Manufacturing ain't dead in Oz

COMMENT

With all the bleating and hand-wringing about the death of our car industry, we thought it was timely to remind readers that we still produce quite a number of vehicles in Australia...it's just that they're trucks.

Volvo Group Australia (VGA) recently celebrated a milestone with the 60,000th truck rolling out of the company's manufacturing plant in Wacol, Queensland. VGA not only produces Volvo trucks there, but also the extensive Mack range. More than 500 people work at the plant.

Speaking at the celebrations in November, President and CEO Peter Voorhoeve highlighted the on-going success of the Group's Brisbane-based plant.

"Our Wacol plant has been operating since 1972, and houses manufacturing and engineering facilities to produce both Volvo and Mack trucks," Voorhoevre said.

"The plant makes a significant economic contribution to the local area, and it does it without any government subsidies.

"We have close to 450 people directly employed in the production process and about 50 dedicated engineers based in Brisbane. The Wacol factory also has approximately 85 local suppliers delivering more than 3500 different components to the Wacol factory – of which, many are produced right here in Australia."

But VGA isn't the only big truck maker to manufacture here. Who can forget the legendary Kenworth brand which has its local production facility in Bayswater, Victoria? The 56,000 square-foot plant first opened in 1970 and the first Aussie-built Kenworth rolled out the very next year.

In 1975, the W9000SAR was lauded as the first Kenworth fully designed and built in Australia.

In 2013 Kenworth delivered its 50,000th Australian-made truck, which represented not only a major milestone for the company but also for Australian manufacturing.

Today, the Kenworth facility employs over 800 people and produces the Kenworth and DAF ranges of trucks, as well as administrating finance, parts, sales and leasing.

Italian company Iveco also has a local plant -- in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong. Iveco assembles several models, using up to 55 per cent Australian-sourced components.

However, trucks are not the only thing made here. There's also an extensive trailer manufacturing industry catering to our wide transport needs, headed up by the huge MaxiTRANS organisation. Through trailer brands Freighter, Maxi-CUBE, Hamelex White, Lusty EMS and AZMEB, as well as rigid truck body brand Peki, MaxiTRANS provides trailers and parts for almost every sector of the road transport industry.

MaxiTRANS is also a leader in repair and service support to the Australasian transport industry via its network of company owned and operated repair and service divisions as well as its dealer network.

Of course, there are many more trailer manufacturers throughout Australia, and the Victorian government is at least one administration offering cash incentives for companies to hire retrenched auto workers.

So not only is the trucking industry keeping Australia moving, and delivering a vast array of goods around the nation, it's also keeping manufacturing alive in this country.

Get all your truckin' news at trucksales.com.au