Andromeda Industries proudly manufactures, tests and certifies its range of lifting solutions completely in-house in its Moonbi facility situated 22 kilometres north of Tamworth, the Country Music Capital of Australia. This is performed in the engineering department of the business led by Engineering Manager, Brett Williams.
“Fundamentally, our engineering team is responsible for everything we manufacture beginning with our globally recognised Superflex and Flat Woven products, through to design and manufacture of our own fixtures, fittings and finishes. Our experienced team manages everything, including the maintenance of the machines which are designed and manufactured for our manufacturing processes,” said Brett.
“Most of the machinery, such as the holybelt punch machines for the rubber division, and the plaiting machines for our steel cable products, have been designed and engineered in-house or purpose-built for us, so if something breaks down, we can’t ring a company asking for support or even parts, we have to fix it ourselves.”
According to Brett, an internal audit realised a few opportunities were being easily missed relating to the engineering team.
“Recently, we conducted an internal audit which examined our engineering capabilities, and this recognised how under utilised the engineering team can be at times and it was proving to be a significant ‘cost centre’ for the business. To address this, we actively began taking on work from outside our traditional areas.
“So now, whether it’s a local farmer needing his slasher welded and machined, or someone’s broken an axle, if we can fix it, we will. We’ve got the expertise and the machinery to do it and word is spreading fast. We are being approached to look at various projects which are normally well outside our normal scope of works, but they are proving to be really interesting for the team,” he said.
Over a number of decades, Andromeda Industries has developed a reputation for engineering ‘out of the box’ lifting solutions for industry said Geoff Bower, Customer Relationship Manager. “The company has always focused on producing products in-house and a lot of engineering work went into the specialised fittings, specifically those for Superflex and the Flat Woven Slings,” he said. “The engineering team continues to design, manufacture and test our fittings to ensure they meet and exceed all the relevant standards.
“But in the past, the engineering division has been involved in producing more diverse products such as winches designed to pull in electrical power lines, which are very topical right now as the move to renewables gathers momentum. Over the years they’ve conducted significant maintenance projects and repair work on these rigs, and we are currently in the process of quoting a job now.
“Our core products like Superflex are being increasingly recognised for their features and benefits and so is our rubber range. In a large part, this is due to the talent and dedication of our engineering team.
“But it hasn’t been a case of maintaining the status quo with our product range as the team has continued to push the envelope. As an example, their combined engineering skills have seen us move from producing 10 millimetre cable up to 96 millimetre cable. This growth has been driven by innovations such as our Orbital Square Plaiting Machine, which produces cables from 10 millimetres to 40 millimetres, and the development of our XL Horizontal Braiding Machine, capable of manufacturing cables from 48 millimetres to 96 millimetres within our XL Division.
“The key competencies of the team are still at the core of everything we do, but it now sees them diversifying and branching off into different areas like building race cars and drag cars, working on trucks, front-end loaders and other types of construction equipment and servicing smaller guys that probably struggle to get their problems into some of larger engineering businesses.”
Brett explains how this approach to the business has evolved.
“A lot of the work has been through word of mouth and being in a small regional community, word travels fast. We encourage schools and local business groups to visit our facility so they can have a better understanding of our capabilities. From these visits, word has got out that we are offering our machining capabilities for outside work.
“A lot of engineering shops won’t take one-offs, whereas we are happy to help anyone. We’ve had customers call up and ask, ‘can you machine this up for us?’ and our reply is, ‘yep, not a problem,’ and the word is out on the street,” said Brett.
Hot Rods are Brett and wife Annette’s passion.
“Building chassis started as an opportunity to generate additional cash flow for the business. When the boys were quiet, we’d bring in chassis for them to build and we’d turn them over, which worked well,” Brett said. “I’m a second-generation ‘Hot Rodder’. My Dad is in his 80s now, and he started a Hot Rod club in Sydney back in the ’60s, so it’s in my blood and our kids are into it as well.
“Fabricating chassis was something that my Dad did on weekends and I grew up with, so it’s all second nature to me and I still have a passion for it. There’s a genuine thrill in taking a 1938 Ford, upgrading it with disc brakes, a new model engine, new engine mounts, strengthening it and preparing it ready for racing.”
Brett is now taking his knowledge and family passion for building chassis and cars and integrating it into the engineering division.
He is embracing his team’s capabilities to develop this into a new revenue stream for the business. As a family-owned company, Andromeda is bringing its personal touch to the operation, unlocking and utilising capabilities that have been underused for far too long.
