When Steve Anderson last spoke with Cranes and Lifting nearly five years ago, SlingRakz was a small Australian business with just three employees and a handful of products.
Today, the company has doubled in size, diversified its range to more than 100 products, and continues to strengthen its position as one of the few dedicated rigging storage and handling specialists in the world.
“We’ve expanded quite a lot,” said Steve, Manager of SlingRakz. “When we first started, there were just three of us. Now we’ve got six people and our product range has grown from maybe half a dozen items to well over a hundred.”
An Australian success story
Based in Perth, SlingRakz designs and manufactures all its products in Australia – a point of pride for the company and a selling point for its distributors and customers. “All the design and concepts are done here in Perth, and all the manufacturing is done in Australia,” Steve said. “Everything’s made locally.”
That focus on local production has also resonated with the market, especially as demand grows for Australian-made equipment that supports safety and efficiency. SlingRakz supplies to major distributors including Certex, LiftQuip, the Global Lifting Group and Stenhouse.
“Our distributor network in Australia is still chugging along,” Steve said. “There’s plenty happening.”
Expanding internationally
What started as a small local operation has become a truly global business. Around half of SlingRakz’s business now comes from exports to markets including the United States (US), Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the UAE.
“We’re in talks with a company that wants to distribute our products in the US,” Steve said. “That’s something we’ve verbally committed to, but we’re working through the tariff side of things first.”
Some of SlingRakz’s biggest clients include Boeing and SpaceX – both of which use the company’s storage racks and rigging caddies. “It’s funny,” Steve said. “We just get inquiries from these companies, and we wonder how they found us. But there aren’t many people in this space globally, so when they find a product that works, they want it.”
A product range built around safety
Safety and manual handling reduction sit at the centre of SlingRakz’s design philosophy. The company’s range includes storage racks, rigging caddies, and custom workshop fit-outs – all engineered to make rigging gear easier and safer to store and transport.
“Our goal is always to take away the manual handling aspect wherever we can,” Steve said.
A recent example of this approach is the company’s new SR21 Ramshorn Hook Chain Buddy for lifting heavy chains – developed after a client reported multiple hand injuries.
“The client had six or seven hand injuries in two years when riggers were taking big chain slings off,” Steve said. “We came up with a caddy with sliding adjustable carriages that enables the Oblong links to be lifted and lowered directly, so manual handling is eliminated.”
Customised for every worksite
Over the years, SlingRakz has learned that one size rarely fits all. From small workshops to large mine sites, the company has built flexibility into its designs.
“We’ve increased our range of racks,” Steve said. “Whether it’s a small workstation or a big workshop, we can customise it.”
That customisation now extends to full container fit-outs – modular storage setups for rigging bays that can include benches, shelving, and wall-mounted racks.
“If someone wants to kit out a 20-foot container, we can design the whole thing,” Steve said. “We can customise it around their needs.”
Many of these systems are now shipped in kit form, allowing customers to assemble them onsite. SlingRakz provides video tutorials and step-by-step instructions. “It saves on shipping costs and makes it easier for customers,” Steve said. “Our fast-moving racks are kept in kit form, ready to go.”
Innovation has been a constant driver for SlingRakz. “We always have new products on the go,” Steve said. “This year we developed a lot of crane-type rigging boxes – complete kits that hold all your shackles, slings, and chains.”
Several new product lines are already planned for release by April 2026. “The first few years were a grind, just getting the message out there,” Steve said. “But now things are flowing – more sales, more inquiries, and more people on board.”
Looking ahead
While the company continues to refine its designs, it’s also exploring patents for some of its unique innovations. “We’re getting to a stage now where we’re seriously considering patenting a few products,” Steve said. “It’s on the checklist.”
Through steady growth, a strong Australian manufacturing base, and a focus on safety and efficiency, SlingRakz has quietly built an international reputation. “We’re still creating new products and finding new ways to benefit customers, whether that’s through better storage or safer handling,” Steve said. “It’s a never-ending story really. We just keep developing, expanding, and improving.”