With very few companies operating at full capacity, it’s surprising to hear that not every manufacturer in Australia is registered with ICN (Industry Capability Network).
ICN must offer the best deal in town. The not-for-profit organisation has the potential to get local manufacturers involved in some of the biggest projects in Australia and overseas with no cost to manufacturers or to the supplier.
One company that recently took advantage of ICN’s offerings was Garden City Geotech, who up to recently was manufacturing plastic horticultural containers, plant pots, containers etc. for the nursery industry.
Graham Brown, Garden City Geotech’s BDM, said the major problem the company had was that due to market consolidation they ended up with a very large market share. “We felt vulnerable, plus it is a very mature market with little potential for growth,” Brown told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
“We were also involved in vacuum forming of seedling containers and that got us into sheet extrusion. The problem was we were focussed solely on the nursery industry with seasonal variations and weather conditions.
“The thought was we should capitalise on our plastics technology and find other markets utilising our expertise in processing polymers.
“When we became aware of ICN, they put us in touch with the Northern Victorian Irrigation project who was very receptive to a local manufacturer of geomembranes, which is basically a very wide plastic sheet used for channel lining.
“That was the catalyst for us entering the geomembrane market. But we didn’t want just to supply one customer, so using ICN’s knowledge we went around Australia and found we had enough support to go to next stage.
“We found the big end of the market is the mining industry with two thirds of the geomembrane market. It uses massive quantities of it, plus agricultural for dam linings; and it’s all presently imported.”
Brown said the company can meet all the specifications required and despite the strong Australian dollar they are competitive in part because the polymer pricing in Australia is tied to an import parity price.
The company has invested over $6m in equipment and facilities over the past 18 months to two years, and is now close to full production – in full commissioning and testing mode.
Brown explained that the dual extrusion calendared sheet line with Honeywell gauge control system and a Zumbach pinhole detector can produce sheet up to 8m wide up to 4mm thick; “the biggest in Australia by a long way and will mean an extra 16 to 18 positions on top of our current 250 employees around the country”.
“The fact that we have another complementary market, in terms of our technology base, means we can use that expertise to get into a different market which has growth; water conservation and mining.
“Once operational we expect to produce up to 8000t of product a year; however that will supply less than a third of the imported product. We will then be looking at another line which would give us more security and the opportunity for more market share.”
Brown’s advice is to get involved. “ICN have a great team and they have really helped us get into this new market.”
How ICN works
Derek Lark, ICN’s Executive Director, said Garden City Geotech’s story is not unique. “We have helped thousands of companies over nearly 30 years and I advise all manufacturers to get on board.
“It does take a little time, but it could be as short as fifteen minutes. Yes I know manufacturers are busy, but this could be the difference between a profit and a loss for the next financial year.”
Lark explains it’s not just about your present capability, but your potential capability as well.
“Most buyers are now more sophisticated. In the past they asked for companies that made three phase motors, for example, and we would give them an independent list; we don’t recommend one above the other.
“But now, buyers want to know about three phase motor manufactures who we can pre qualify to certain requirements. They will stipulate very tightly what they want particularly around their commercial ability to deliver their quality and their ability to meet certain standards.
“So today, we need to know a lot more about companies than we have ever known, and while we have 50,000 companies on our database, there are a lot of legacy companies that have been in the system since day one.
“To do our best job and get local SMEs on these big contracts, we need to know more about them and we need them to keep their data up to date.
“We understand that for SMEs inputing of their data can be onerous, so one of our values and the reason we have been provided with funding by the Federal Government to build a new system that can take that data in just once for SMEs and the organisations we have alliances with can access that basic data,” Lark said.
Due to go live mid-December, state and federal government industry development offices and industry associations.
“Instead of SMEs having to put their data into many different places, our philosophy is to build a system that allows that flexibility for us to work with other partners that want to work with us.
“We have now built a system that is about suppliers and buyers. At the moment we have 117 major projects with contracts worth over $100bn on our system for suppliers to look at and to register interest in.
Lark says the projects range from resources through to defence and include the Air Warfare Destroyer program, the massive Chevron Gorgon project, Olympic Dam expansion.
“Basically we have every sector covered where there is a major contract, with sector managers to further assist suppliers.
“Then on the back of these we have directories for each major sector that the government has funded us to especially pursue; rail, water steel, mining, health, oil & gas, clean tech and NBN.
“Then on top of that we have a very successful automotive program which now includes local and overseas companies who manufacture in North America, plus Access Auto, a dedicated web page for the automotive industry. This is a portal for local industry to showcase its capabilities overseas in the automotive sector.
“It’s all about promoting Australian industry’s innovation and capabilies into local and global markets. We get SMEs the best chance of winning contracts.
“While ICN doesn’t guarantee you are going to win a contract but if you are not there we can’t tell the buyers about you,” Lark said.
For more information about ICN and the opportunities available to Australian suppliers, go to www.icn.org.au or call your local ICN consultant on 1300 961 139.