HALF of the finalists for the Young Manufacturer of the Year title hailed from Melbourne’s south east.
Brad Huggett works at Rebul Packaging in Hallam, which was established in 2002 and specialises in making crates to protect goods for interstate or overseas travel.
Christina de Sousa’s from Mountain Harvest Foods in Gembrook, one of Australia’s leading wholesale frozen food manufacturers and suppliers.
Robbie O’Brien founded Dandenong’s FlexiCut Engineering with Randy De Rozario in 2006, aged 26.
Mr O’Brien was finalist for the Young Manufacturer of the Year title last year as well.
He was named the Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute Limited (AMTIL) 2008 Advanced Manufacturing Young Ambassador of the Year, and FlexiCut was a nominee for the 2013 Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce Premier Regional Business Awards.
Mr O’Brien started his career as an apprentice fitter and turner with Larry Perkins Motor Sport, where he was introduced to a computer numerical control (CNC) machine.
After his apprenticeship he worked with leading CNC machine sales organisation John Hart for two years before borrowing $30,000, buying a second-hand machine and leasing a small factory.
Larry Perkins Motor Sport was his first customer and word of mouth helped the business grow.
When Larry Perkins employees moved to new teams they took FlexiCut with them.
Today, FlexiCut can not only machine but also weld, fabricate, grind and engage in prototyping and reverse engineering.
“We’re selling a service, the experience,” Mr O’Brien said.
“We want repeat business from our customers.”
The Journal will profile Mr Hugget in next week’s edition.
Check the Journal’s sister paper The Pakenham Gazette for a feature on Ms de Sousa.
