ASX-listed global engineering firm Austin Engineering announced the completion of the first shipment of fully manufactured and assembled truck trays from its Indonesian facility in Batam, which have been delivered directly into Western Australia’s (WA) Pilbara mining region.
The shipment included four truck trays that were transported from Indonesia to Port Hedland through Singapore and subsequently to the customer location, the company said in an ASX announcement.
Recently, Austin’s Indonesian factory underwent a significant expansion and refurbishment, doubling its manufacturing capacity to meet the rising demand.
The larger Indonesian facility, according to Austin, is enabling the company to lessen the effects of persistent supply issues in WA, notably for skilled fabrication labour, which has been a production-limiting concern.
By overcoming these supply restrictions, the company revealed its local WA factory has been able to maintain more consistent operating output in line with local labour availability, ensuring Austin’s clients continue to have access to products.
Austin has also been able to supplement the shipping of subassemblies into Perth for the final build with the delivery of whole truck trays directly to the Pilbara thanks to a restoration of freight prices to pre-pandemic levels.
David Singleton, Austin CEO and managing director, expressed his delight at the beginning of the company’s design and production strategy’s success in the Asia Pacific region.
“The expanded facilities in Perth and Indonesia are allowing more flexibility from a manufacturing and delivery point of view,” the CEO noted.
He continued, “We have previously shipped truck trays, buckets, and other mining equipment directly into Queensland, but it is the first shipment we’ve completed direct to the major mining centre of the Pilbara, and we expect this supply route to become a regular feature of our integrated supply chain.”
Singleton further emphasised that Austin remains committed to Australia as a manufacturing location, as seen by the company’s two factory units in Kewdale, Perth along with our two operating sites in Queensland.
He added that most of the steel Austin utilised in Australia and Indonesia came from Australian suppliers.
Further direct deliveries into the Pilbara are planned with customers in the future to supplement Austin’s Australian-based supply.
