Austin Engineering rides resurgent mining sector

An apparent resurgence in the mining sector, as well as investment in product and processes has seen mining equipment supplier Austin Engineering secure a typical full year order book in the first seven months of the financial year.

The Perth manufacturer said it had received orders or been awarded supply contracts for more than 210 of its haul truck tray bodies in the two months to the end of January.

This compares with an expected 500 orders it expects to receive in a normal full year.

The trays are in production, or about to start at the company’s four production sites in Perth, Indonesia and north and south America, with 120 of the trays the company’s recently launched ultra-lightweight high performance tray (HPT) which enable the transport of additional ore in each truck.

Austin CEO David Singleton said: “The increased orders reflect an increased win rate across the business aided by the release of improved product designs such as the HPT, which is receiving significant market interest because of its attractive operational efficiencies.

“We had confidence to commit capital to capacity expansions at some of our major manufacturing sites, namely Indonesia, Australia and Chile.

“We have also invested in upgraded equipment in the workshops to enable efficiency and quality improvements across our product lines.”

Singleton said the capacity increases ensured that customer delivery timeframes could be maintained.

“The continuing and increasing strength in the order pipeline suggests that high utilisation levels in all jurisdictions will continue.

“We believe that our commitment to product design and development, our focus on cost control and developing capacity to meet our mining customer needs is driving this improvement in workload.”

Further reading:
CELEBRATING AUSTRALIAN MADE – LEADERSHIP AND AUSTIN ENGINEERING

Picture: Austin Engineering/new HPT truck tray