14 minute read
TOGETHER WE THRIVE
TOGETHER WE THRIVE
How Bowhill Engineering is transforming communities and their people by optimising and building the structures that matter
Based in South Australia, Bowhill Engineering is a multigeneration, family-owned and operated business that has been giving Australian businesses the edge since the early 1970s. Specialist fabricators of heavy and complex structural steel, Bowhill Engineering collaboratively builds structures, from design optimisation through to installation, that benefit many Australians.
In the increasingly competitive game of winning, and successfully completing, infrastructure contracts, Bowhill Engineering knows how to deliver good outcomes. The familyowned and operated business has offered Australian clients unbeatable service since the 1970s.
Back then, Bowhill Engineering was a small rural machinery maintenance, repair and modification workshop run by Brendon and Averil Hawkes. The business built its reputation by putting clients first and always finding unique solutions.
Since then, the company has increased its competitive advantage and service offering. Today, Bowhill fabricates even some of the most complex and critical steelwork projects across Australia.
Jodie Hawkes carries on Brendon and Averil’s legacy as a secondgeneration business owner. She is the Chief Finance Officer at Bowhill Engineering, who said it did not take long for the company to grow from its humble beginnings.
“We originally focused on mechanical repairs, and then machining. The business then evolved to structural steel when Jeremy and his brother
Simon wanted to make big cool things in the mid-90s, rather than the traditional mechanical repairs they’d been doing.”
The company has since expanded to over 60 staff, and boasts an annual turnover of $13 million. It has a diverse portfolio across multiple industries like mining, defence, infrastructure and marine.
Despite the perils of the pandemic, Hawkes said the company has become a beacon for success. “Most of this growth has occurred in the past five years.”
Bowhill’s reputation has been built on a wide range of areas:
• Specialising in large complex structural steel
• Being easy to do business with
• Offering a collaborative problemsolving approach
• A high capability for developing innovative solutions to complex projects
• A positive track record for delivery on time and with high quality
• Price competitiveness.
There is a wide variety of projects in Bowhill’s workshop at any one time. “We specialise in heavy and complex structural steel fabrication. Think bridge girders and mining equipment. We service multiple industries including infrastructure, mining, defence and water,” Hawkes said.
However, Bowhill Engineering is best known for building large steel bridge girders. In all, the company has completed over 15 bridges on the North-South Expressway in South Australia, and over 25 bridges in the past 20 years.
Part of this success has been identifying and aligning with key clients, who fit the same culture and values as Bowhill.
Loyal Staff Pave the Way for Success
The company’s values drive its success. Together, Bowhill staff are goal-driven and determined to make a difference in the Australian engineering landscape. Bowhill Engineering is committed to quality and ongoing professional development for staff.
“We focus on our X Factor, which is our employees. They are our key to sustained growth. We focus heavily on training, and not just for skill,” Hawkes said. “Over 50% of our staff are on training contracts, ranging from leadership, WHSE and project management, through to metal fabricator traineeships. We’ve had a 95% success rate, with over 40 staff completing our trainee and apprenticeship program.”
“We are working hard on developing three levels of leaders to ensure sustainability and succession within our leadership team. On top of training programs, all leadership staff are currently involved in external mentoring and internal coaching programs. This has been extremely successful and we have seen huge growth within our middle management team,” said Hawkes.
The company operates an Emerging Leaders Group, which participates in a range of interactive sessions targeted towards the company’s core values. According to Hawkes, their group of 19 emerging leaders recently participated in a two day strategic planning session to review the company’s purpose, core values and core competencies.
“We have developed our 90 day goals and broken them down into 12 steps to make the goals easier to achieve,” said Hawkes.
“Our strength is with our systems and ‘chocking the wheel’ to ensure we capture the intellectual property of our people and processes. We hold ourselves accountable. We train to EQ. We train our leaders to make decisions based on our values: do what we say we are going to do; we get things done together; we work smarter; we help our clients win. We are true to our core values and living our purpose: Together we Thrive,” Hawkes said.
Flying the Flag with High-Profile Projects
The Bowhill team has an abundance of skills and experience to bring even the most complicated projects to life.
Pedestrian Bridge project in Canberra, innovative technologies were used to achieve a contemporary architectural effect. Personnel conducted post-weld grinding on a welded box section to ensure the bridge had a high aethetic appeal.
In addition, Bowhill worked on the Oaklands Railway Station project—a high profile striking architectural statement in South Australia. The complex structure required 200 tonnes of steelwork and a level of accuracy and diligence that is in the upper echelon of engineering in Australia. The company instigated weekly face to face meetings with the client to help ensure the project came to life, the technical requirements were met and the flow on effects were felt positively throughout the whole project stakeholder team.
Hawkes said Bowhill is working on a range of high-profile projects at the moment. “We are in the final installation stages of a Head Frame for Oz Minerals—a bright blue 60m tall structure with four legs of 2.6m each in diameter—it’s an impressive structure. We have some bridge girder work at Sydney Gateway and Mt Derrimut and some significant Temporary Steelwork in Bridgewater, Tasmania too.”
To achieve these impressive feats of manufacturing, Bowhill operates a 3,500m2 workshop floor area, and five hectares of hardstand.
“We are also at the final planning stages to build a third 22m x 70m workshop, which is being designed to manage our niche of heavy and complex structural steel. It will encompass a 100 tonne crane and building height of 23m.”
“We have also recently invested in point cloud software, to develop our capacity in 3D computer-aided design post fabrication processes. This allows us to understand increasingly complex geometric steel structures. It’s an internal process allowing us to minimise risk and maximise capacity,” Hawkes said.
To win such an impressive list of contracts, Bowhill understands the importance of certification and innovation. The company has been ISO 9001:2015 certified since 2014, and holds AS/NZS ISO 3834.2 certification, AS/NZS 5131 certification. Bowhill also runs a cloud-based Integrated Management System, which has been consistently reviewed and managed to ensure a high quality of results.
“Our system has been around and reviewed annually for nearly nine years—some of the document revisions are over 1000. We built the system ourselves, never taking a pre-made off the shelf option. So we know it inside out and how it integrates with all functions of our business model,” said Hawkes.
Celebrating Success on the National Stage
In a testament to Bowhill’s strength and position in the Australian manufacturing sector, the company won Weld Australia’s 2022 Excellence Award for Company of the Year— Fabrication (Small) in the South Australia category.
Hawkes said the award strengthens Bowhill as a true leader in the heavy engineering infrastructure space. “We are very honoured and humbled by this award. There are some amazing fabricators out there doing a great job.”
“Our purpose is Together We Thrive, and winning this award is about giving back to our stakeholders (clients, suppliers, employees, community, shareholders) to show them that our hard work and dedication is being recognised,” Hawkes said.
The award showcases Bowhill’s enviable track record for project delivery, quality, safety and environmental excellence. The Weld Australia Awards are the premiere event for welders and fabricators in Australia. The Awards highlight some of the best projects, and shine a light on craftmanship, professionalism and people in the sector.
Further Information
For further information about Bowhill Engineering, visit: boweng.com.au
