot of honest and talented people which is fantastic,” he says.
“There’s something special here in terms of people that genuinely care and display a passion for what they do.
“They are eager to improve, to innovate and they are invested in the company’s growth and growth profile.
“We are having some significant wins along the way and recently recommenced working with the largest mining company in the state – and are tapping into the joint venture with Tutt Bryant which will be top rank. It’s a really interesting time for the business and really cool for the look ahead,” Chris says.
“What I also like about Cranecorp is that it’s West Australian based, it was born and bred here and it’s local to Australia and that’s really important. I pay the founder Rick, the respect he deserves because a lot of the competing companies are international and big businesses.
“We are focused on the concept of locals supporting locals and that is really important as well. When I was speaking with Rod I was drawn to the fact that Cranecorp is a local business which I could help impact positively and assist in taking on the bigger international players.”
General Manager Operations Ben Hall
Ben Hall joined Cranecorp in October 2022, taking on a role that sees him work across the company.
“I look after all the branches, all the assets, all the people, and ownership of the customer base,” he says.
“There’s a business development team that works to win customers, but my team works with the existing customer base and delivers the services to the clients.
There wre a number of factors that attracted him to Cranecorp.
“I found the discussions with our CEO Rod White and Chairman inspiring and what got me particularly interested was the fact that Cranecorp is a high-growth SME with some strong private equity backing and a well-established brand with real opportunity to grow and lift the business,” Ben says.
“One of our key strengths is we are a very customer-centric business.
“We focus on the customer and their needs and go the extra step to deliver and that’s a key point of difference to most of our competitors, be they bigger or smaller than us,” he says.
“That’s something we can certainly leverage into business growth, both with the existing customer base and expanding into other areas and customers as well.”
As for the future, Ben says he believes things are looking good for the industry.
“The resources sector has been strong for a couple of years now and notwithstanding some of the fiscal tightening with interest rates and other things, with commodity prices as they are, I think it’s likely resources will remain pretty solid. That’s important to the business as mining is the main focus,” he says.
“There are challenges largely around the mechanical side of the business. Recruiting qualified and quality labour is difficult from operators, to riggers and mechanics.
“Crane refurbishments and the general maintaining of the fleet with the crane OEMs takes longer and costs more than what you anticipate and what it used to. That’s quite a challenge in terms of the availability and utilisation of your fleet.”
Managing these headaches comes down to planning and collaboration across the organisation, Ben says.
“You’ve got to plan and collaborate and do it very well to minimise the issues and the pinch points. Sometimes that isn’t enough and we have to look at our structure and examine if we can do more things in-house where we’re being held up when outsourcing work to independent workshops,” he says.
“ Do we build more capability into the business? We have in-house capabilities in some locations but not all locations. It’s a case of examining our structure and other ways of doing things, making adjustments that we can lead to better outcomes.”
“Cranecorp is a strong brand with good recognition in the market, particularly in the gold fields where the company has a lot of history. It is also emerging as a strong brand in other regions as well. And I think that’s something that’s really important to any business,” Ben says.
Heavy Lift Engineer Matthias de Troyer
Matthias de Troyer joined Cranecorp in 2021 as a Heavy Lift Engineer. Matthias has spent his career in the crane industry.
“After finishing university, I was offered a one-year internal business training opportunity with Sarens in Belgium. After that year, they asked me if I would come to Australia and help out the Brisbane branch.
“I moved to Brisbane in 2011, and after two and a half years there, Sarens wanted me to go back to Brussels. I wanted to stay in Australia and I was lucky enough to be offered a job at Tutt Bryant, and they moved me from Brisbane to Perth,” he says.
“I worked with Tutt Bryant for four years when I was offered a job at Boom Logistics, where I stayed for three and a half years. Then Cranecorp offered me a position and I joined them in September 2021.
“My official title is Technical Operations Manager, but if you really define the role, I am a Heavy Lift Engineer,” he adds.
“I’m involved in the project from start to finish. A tender will come into the sales team and they ask me to look into it technically. I work on the best way to manage the job, what cranes we will need, what rigging we will need.
“I determine if we can complete the project with a 130 capacity all-terrain or will it require the 160, the 200 or the 500. The Sales Team then put a price on the job and it goes back to the customer.
“When we win the job, it goes into the Operations Team and there be revisions to the lifts plans and the methodology.
“The changes are mostly due to a weight increase or the use of rigging gear will change. I then make the final lift studies.
“If required, I’ll go on site for the project, just to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible and according to plan.
“Occasionally I am asked to sign everything off on the day as well as being onsite an engineer for insurance purposes,” Matthias says.
The move to Cranecorp has been a good experience, he adds.
“I didn’t know much about Cranecorp but what I liked immediately is that it’s a proper West Australian company and it is significantly expanding,” he says.
“Its core business is focused on shutdown work in the mines. I was impressed with the company leadership and the direction and the expansion plans of the company diversifying into new business sectors and taking on more project work.
“For this to happen we are going to need more paper trails, lift studies, more preparation and more signoffs from customers, and that’s where I fit in.
“If you look ahead to the next three to five years there are plans for the business to significantly expand and this will increase the demand for more engineering which will mean which will see the engineering team expand so we can keep as much of the engineering work in house as possible in-house. It’s a very exciting time for the business,” Matthias says.
Director of Business Development
Lance Strachan
Lance Strachan is Cranecorp’s Director of Business Development. He has been in the crane industry for 20 plus years and worked for two of the biggest crane companies in the world, Mammoet and Sarens. Lance joined Cranecorp in late 2022.
“My role as Director of Business Development sees me looking after future works, as well as maintaining the relationships with our current clients and contracts. I am also charged with developing and growing the business in new areas which Cranecorp hasn’t been exposed to as yet. This will include taking on a new customer base which the business hasn’t been exposed to as yet,” he says.
“My experience with large crane businesses, Heavy Lift is a big part of what they do and we are looking to develop capabilities in this area with Cranecorp, but in a different model.
“We are looking at expanding the offering and the heavy lift side of the business, but also looking at selective projects as well, not just general shutdown work or taxi hire,” Lance says.
“The JV with Tutt Bryant enables us to examine these new markets.
Lance is currently part of a team of three which includes a business development manager who looks after certain geographical areas, and an Engineering Manager as well.
“He covers everything from the concept studies through to pre-feasibility, and he also looks after the work once it becomes a physical contract in terms of engineering,” Lance says.
He joined Cranecorp after a few years out of the industry, he says.
“Cranecorp was originally a family run business, but as it has evolved and grown to become a more ‘corporate type’ operation,” Lance says.
“Cranecorp has experienced a big expansion in terms of growth and has moved from being a large small company to now be a small large company in West Australia, with the potential for future growth. All of this attracted me to the business,” he says.
“I’ve also been impressed with the ‘culture’ of management culture at Cranecorp – this is a key reason for the recent successes.
“The management team is very open and engaged with all aspects of the business. Growth is important, but we are also focused on our people in terms of retaining and attracting the right personnel,” he says.
Operations Planning Manager Glen Swillicichl
Glen Svilicich joined Cranecorp in May 2021 as the Operations Planning Manager. With 34 years in the crane industry he is highly qualified and explains more about his role within the business.
“Operations planning is essentially planning all the assets and the labour for all the work throughout the state, whether it be shutdown, general maintenance or ad hoc work,” he says.
“I have a team of eight or nine people and together we assess the requirements that our customers give us and work out the most cost-effective solution for them and make sure that we can get a crane, and a bum in that crane, through the gate of a customer’s site and conduct the work.
“I was at Boom Logistics for almost 30 years, and I held the state managership role for the last five before I left, so yes I’ve always been in an operational role,” he adds.
That said, moving to a smaller sized business and away from large organisations was one of the main reasons that grew Glen to Cranecorp.
“What drew me to Cranecorp was the joint venture with Tutt Bryant. That’s not something that occurs every day in crane hire,” he says.
“When I saw the opportunity to apply for the role, I thought, yeah, this is an organisation that would be good to work for because we could potentially become the one-stop-shop for a customer, be it small cranes, large cranes, crawler cranes, labour hire, transport, you name it. That’s what enticed me to the business,” he said.
Glen adds his view on how the Cranecorp Tutt Bryant joint venture is working out and the challenges it faces.
“I think the joint venture has a way to go. I’m not fully across the Tutt Bryant side of this, but I’m seeing a lot of work where Tutt Bryant cranes and our cranes are working side by side, and I expect this to continue to flourish in the years ahead.
“There are always challenges in operations and people shortages would be close to the top of the list,” he adds.
“We created a labour hire arm to our business called Cranecrew Logistics. Attracting quality, casual labour is difficult at the best of times, but over the last couple of years it’s probably only been a market for casuals where they can pick and choose where they want to work.
“They will always go to where they get paid the most. But we are slowly but surely winning that war through treating people with respect and bringing them into the Cranecorp family,” said Glen.
“Machinery tends to break down and because we work in a lot of remote job sites and stuff like that, it can take anywhere between two to three days for us to mobilise someone, assess, fix, mobilise back, so working throughout the state does have its challenges, but it’s got its rewards as well,” he said.
The business is evolving quickly, he adds.
“It’s the fast-paced work environment that we work in, and everyone supports one another as best we can. Some of our systems, from a reporting perspective, are not yet state of the art which means a bit of manual work to make sure everyone gets the reports for example. These processes will gradually be automated,” he says.
“At Cranecorp we place a high priority on safety.
“There’s a lot of inductions that get done with our people before they go to site. We’re implementing VOCs, internal VOCs with new starters to make sure they are competent in the role they are applying for.
“This is done through a new initiative whereby we run a VOC process ahead of the staff heading off to a clients site and before they are signed up to join the company.
“We conduct spot checks and operators have to do JSAs before jobs. We have a lift engineer in the business as well. We’ve just recently finished the AutoCAD training for our supervisors as well, so they will conduct lift studies themselves, in due course. So from that aspect, our capabilities are gradually improving,” Glen says.