Frontline Manufacturing has just completed a move into a new defence-orientated metal fabrication facility.
In a statement, the company said the new facility is “a far cry from the constrained premises it has occupied for the last decade.”
The new site in Meadowbrook has allowed the commissioning of major new equipment and fully integrated machining. The new capabilities will allow the company to expand its capacity to supply ‘heavy’ metal structures into major land and naval defence projects.
“Land 121 provides the bulk of our work at present supplying into Haulmark Trailers and Holmwood Highgate,” a spokesperson said. “We have recently commenced work for Rheinmetall for Land 400 Phase 2, and support other organisations such as Eniquest.”
The company benefited from a Queensland Government Small Business Grant, which funded a professional factory planning firm. The firm’s proposed layout was based on lean manufacturing and industrial engineering principles. This included modular welding bays that quickly scale up depending on the project size.
Multiple overhead cranes that can operate in tandem to double load capacity has allowed the company to win projects it would “never have contemplated in the previous premises.”
“With the expectations and ambitions the overseas primes bring to their Australian projects, we didn’t feel we could wait until we ‘won’ the work before taking the steps required to do the work,” Director of Frontline Daniel Green said. “Rather, in consultation with our customers and potential customers we have made our best assessment of what the company needs to be able to deliver to support them, and then executed accordingly.
“It’s been a huge undertaking, but it is exactly what we believe is expected of companies such as ours to realise the opportunities provided by the Commonwealth under the DICP.”
“Whilst the plant is fully operational, all staff are looking forward to our major reopening event on the 7th November with our customers and government representatives,” Plant Manager Nathan Sutton said. “The whole build, commissioning and move has been so hectic, that it’ll be nice to take a moment to let it all sink in. Then it’ll be back to work.”