Raymond McLaren, founder of Andromeda Industries, is the inaugural recipient of The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) Lifting Legends Award. He has been recognised for his huge contribution to the global lifting industry.
Raymond shares his story.
“There’s a quiet brilliance in knots. Across the centuries, they’ve secured and built civilisations. From the ropes of ancient sailing ships to the intricate rigging of modern engineering, knots have quietly shaped the progress of humanity, balancing simplicity with profound functionality,” said Raymond. “Is it any wonder a fascination with them became the spark of my life’s work?”
Raymond explains how he settled on the name for the business.
“Andromeda is the only Greek legend with a happy ending when Achilles saves Andromeda from being taken by the sea monster and they get married. Annette Williams now owns Andromeda Industries and she and Geoff Bower will take it to big things,” he said.
Raymond explains his approach to the design and manufacturing.
“When I manufacture something, I try and get as close as I can to a perfect job, and that’s how we build our machines. I’ve virtually designed all of the machines that Andromeda employs today, and I’ve built a lot of the parts myself. My engineering abilities help me to conceive concepts and then design and manufacture them.
“Looking back on my early childhood, I think I was born an engineer and virtually had a slide rule in my hand at birth. I naturally knew how things worked. I built my first lever-action rifle at 15 years old and a self-loading handgun. My parents weren’t really aware of the level I was working at.
“But after I left school, I went straight to Newcastle and started at Stewarts and Lloyds tube makers and did a mechanical engineering certificate course. Those formative years were learning about the trade of machining plus the engineering behind the design of machines,” he said.
Raymond borrowed a book from Newcastle library called Knots, Splices and Fancy Work, which illustrated all the basic working knots plus a lot of the fancy knots which triggered his interest.
“Knots have always interested me, so I borrowed the book and purchased the cordage and started making them. Stewarts and Lloyds had their own rigging shop where they manufactured their own slings. It seemed to me a wire cable is more or less useless, but when it’s got an eye and an end to it, and by putting a splice in, you make the wire rope into a sling. Splicing the rope seemed like magic to me,” said Raymond.
“After that, I went to Townsville and worked with Evans Deacon Industries for a year designing a conveyor belt system for a sugar mill. I wanted to go on an adventure up to Cape York and I saw an advert in the Cairns Post where an engineer was wanted at Weipa to run the power station and I got the job,” he said.
When Raymond got to Weipa, the boss called and said, ‘Look Raymond, we employed you to run the power station, but could you drive a crane?’ Raymond was 21 and confident he could, he had to approach the bosun who managed the store to make slings for the next day.
“The bosun wasn’t reliable, and I ended up making my own slings. That experience did two things. It showed me the importance of the crane, what it does, how it works and how essential they are. It also showed me the importance of a sling and how it has to be 100 per cent. I might be lifting an aircraft engine worth thousands of dollars, and that sling has to get it to shore,” he said.
Weipa was a 12-month contract then Raymond decided to take a year off. He went back to Townsville where the Townsville Regional Electricity Board had heard that he could splice wire rope.
“I get the phone call, ‘Could you make some slings for us?’ and this was my first order. Until then, splicing had been a hobby but then I thought, ‘Maybe there is a business to be had in this,’ and that’s really how the business started,” said Raymond.
After that first order there were others, but Raymond decided to return to New South Wales.
“I thought I’d have a year off and do a bit of splicing here and there. Everywhere I went, people wanted slings made. I had a splicing clamp and from the back of my old Land Rover, I could do mobile splicing. I’d pull up, set up my tent, and next thing there are people queuing up saying ‘make me slings’,” he said.
In due course, Raymond married Beryl, his first wife and he built a caravan.
“The caravan took me three months to build, and we travelled for seven years. I would do a circuit of New South Wales once every year, and by then I had regular customers in each town. I’d notify them that I was coming, and they’d have orders ready. We started out as a mobile business, my wife loved travelling, and we’d camp out everywhere, it was a good way of life.
“But eventually I could see I needed something more than a mobile workshop, we needed mechanisation. Hand splicing is wonderful, but it’s slow. For me, Tamworth was always the best spot, and I purchased a block of land in 1967,” he said.
About the same time pressed ferrule technology was emerging, which made the manufacturing of slings far quicker and easier. Raymond built his first press in 1967, then another one about three years later.
“Because I’m an engineer, by day I built a 250 tonne press and at night I designed machines. I could make my own tools and design and build my own machines and that started me on the path of manufacturing slings on a large scale. Early on with the business I had a suggestion from a Mr McNichols in Wagga Wagga who said, ‘You’re making great slings, Raymond, but could you make them more flexible because they’re a bit stiff?’”
“In my knot book there were examples of plaits and braids. I eventually came up with a four by three sinet plaited cable made of small wires which you plait into a bigger wire rope, and it achieved a flexible sling, and that’s how the step from wire rope to Superflex cable came about.
“We had made hundreds of slings by hand, but it takes too long, I needed a machine. I had to invent, design and manufacture a machine that can make spools of plaited cable and that took 10 years of my life,” said Raymond.
Raymond has been instrumental in the lifting industry and was part of the board that designed Australian standards. He helped introduce plaited wire rope and all the braided cables as key elements of the Australian standards.
“A board called the ME-025 Group was formed and convened by Geoff Rogers of Nobles and other luminaries in the industry to upgrade the standards for slings and rigging gear from the old English standard 166, to an Australian standard. I was on the board that worked on that.
“We had meetings every couple of months over a two year period, and it was interesting to put down on paper new ideas, new guidelines for slings and rigging gear and it was a great honour to be involved. The legacy is that we’re still using that documentation.
“One of the honours of my working life was becoming a member of the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA). When you’re invited to join an industry group like LEEA, it shows you have earned the credentials and what you have achieved is worthwhile. Over the years my company has manufactured thousands upon thousands of slings and they are lifting all manner of things.
“I have never wanted to, and never have, received a phone call along the lines of, ‘Raymond, one of your slings has failed and we have just dropped a $10 million product into the ocean’. My focus has always been to maintain standards and quality, knowing that we’re doing a good job and that the lifting industry can rely on our products,” said Raymond.