Since 1954, Norris Industries has been manufacturing and supplying the hospitality industry with a vast range of commercial glass and dishwashers. Australian-owned and operated, the company founder Vince Norris designed and produced the first Australian commercial glass washer in his backyard shed.
Damien Berry, R&D Manager, says that while Norris fell behind its competitors for a short period of time, it’s now overtaken them from a technology point of view: “We’ve overtaken in technology; we’re techier than everyone else in our industry. For a while, we lacked development and innovation, but moving forward, we’ve spent time developing the business and we’re using 21st-century technology to produce products people want. For example, our newest range focuses on power management – our AP500 is 50% more efficient on power than its predecessor, which is what everyone’s interested in.”
Norris’ process is to make sure that it fully understands customer needs and issues, such as difficult water conditions or power restrictions.
“While our products aren’t tailor-made, we try to understand difficult customer needs and incorporate solutions, rather than produce a one-size-fits-all bulk product range like our overseas competitors,” Berry explains. “We can’t compete with price, but our development sets us away from this as we place more importance on the problems we’re trying to solve.”
Having recently purchased a TruPunch 5000R, a TruBend 5130 with Bendmaster, and a SOCO pipe bender from Headland Machinery and a Hanel Lean lift, the team at Norris have seen a huge increase in accuracy and efficiency.
“The turret punch improves quality of flat pieces of steel and works fast, the TruBend improves accuracy and folding to reduce scrap,” says Berry. “The Bendmaster handles awkward, heavy parts that require two people to fold, and the SOCO enables us to bend all tubes in-house, rather than us having to buy from an external source.”
Berry says efficiency has drastically improved, as more processes are now automated and faster, meaning a great deal of work can be carried out in a short amount of time. The company has also seen a huge increase in productivity and versatility in recent years; the combination of machinery means that several jobs can be carried out at the same time at high speed.
“We have a longstanding relationship with Headland as they supply all machinery we buy,” says Berry. “Their sales team are knowledgeable and answer any questions we have, while the service team are prompt and reliable. I often recommend Headland and Trumpf machinery to my own contacts.”
With increased demand in Australia, Norris is continually finding that customers are no longer as interested in buying cheap products from overseas as they were a few years ago, because these products are more likely to break down. It’s becoming increasingly common that customers prefer to spend more money on reliable, Australian-made products.