Frontline Manufacturing |New Defence-Orientated Metal Fabrication Facility.

1. Frontline Manufacturing has just completed a move into a new defence-orientated metal fabrication facility. The company said in a statement that the new facility is "a far cry from the constrained premises it has occupied for the last decade." The new Meadowbrook location has enabled the commissioning of major new equipment as well as fully integrated machining. The new capabilities will enable the company to increase its capacity to supply "heavy" metal structures for major land and naval defence projects. "At the moment, Land 121 provides the majority of our work, supplying into Haulmark Trailers and Holmwood Highgate," a spokesperson said. "We recently began work for Rheinmetall on Land 400 Phase 2 and also support other organisations such as Eniquest." A Queensland Government Small Business Grant helped the company fund a professional factory planning firm. The proposed layout of the company was based on lean manufacturing and industrial engineering principles. This included modular welding bays that could be quickly scaled up depending on the size of the project.

2. A Queensland Government Small Business Grant helped the company fund a professional factory planning firm. The proposed layout of the company was based on lean manufacturing and industrial engineering principles. This included modular welding bays that could be quickly scaled up depending on the size of the project. Multiple overhead cranes that can work in tandem to double load capacity have enabled the company to win projects that it "would never have considered in the previous premises." Director of Frontline Daniel Green remarked, "With the aspirations and ambitions the international primes bring to their Australian projects, we didn't believe we could wait until we 'win' the work before taking the measures required to complete the work." Instead, we have done our best evaluation of what the business needs to be able to deliver in order to support them after consulting with our current and future clients. It has been a massive effort, but it is exactly what we think is required of businesses like ours to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Commonwealth under the DICP. While the factory is fully functional, Plant Manager Nathan Sutton remarked, "All staff are looking forwards to our huge reopening celebration with our customers and government leaders on November 7th." It will be wonderful to take a minute to let everything settle in because the entire build, commissioning, and move have been so frantic. After that, work will resume. www.frontlinemanufacturing.com.au