Specialised Roading Equipment’s (SRE) move to a site triple the size of its original, symbolises the company’s exponential growth and development in the Australian spraying space. Roads & Infrastructure learns how the move signifies a new era for SRE.
For many New Zealand-based companies, the Australian market can appear elusive or out of touch. Despite being more than 4000 kilometres away, both nations have a lot in common, particularly a passion for transport infrastructure and construction.
For Specialised Roading Equipment (SRE), distance has never been an issue. Rather, it’s viewed as just another summit to be reached, or so says Chris Kaelin, SRE Business Development Manager.
Kaelin says SRE is a genuine success story of a company that – mostly through organic growth – has gone from targeting small sections of Australia, to establishing a foothold and servicing customers right across the entire country.
Having been at the company for around nine years, he’s seen first-hand how SRE has endured – and in some cases succeeded – during difficult times such as the Global Financial Crisis, as well as the financial turbulence created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Post pandemic, SRE has really grown. That period was a real booster for us, it saw us building upwards of 14 sprayers a year for the first time,” he says.
Kaelin says the company’s ability to remain at the forefront of the sprayer market, as well as the ambitious attitude of its owners and directors, are just two factors that have played a key role in SRE’s constant state of growth.
Another key driver was the bitumen and telescopic sprayer manufacturers’ first venture into the Australian market.
“The first inquiry and step we took into Australia was in 2017, which saw me move away from being just an engineer and a designer, to becoming a bit more involved with the setup and commissioning,” Kaelin says. “From there, things really kicked up a gear.”
According to SRE Managing Director Mark Wansbrough, the company has tripled its turnover over the past five years, with an increasing number of orders domestically and within Australia placing pressure on the company’s production site.
“We were getting to a stage where our team members were just falling over each other,” he jokes. “For the amount of work that we were getting, we weren’t able to give that massive spike in demand justice.”
That’s why the wheels started turning three years ago on moving to a new facility.
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SRE’s new facility and site in Hamilton, New Zealand is more than triple the size of the old site, greatly increasing production capability, as well as the company’s ability to deliver components and fittings in-house. But what does this mean for customers?
Kaelin says moving processes in-house will further aid the company’s lead times, as well as the quality of each component, two areas that the company has become well known for.
“It’s all about the efficiency gain,” he says. “No longer do we need to shift tanks from one site to another, as everything is at the one location. We can also have more components built before the truck arrives.
“The capacity to build means we can push through a lot more equipment, much quicker. Previously we’ve been limited by how many machines we could progress, purely because we didn’t have the space.
“Now those restraints have been completely loosened.”
Wansbrough says customers in both Australia and New Zealand can feel more confident than ever in their SRE units.
“It’s given us complete control and ownership over the whole process,” he says.
“When you’re outsourcing, you’re relying on other people. Now we can guarantee great reliability and confidence around hitting those expectations we set for lead times and deadlines.”
Importantly, the new site will also provide a boost for SRE’s maintenance and servicing, helping to reduce lead times during major maintenance periods, as Kaelin explains.
“The winter maintenance season starts in April and will run through until September. We’ve already got 50 sprayers to action through that winter service period. That’s where the larger site is going to really help us, by separating out manufacturing and servicing, so they’re not sitting on top of each other,” Kaelin says.
“Now we’ve got dedicated fit up, dedicated fabrication and dedicated service teams, all under the same roof.”
This includes a dedicated inventory controller, meaning Australian customers have a direct line for parts and maintenance, with an additional full-time technical and servicing support staff member further aiding maintenance and technical outcomes for customers.
This is on top of SRE’s commitment to increase the stock of critical parts in Australia, as well as the development of a dedicated parts location domestically.
“We’re really starting to build those relationships in Australia,” Kaelin says. “That’s on top of our development and launch of our fixed bar sprayer, which is focused on a specific segment of the Australian market.
“We’ve got more and more Australian orders coming in, so we’re well and truly knocking on the door.”
This article was originally published in the May edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.
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