AMTIL brings members together for a great day out in Moss Vale
Around 22 AMTIL members, many driving out from Sydney, others from further out and indeed some others coming up from Melbourne, attended the tours of Komatsu, and on to Eilbeck Cranes in late February. The first stop was down in Moss Vale for a tour of Komatsu. These companies have been manufacturing mining machinery for the last sixty years.
After a business overview presentation, safety briefing, PPE fitting and a run-through of the housekeeping, the group visited the many subassembly areas that collectively make up the underground mining machinery that Komatsu manufactures. The immense workshops were filled with mining equipment being fitted with gear for their next descent into the coal mines around NSW and QLD.
Hosted by Moss Vale Site Manager Ben James, and assisted by Senior Business Unit Manager, Bill Turner and National Procurement Manager, Scott Hogan, we were directed into many areas to experience some of the shearers, room and pillar/entry development equipment, including continuous miners, bolting systems, haulage systems, feeder breakers, and many sub-components. We also had the opportunity to view a conveyor system which transports the coal from underground, which can be upwards of 175 metres long, all electrically powered and fully collapsible. Longwall systems, including longwall shearers, powered roof supports, armoured face conveyors, and stage loaders/mobile tailpieces were also available to view. The complexity of some of the electronic components was astonishing. I reckon we all left convinced of the power of large-scale engineering required in the mining sector, and the AMTIL group was very pleased to be able to see this close-up, care of Komatsu.
The second place we visited that afternoon was not far from Komatsu at all, on the other side of some train tracks. Charlie Eilbeck was good enough to host us at his brand new facility where his high-skilled crew were pushing out some of the biggest crane bodies in existence. “Cranes are what has made us quite a prominent business,” yelled Charlie. “We have about 70% of the Australian market share.” Eilbeck employs about 450 people in Australia and they have nine crane-building facilities around the country. “It’s great mate. We love it. We love making things, we love manufacturing,” he added. “Very proud and passionate about what we do.”
Charlie tells us the original purpose was to make crane components, but now it’s turned into an engineering business and a contract manufacturing business. They’ve built three huge sites in eight years, winning many major road and tunnel projects around the country.
The shop we were being shown around has only been online for a few months and has increased Eilbeck Cranes’ capacity for further fabrication for painting and heat treatment, plate-forming, plate rolling and the shipment of many cranes for those major projects.