ABFI Steel Group has been punching well above its weight for years, supplying steel pile casings and structural steel pipes nationwide, for major and minor projects. None of this is the result of luck, as General Manager Jake Bienke can attest.
Below cost and on time. It’s the five words that every project manager, asset owner and everyone in between wants to hear after the dust has settled on their infrastructure project.
Working with businesses that focus on customer requirements and removing barriers for success sounds like a no-brainer, but these companies can be hard to find.
It’s rare that a company, on top of delivering its own product or service, can also help to plan, schedule, manufacture, expedite and deliver, while keeping its finger on the pulse.
It’s for these types of services that the ABFI Steel Group has become well known. The company specialises in the manufacture of structural steel pipes and steel pile casings to suit specific project needs, meaning products aren’t just off-the-shelf, but are designed and made for a singular application.
It’s one of the biggest reasons why the company only manufactures to order, instead of manufacturing blanket options, as its customised solutions cannot be sourced from standard suppliers.
This includes products across large diameter steel tubulars, as well as a full suite of steel fabrication services such as transitions, depth markings, clutches, turning slots and more.
The ABFI Steel Group team has been a close-knit group from the beginning. General Manager Jake Bienke was part of the first ever group of employees in 2012. As he explains, he’s far from being the only member who has stuck around to this day.
“Before they joined together, our directors had their own companies. They completed their trades together and had known each other for 20 years before deciding to join together. After that, the ABFI Steel Group was born.”
Bienke says there’s a strong camaraderie and passion among the team, with a deep underlying level of trust, all of which are transferred to the end customer.
“We have a very strong team with great communication, that’s something that’s come naturally. We’ve got a great understanding of each other, as we were already a developed team before the business even started,” Bienke says.
And while things have changed over the past 13 years, the company’s culture and commitment to quality has remained steadfast.
“Our capacity has grown massively over the past few years,” Bienke says. “We’ve constantly grown and increased our workshop space, machinery and output, while also fine-tuning our processes along the way. That applies from the front end of the business right through to our dispatching lines.
“One thing that hasn’t changed is our team culture. That runs strong throughout the business. By having an established team at the start, we’ve always had that respect and eagerness to work together, as a team.”
It’s a culture that’s centred around the company’s proud Australian-owned and operated heritage, with the company looking to support local projects and suppliers wherever possible.
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Products and service
Catering to projects such as bridges, ports, overpasses and other infrastructure projects, ABFI Steel Group applies more than 100 years of combined industry knowledge to deliver an optimal solution for projects of all sizes.
As Bienke explains, the company’s expertise extends much further than just its steel solutions.
“It’s not just our products either,” he says. “Our project management and support services mean we don’t just supply piling and that’s it. We support project managers to help them tackle any ongoing issues.
“Whether it’s delays, design changes, just in time deliveries or something else, we can help project managers optimise their project output and outcomes.”
This is part of the company’s focus on delivering a holistic package for its customers.
The first step to achieving this, says Bienke, is taking the time to fully evaluate what the project requires, as well as the requirements of the asset owner.
The ABFI Steel Group team takes a proactive approach to identify potential issues or areas for optimisation, based on its industry experience, and works collaboratively with customers to find the best solution.
“We don’t design or engineer the projects, instead we work closely with our customers and are more than willing to raise any concerns or questions using our collective experience, rather than just waiting for the customer to raise issues,” Bienke says.
ABFI Steel Group’s customer-first mindset has seen its products successfully implemented into a number of major projects, such as the Brisbane International Cruise Ship Terminal, the West Gate Tunnel and the first stage of the Coomera Connector North project.
For Bienke, a standout project has been the Harwood Bridge in northern New South Wales.
This new 1.5-kilometre bridge over the Clarence River required 116 piles, all of varying diameters, including 1200, 2000 and 2400 x 25-millimetre thick, with lengths up to 60 metres.
Bienke says projects such as this reflect the company’s ability to fully customise pile casings, not only to adhere to project requirements, but also state-by-state regulatory requirements and specifications.
“We’re always transparent and open with our suggestions, as our main aim – whether it’s cost savings or preventing issues down the line – is to pass on those benefits to our customers,” Bienke says.
The Harwood Bridge project is also viewed as a major milestone internally, with the company making several expansions to cater for the contract. This included the procurement of new machinery and moving to a larger premises to increase capacity.
“At that time, we’d never taken an order of that size,” Bienke says. “Once we had the confidence of our suppliers, we procured more machinery and more space, we all came together and delivered that project, and we haven’t stopped since.
“That was the biggest step for our growth. It just goes to show that there’s never been a job that we haven’t been able to deliver and take care of.”
Future growth
Despite the challenges faced by the industry, such as inflated costs and supply chain issues, ABFI Steel Group’s experience and efficient operating model means it’s been able to weather the storm.
The company’s ability to adjust output without significantly increasing headcount allows it to remain agile and responsive to market conditions, as Bienke explains.
“We’re a relatively small team, but even when it’s quiet we still find a way to keep the wheels turning,” he says.
“Because we manufacture to order and not to stock, we are dependent on projects coming in. We can increase our output without increasing our number of employees.”
This focus on maintaining current strengths and capabilities, rather than pursuing major transformation, has set a sturdy foundation for ABFI Steel Group to build upon, as it looks ahead to 2025.
“That model has led to us growing every year,” Bienke says.
“We’re always working to improve our systems and our processes continually. We don’t just sit dormant. We’re always changing the way we do things and looking to work smarter, not harder.”
This article was originally published in the February edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.
