Confidence trick

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Boost for Rosedale manufacturer

Michelle Slater

A ROSEDALE manufacturer has been given a shot-in-the-arm from the state government to help expand its business which will help create an additional 13 local jobs. Bambach Cables was one of three Gippsland businesses to receive a grant under the Regional Jobs Fund, along with Bidfood Australia and LV Shade Sails in Traralgon. Bambach manufactures low-voltage cables for the defence, rail, machine and building industries, and relocated to Rosedale from Sydney in 2018 with the help of federal funding. The latest state government grant will allow the business to start manufacturing silica cables and take on more workers. Bambach Cables managing director Alf Chown said Rosedale provided an ideal spot to relocate due to an existing building at a former tannery and the region’s skilled workforce. Mr Chown said the business outlook was one of optimism after COVID setbacks and a renewed hunger for Aussie-made products. “We are looking to grow substantially. Business is starting to kick-off well and truly as we are going into new markets,” Mr Chown said. “The pandemic disrupted us and hurt us badly but the benefit was it focussed on the need for Australian-made products.” Mr Chown said Bambach was one of only a few businesses to provide Australian-made cables, with 95 per cent of the materials sourced domestically. He said the market was looking buoyant, with contracts on the horizon including those in defence and rolling stock. “We are trying to plug capability gaps in the Australian market and come up with products to meet national demand,” Mr Chown said. “We are getting lots of enquiries and we’re starting to pick up business across the whole of Australia. “It’s not easy, it’s competitive as are always fighting against imports, but I’m finding there’s a lot of blue sky because the focus is now on trying to buy local.”

Above: Bambach Cables general manager Alf Chown shows Regional Development Minister Mary-Anne Thomas around the Rosedale factory.

Right: Bambach Cables is expanding its Rosedale factory and taking on 13 more workers.

Photos: Michelle Slater

Regional Development Minister Mary-Anne Thomas visited the Rosedale factory last week to meet with Mr Chown and other grant recipients. “The Latrobe Valley and Gippsland is undergoing a significant transition and we know through the detailed work done through my department that manufacturing is one of this region’s strengths,” Ms Thomas said. “We want to work with manufacturing businesses to support them to continue to grow.”