Austin expands across Australia and New Zealand

Austin expects this new focus will give it a significant advantage in securing new customer orders and increase revenue in key locations across the APAC region.

Austin has successfully implemented the first stage of its global strategy to reduce operating costs across all operations, which has led to a significant lift in 1H22 EBITDA margins as reported at the company’s recent AGM. This partnership expansion is the key next step to increase revenue through developing market share.

The partnerships are a continuation of the ‘hub-and-spoke’ strategy being rolled out by Austin globally whereby Austin establishes a network of accredited ‘spokes’ to support its major manufacturing centres. The partner firms are located close to key mining areas and will undertake the final assembly and customer delivery of truck bodies that are designed and partially built in Austin’s major APAC manufacturing facilities in either Perth, Australia or Batam, Indonesia.

Austin has already established similar style partnerships and operations in North America, including a wholly owned final assembly facility in Western Canada and a partnership with equipment manufacturer Melter in Mexico, to support its major US manufacturing centre in Casper, Wyoming. In FY21, truck bodies accounted for 63% of revenue in the APAC region. Under its advanced manufacturing strategy, Austin has completed significant design upgrades to its main line of truck bodies for its APAC markets to improve operational performance and improve shipping logistics. The new ‘huband-spoke’ partnerships will see overall shipping costs and supply chain complexities reduced, improving the performance and economics of Austin’s core offering.

Austin CEO and Managing Director, David Singleton, said: “The reduction in operating expenses is already paying significant dividends and now our focus is moving to revenue enhancement.

“In this new phase of Austin – Austin 2.0 – we are looking at the world’s major mining regions to see how we better service our customers with market leading products and enhanced customer support at commercially competitive rates. It is natural that we are now focusing on one of the largest truck fleets in the world, right on our doorstep in eastern Australia and New Zealand.

“Our newly established Canadian operation is already building its first seven truck bodies from kits built in Casper, whilst our partnership in Mexico was an essential element in securing new truck body orders in that region. We look forward to similarly rapid success in Australia and New Zealand.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/finance-business/06012022/austin-expands-across-australia-and-new-zealand/