Andrew Murat had to get out of manufacturing cattle grids because of health reasons. Commitments to his local buyer remained so he had to think things through for a while before he came up with the idea to pass that part of his business on to BackTrack.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"I decided if I could get a few things to line up I could get the BackTrack lads to manufacture them," Mr Murat said.
"So, I contacted Southern Steel and they've come on board to support Grazag, who have agreed to be the manufacturer, and BackTrack are going to use their boys to manufacture grids.
RELATED READING:
"I've donated a wielder to them to enable them to do it because the machines they've got aren't big enough to do it."
Mr Murat said it should allow more of the boys be more work ready and to go out and get jobs with local manufacturers.
"They're actually struggling to get apprentices who are up to speed to do the work they want them to do," he said.
"There is still a fair amount of demand for the grids, and with the recent fires there's going to be a lot more demand for them."
"BackTrack and Bernie are very keen to be involved in this because it will give them some cash flow."
Graham O'Mullane from Southern Steel said they were only too happy to contribute.
"To us this is light industry and it's amazing how much of a demand there really is," he said.
"It's surprised me over the years, you would think there would be a saturation point, but it still goes on and on, and on."
BackTrack's Steve Bramley described the donation as a great opportunity.
"We've had a relationship with Andrew through his business for quite a few years now, and he's trained quite a lot of our boys, helped us out with a bit of gear and some advice from time to time," he said.
"Obviously with Andrew stopping manufacturing these grids it's an opportunity for us to to build them, train some boys as we're going and supply Grazag who can keep it local.
"This just gives us another opportunity to train more boys. We're getting stronger and stronger not only fabricating but selling the products as well. The supply chain through Grazag is a positive one.
Steve said BackTrack was growing.
"There's more of a demand on the core side of things, which is the younger kids coming through, getting trained, doing their schooling and completing their schooling through us," he said.
"There's more demand on the BackTrack work side of things, where we then employ those boys out in the community under contract and paid work."
Grazag owner Jason Litchfield said the grids fitted in with their business and were very added to the variety of their products.
"This is a good local project and it's worth supporting," he said.
"I think it's important that the BackTrack boys have got different jobs that they can do.
"It's important that people like Andrew are able to train them to do these jobs and that people like Steve are able to oversea it. We don't know what the demand will be for these yet, with the bushfires it could be a lot more than usual."
Have your say. Click this link to send a letter to the editor.
