Macfab Engineering
Establised companies are reaping the rewards of relocating to the Murray Region, but the manufacturing industry also boasts several home grown success stories.
Wayne and Michelle Clarke opened their first business in 1996 called Mud’s Inspection & Welding Services. In 2004, they purchased the name MacFab Engineering and today have grown to employ 30 staff from an expanding factory in Albury’s airport industrial estate.
The company supplies metal fabrication and on-site installation services to some of the largest infrastructure projects in the country. The growth of MacFab Engineering is typical of what smart manufacturers are able to achieve by being strategically based in the Murray Region.
“We are in an ideal location here,” Mr Clarke said. “We are beautifully placed to service clients in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane since they are just a truck ride away. Being based outside the capital cities is no barrier to success. We can do everything our metropolitan competitors can do, plus we have a high concentration of steel suppliers and other necessary service businesses here.”
MacFab Engineering handles structural, stainless steel, mild steel, aluminium and sheet metal fabrications for most specialist areas of industry. Their projects are as diverse as supplying bridge components for freeways, structural steel for commercial buildings and welded metal products for railways.
Some of their most recent work includes:
• Upgrade of North Melbourne Railway Station with McConnell Dowell Constructors
• Upgrade of Hume Highway with Hume Southern Alliance, Hume Northern Alliance and Abigroup
• Koorang Island Coal Export Terminal with Abigroup
• Wodonga Rail Bypass with John Holland Group
• Water Supply Alliance with Melbourne Water
• Ballina Bypass with Leighton Contractors
• Coolac Bypass with Abigroup
• Lawson Alliance Blue Mountains Abi Group
• Springvale Road Rail Alliance with John Holland Group
While MacFab now proudly boasts working on some of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country, it was their early work on construction of the Hume Freeway bypass through Albury-Wodonga with Abigroup that saw demand for their engineering services escalate.
“After working successfully with such reputable partners like Abigroup, our business and reputation has grown,” Mr Clarke said. “We have proven we have the engineering skills and capabilities to mix it with our capital city competitors and are now set for further growth.”
MacFab Engineering truly is a home grown success story, mixing it with the big boys of the construction industry on Australia’s largest infrastructure projects.
