Geelong Manufacturing Council member Thornton Engineering is expanding into new markets with the purchase of leading electric motor and generator servicing company Bob White Electrix, which was founded in 1946 in Norlane.
Bob White Electrix offers extensive repair, machining, fitting and testing capabilities, including Australia’s first high-speed balance pit, serviced by two hefty gantry cranes. It was sold by its family founders to ABB Australia in 2012.
The sale to Thornton went through last month.
“We’ve just taken it over. I see a lot of opportunity in power generation and I think the business could be could be more along the scale of Thornton Engineering, with the right investment and people,” owner David Thornton tells Geelong Manufacturing Council.
“I don’t like businesses being sold to private equity. I don’t like that kind of thing. I am sort of old school, but with very modern equipment. I like industries that make sense, that are really needed, with world’s best equipment.”
Thornton’s clients span oil and gas, power, petroleum, mining, infrastructure and construction, and include BHP and Rio Tinto, Santos and AGL, John Holland and Lendlease.
Established in 1975 from a small workshop making farming equipment in Penshurst western Victoria, the family-owned business has grown to become one of the leading steel fabricators in Australia.
In 1999, Thornton Engineering established its head office and fabrication facility on a 100,000 sqm site in Geelong, and it now produces a diverse range of products from five workshops, including a dedicated Vessel Shop, two Beamlines, a Plate Shop and the original Penshurst workshop.
The business employs around 200 people and recent projects include Melbourne’s Palmer’s Road bridge and Mentone train station.
“Geelong is a good place to hire and keep staff. I was born here, I grew up in western Victoria but I came back when I was 25,” Mr Thornton says.
The team are currently boosting capacity by around a third with a new factory.
“We have built on and built more factories and more automation, a broad offering. We’ve got two factories for structural steel, and this new factory is heavier weight fabrication steel.”
Mr Thornton has plans to similarly overhaul Bob White Electrix, which once employed 150 people, and he is looking for a suitable site of around 30 acres.
“I want to build that back up to a similar size. We will become the major service centre of all of the OEMs, like Siemens and GE. I want to build a new factory on a different site, completely reimagining the whole business,” he says.
“I’m excited about Bob White Electrix. In building this entire new factory, it brings a lot of new technologies to Australia and a new workshop that’s going to be entirely modern and state of the art. Our plan is to rebuild a high-speed balancing facility, a new upgraded one.”
Mr Thornton’s father, who was behind the company’s “Depend On It” motto, recently died just short of his 80th birthday.
“I worked with my dad, we worked very well together, were very productive. He worked until he was 77, which is what I would do as well,” Mr Thornton says.
“I like long-term strategic, world’s best equipment, and multi generation,” Mr Thornton says. “That’s what I believe in.”
Geelong Manufacturing Council is very pleased to present David Thornton at our next members only GMC Connect: Extreme Engineering event on August 30. More details here or email Leanne Nelson.