Home-grown materials handling specialist Capstone Industries has recently started to develop its own engineering in house, with great results. MHD finds out more.
In 2015, Tieman Industries, one of the leading materials handling suppliers in Australia, went into administration. According to Keith Harrison, Business Development Manager at Capstone Industries this left a gap in the market that previous employees at the company were keen to fill.
“Tieman was the major powerhouse in the materials handling industry for more than 60 years, and many of the industries finest worked for that company,” Keith says.
Shayne Gregoire and Ben Cleary, former Tieman Industries employees, started Capstone Industries in 2015 to offer the service that was needed, and now lacking, in the materials handling industry.
“The business started off with a ute and two guys,” Keith says. Ben and Shane worked long and hard hours servicing the waste and materials handling industry to earn enough capital to buy a factory in Campbellfield, Victoria.
Capstone quickly grew its offering and now has 13 full-time technicians out supporting its customers every day, as well as a network of authorised service agents covering all corners of the country. As one of the largest materials handling service organisations in Australia, 24/7 support is Capstone’ promise.
With docking equipment playing such a crucial role in some of Australia’s largest retail businesses, this service promise is a key point of difference, Keith says. “For the larger retailers and distribution centres, for example, if a dock leveller goes down then operations are impacted, equipment reliability is absolutely crucial.”
Over the past 18 months, since Keith joined the business, there has been a expansion in focus for the organisation. “For years we primarily provided a service offering, but as I started to meet with people in the materials handling industry I realised that there was a need for a more bespoke offering than what any of our suppliers could give us,” Keith says.
Capstone differs from other organisations offering materials handling solutions in that they do all of the engineering and design in house, equipment is designed in Australia for Australian conditions, “Most of our competitors are resellers, they’ll will import overseas products, put a margin on it and resell it. It’s a totally different game when you have the capability to design build that equipment yourself,” Keith says.
When Keith first came on board, the business was not developing or selling any of its own products. But after a few customers approached Keith to design bespoke solutions, the organisation soon recognised a gap in the market.
“A customer asked us if we had a suitable boom gate, we didn’t, so they asked us to build one. We then put all of our effort and extra resources into creating exactly what the customer wanted,” Keith says.
For Keith, being so close to the customers enables him to know what they are looking for in a product. “You know when something is bad and you know what your customer is looking for. I’ve been selling the products and solutions so I know what works,” he says.
After the success of the first bespoke product, Capstone was then presented with the challenge of engineering a mini dock leveller. “We had a supplier for dock levellers but they struggled to deliver the level of customisation our customer needed. So we gave them a lead time of 14 weeks, engineered and manufactured the docks in house ourselves from that point on we have combed the globe and travelled the world trying to find the best way to build a solution,” Keith says.
The project was not without its challenges, Keith recalls, but one thing that he acknowledges is the flexibility that working for a business such as Capstone Industries allows.
In this instance, we installed four of the mini dock levellers and they have been working in place now for two years without issue, Keith says.
“One of our key strengths is our flexibility, generated through years of industry experience supported by highly experienced, strong engineering. It’s the bloodline to giving a quality product. Any product that we design, we can confidently say will be suit our customer’s needs.
Keith reflects on what has been an extremely rewarded and challenging time over the past 24 months at Capstone. “When you move at this kind of pace, you learn something new every day. We’re constantly engaging with our customers and trying to find ways that we can offer a solution rather than just a product,” he concludes.