While we contemplate the economic demise that has taken place over the last few months, for some companies operating within the Shepparton region, it is business as usual and in fact they are booming.
One such company began five years ago, amalgamating a company operating from Geelong with a home-grown business that had worked its way up from the ground.
Their first foray together was at the Fonterra plant in Stanhope where they agreed it was better and simpler to work as a single unit.
Maddison Wright Engineering is now taking on competing with larger national companies in servicing some of the major developments that are taking place in the region. With organisations such as Fonterra, Freedom Foods, Bega Cheese and Pental of the recent installation of large sanitiser tanks, Maddison Wright Engineering has certainly fulfilled a diverse range of turnkey projects.
The company has a basic division of purpose. The larger mild steel fabrication projects take place in Geelong while the stainless steel process and tank fabrication takes place in Shepparton.
Speaking about how they have managed during the pandemic, managing director of the company, Heath Wright who manages the Shepparton plant said, “This is the new normal. Initially we put all our office staff to work from home and introduced a range of new measures in the factory, maintaining workspace distances, temperature checks, sanitisation but we have adapted since these measures will be in place for some time to come.”
The Shepparton branch employs 25 staff and with the recent acquisition of their own 15 tonne crane and numerous other handling and manufacturing pieces of equipment, look now to training programs to enable our staff to operate them in a safe and productive manner.
Maddison Wright Engineering represent the typical Australian ‘can-do’ attitude that a lot of local companies do. Proud of their local origins, supportive of local industries and suppliers and creating prosperity for the region.
Yet, even with their local credentials, they are also in a sense, a national company with their sister company, All West Engineering, operating many branches across the Pilbara and in Perth, Western Australia and are in the process of further national expansion as well.
While the pandemic has been devastating for a number of smaller businesses in the region and will take some time for them to recover if at all, there is still a core of industry that has been able to continue on and in fact prosper at the same time.
Maddison Wright Engineering is one of many that symbolises the strength of local industry and the capacity to push through even the most pressing global disasters.
