Latinka Cubitt of Catten Industries won the 2024 Victorian Female Manufacturer of the Year Award.
Latinka is also an accomplished professional who wears multiple hats as General Manager and Co-Owner of Catten Industries with her husband, Ian. Latinka found time to sit down with AMT editor Paul Hellard.
AMT: Firstly, congratulations on the Victorian Female Manufacturer of the Year Award at the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Awards.
Latinka Cubitt: Oh, what a great night! Both Ian and I had arrived from overseas at around midnight on Sunday. We’d been to InnoTrans in Berlin, which was brilliant. It blew my mind how big it was. The Department of Transport and Planning invited us, and they organised this massive trip with several other companies in the rail supply chain. We caught up with many potential customers and had some excellent opportunities there. We were exhausted when we got back, but you hit the ground running by Monday and Tuesday because you’ve had a few weeks away from the business. Wednesday was the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Awards night in which I’d been nominated, which is an honour in itself. Then I became a finalist with two other incredible women. What they’ve contributed to their respective companies and the industry is massive. So, I went in there without any expectations, and then I won. That was a bit overwhelming. I didn’t expect it, so it was a lovely surprise.
AMT: So when did this journey begin for you?
LC: I remember it clearly. I was on a school excursion in 1983 at the manufacturing plant for Ramset Fasteners. One of the last areas on the excursion was the IT area. Lee Trainer, who was the IT manager at the time, I still remember him vividly saying that you don’t need a uni degree to work in IT. If you are passionate about IT, you can work in IT. And I went, that’s for me.
I think I hassled them a fair bit because they eventually said, yes, come in for an interview. They wanted to start me as a junior, but I’d not finished Year 12, so I held off until the new year. And this is one of the things Ian and I are passionate about, which is getting young people into the Industry. When you walk around the factory, if a potential apprentice says, ‘I want to do this’, we are doing our job correctly because that’s how I started.
I went through various roles throughout my career. From Mainframe Operator, PC Support, Systems Analyst, and Project Management to IT Manager. Then, about ten years ago, I decided to do my MBA because even though I had a good overview of what operations are like within a business, there were still so many grey areas. This was also an excellent opportunity to grow as a person, as I was ready to learn more. I ended up completing the three-year MBA course at night over 16 months.
AMT: So, how did Catten Industries begin?
LC: I was happy working at this terrific software company. Ian rang me one day and said, ‘Hey, the current owner is looking at selling, and there’s an opportunity for us to buy. What do you think?’ I thought it was worth giving it a go; cos, you don’t know if you don’t try. It’s going to be eight years this coming January.
AMT: You do a wide variety of work here in what you call a ‘jobbing’ shop. What are some of the bigger jobs you’ve done at Catten Industries in that time?
LC: When we first started Catten Industries, we had a job come in that was designed locally and manufactured for the Australian Institute of Sport. They created a spinning device concept for competition divers to fine-tune their diving form, saving them from climbing the stairs every time they practice a dive. It was so exciting that this was being made here by us. When the Olympics were on, Melissa Wu was doing an interview, and we saw her utilising the device. Sitting there in the lounge chair, you become an expert in all aspects of the events. We were jumping up and down like we’d won a medal, just seeing the device being used in training even though the event had not started.
Jobs vary over the long term. We currently do work in the renewable energy sector. Someone came in with a vision of where they wanted a product to go. In that first year, there was a lot of design changes. We would revise and revise and make another prototype. You collaborate with these people. To their credit, they could have taken the production overseas but they chose to stick with us, and we now continue to manufacture a great product that is Australian made and helps secure and grow the manufacturing industry in Australia.
AMT: The strong drive in this company is that you have Ian and your whole family here. That’s a lot of support there.
LC: Ian is very passionate about manufacturing. He started off as a 1st class apprentice sheetmetal worker at Siemens, just up the road, and he has a really strong passion for Australian-made products and keeping manufacturing alive here. He’s always been like that, very passionate about making things well and looking to see how we can automate and make processes better. When I came into the business, I brought my passion into the company as well.
I enjoy coming in the morning and saying hello to everyone. I like having a chat to see how they’re all going and how they’re feeling. And I enjoy what I do. I like working on the business. I like looking at advancements as well because I think that coming from an IT perspective, and you look at Industry 4.0, there are a lot of opportunities for us. All of those great opportunities require funding as well. So we’ve got a vision, we’re striving to work towards that.
AMT: Where do you find those new opportunities?
LC: Catten Industries are across a lot of different networks. We’re always learning; we’re always looking for new opportunities. You have to be almost everywhere to know what is happening. There’s a lot of research that you have to do. There’s a lot of everything that you have to do.
Success depends on what percentage of work we get, the parts we get to make and how we make them. Local content requirements are critical in ensuring a solid manufacturing base. After our recent overseas trip, it is apparent that other countries insist on this, and Australia should too. Manufacturing underpins many economies around the world. We need to be smart in how we process parts to compete. We do make parts where only small quantities are required. However, everyone wants to make a part where 100s/1000s are needed. We must ensure that we get the right work, and that locally made/manufactured (not just assembled) parts are mandated to ensure manufacturing continues to thrive within this country.
Our quality is amongst the world’s best. If you take something overseas to a low-cost country, you will know that maybe the first two times, you will get something OK, but things change after the third run. Australia is a tiny fish in the big market regarding how much product we produce, and we should be looking to build our economy and not the middle-class economies of other countries.
AMT: How do you see the future for Catten Industries and manufacturing in Australia?
LC: I would like to see us grow. We want to get another site and another factory if we can. That’s one of the goals. Obviously, Ian and I are not getting any younger; we have our children working in the business. So, it’s actually about looking to help them grow to be the best people they can be. We never thought they would come into the business. They fell into it because they chose to, which is excellent. In our minds, Ian and I have got all this automation happening. We’ve got another site happening. We’ve got two or three shifts happening. That’s the way our minds work.
We want to be able to invest more and bring more apprentices in. We’ve got quite a few apprentices each year since we’ve been here. We have one who has just completed, and two others are in their final year. And we’ve got two fantastic school-based workers, which is an excellent pathway into the manufacturing sector.
I also have the shop, LaTink. This is to fulfil my cravings to create and sell decorative works from metal. The timing was not fantastic. We opened it up and straight away, COVID hit. However, we continued and I’m incredibly passionate about it.
We’d just purchased a new laser for Catten Industries, and I said to Ian, ‘We could do some decorative stuff.’ And he said, ‘No, we are not doing decorative stuff.’ So, I thought I would do a Christmas wreath. And one of the engineers and my daughter Bianca helped me assemble a Christmas wreath for one of my girlfriends as a gift. So, the LaTink shop was born four years ago for a Christmas wreath idea that took off, and we’re making and selling all kinds of customisable trinkets, outdoor garden screens, and furniture out of our shop and online.
AMT: You are passionate about people, and that helps in business and life. This year, Ian and you participated in the ‘Bloody Long Walk’. Can you tell me about that?
LC: The Bloody Long Walk is a drive to fund research to find a cure for Mitochondrial disease. Firstly, it raises awareness to help affected families; it raises funds for equipment so that these kids with Mito have less pain in their lives. It could be a better wheelchair, lifting devices and stuff like that. It’s important because I know we are all so lucky. I’m passionate about Autism research as well. Cancer is the other one. I’ve had too many friends who have passed away from cancer or are cancer survivors. The impact on family and friends is massive. So when you are healthy and good, I think you should always look at helping who you can because you don’t know when it will affect your family or yourself.