Experienced machinist Joe Latham has established his new engineering business ProWest Engineering in Western Australia, driven by a passion to succeed in a climate of change in the manufacturing industry.
With more than 19 years’ experience in the industry, this award-winning engineer with trophies for Top World Skills Machinist for Western Australia and a top ten World Skills entrant for Australia, has a business theme of ‘If you can dream it, we can machine it’. When establishing a new green-field site with a pristine engineering workshop, Latham’s first purchase has been a brand new Okuma Model Genos L3000e-MY x 1000 CNC lathe.
“Over the years I have worked on a wide range of CNC machines and I love the Okuma machines for the easy interface and the outstanding finish they achieve,” says Latham. “The back-up service that Okuma provides is also outstanding from people who really care. This machine is a very big investment for us; however the new plant layout is planned for additional machines and I already know the next Okuma machine model I want.”
In following his dream, Latham has held a passion to start his own engineering business for some time, but the loss of a close family member was the catalyst for moving his plans forward to the start of 2020. While just an ‘Army of Two’ team with his wife Jasmine at start-up, Latham is keen to take on an apprentice as soon as possible and to grow the business.
As ProWest kicks off, Latham is confident that business from clients in the broad market segments of mining, automotive, energy, marine and general engineering will grow rapidly, amid renewed confidence and support for manufacturing in Australia and concerns regarding an over-reliance on offshore manufacturing.
John Dale, Branch Manager – Western Australia for Okuma, commented: “Joe is supported by Okuma’s 12 months bottomless training support from our Western Australian team, along with access to our network of service and applications engineers Australia-wide”.
Latham’s impressive engineering background and the pristine presentation of his workshop and machining centre cannot help but impress, and is sure to draw new and existing clients to this exciting engineering operation.
“At Okuma we are excited to be part of a new enterprise such as ProWest Engineering and to support its growth with the latest technology and machines,” said Okuma Australia Managing Director Dean McCarroll. “ProWest and all our customers can be assured of our on-going support.”