(May 2012) – While many businesses in Australia’s manufacturing sector struggle to compete against imported products, Keech Australia has taken a new approach to tackle the competition.
The recent installation of equipment in its No. 2 Foundry in Bendigo, Victoria, will enable the Australian-owned business to dramatically increase output of ground engaging tools along with its agricultural points and tynes and industrial products, while improving quality and ensuring cost competitiveness.
“Over the past three years, countries such as China and India have emerged as major competitors,” explained Cameron Watts, Chief Operating Officer for Keech Australia. “However, there is a significant strong demand for products which are manufactured in Australia due to their superior quality and a market willingness to support Australian industry where possible.
“To compete, we’ve spent the past year undertaking a $3 million upgrade of our No. 2 Foundry, which involved a complete overhaul of our facilities, from our moulding equipment to our cooling and shakeout systems. We’ve achieved a dramatic increase in production capacity for new castings by installing the latest in moulding and pouring technology. Our new systems have also improved our dimensional accuracy, which means higher quality products.”
As part of the upgrade, Keech Australia improved the company’s environmental footprint, with more than 90 per cent of sand used in the production process able to be recycled.
The state-of-the-art technology automatically separates the sand from each casting, ensuring more sand is able to be recycled. “With the improved process efficiency we also ensure reduced energy use,” added Cameron. “There’s also less wear on the equipment, no airborne silica and less clean up time. As a result, we’re able to produce more competitively priced products.”
Keech Australia also produces steel castings for use in national and international mining operations, excavation, construction, agriculture, rail transport and the defence industries at its nearby No. 1 Foundry.
