CONSUMABLES
WITH A DIFFERENCE With a presence across five continents, Australia based heavy engineering company Bradken is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of a wide range of cast and fabricated steel products to the mining, transport and general industrial markets. The company’s European operations are based in the United Kingdom, where it operates two foundries. Victoria Hattersley met with the General Manager for Europe, Anthony Rowett, to find out more.
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ith around 5800 employees worldwide and an annual sales revenue of over AUD$1.31 billion (FY13), Bradken has a long-standing reputation as a global supplier of differentiated consumable products. The company has two core business focuses: a world class range of wear-resistant consumable and capital products designed for the mining and transport industries, and contract manufacturing services capable of producing the most complex engineered steel castings in the world from a weight of 1kg up to 25 tonnes. But Bradken is more than ‘just’ a manufacturer, it is a solutions provider. The driving force behind the organisation is its firm commitment to innovation and continuous improvement, which ultimately provides 104 Industry Europe
customers with value through the creation of customised product solutions. And it is this innovative ethos that allows Bradken to consistently work with some of the world’s most recognised names from Caterpillar, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton to FL Smidth, Hitachi and AngloAmerican.
Evolution in the UK Bradken has a long and proud history. The business, then Bradford Kendall Ltd, was founded in 1922 by two Australian entrepreneurs (Leslie Bradford and Jim Kendall), who used the proceeds of a winning streak at the races to establish their first steel foundry in Sydney. In 2004, the Company, then under its present name, was listed on the Australian
Stock Exchange. Since that time Bradken’s story has been one of continuous success. Its global footprint has expanded through both organic growth and complementary acquisitions (including the purchase of the Atchison/ St Joseph foundry and manufacturing facility in the United States and the Scunthorpe foundry in the UK) in a concentrated effort to globalise its range of products and services. Today Bradken stands as one of the world’s largest combined foundry and heavy engineering groups with 59 manufacturing, sales and services facilities throughout Australia, New Zealand, China, the USA, Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia, South America and the UK, giving it a truly international presence. Bradken’s history of operation in the UK dates back 25 years. When Industry Europe
