This week I attended the QME exhibition in Mackay which was a great opportunity to catch up with customers of our SuperiorWORK brand on the stand at the show grounds. This division of the Superior group delivers floating solutions and associated gangways and pipework to industrial clients. Having grown up on a farm near Mackay and spent time as a boilermaker at Newlands Coal many years ago, attending this show is always like coming home. The great thing is that we are able to add value to projects using our new flotation products specially designed for the mining industry, yet draw on the 25 years of experience from our marine division.

The show is bigger each time the bi annual event is held and the industry continues to provide leadership with workplace health and safety trends and innovative customer led new products. Impressive displays abounded however the Reed event could be improved with more signage including large printed numbers on the outside of each tent to show you which exhibits are inside that tent. Exhibitors and attendees waste a lot of time just finding their way around such a large show.

We launched the patented Razorback pipe clamp system at the show. This labour saving device allows the traditional concrete poured pipe sleeper to be eliminated and to have a premoulded base installed that can support the load or be concrete filled on site. A high visibility cover completes the product and locks the pipe in place.

We continue to gain great customer feedback at the shows as well as requests for new products. This feeds into our design led philosophy where we will desk top prototype the items and be guided by our customers to ensure we nail the concept, enrich the features and provide real winners in the field. This only happens when we work together to create smart products. We have already seen products with older life cycles become subject to strong competition from overseas. If we are to continue to provide quick turnaround times and local jobs, we must continue to innovate. We have engaged an industrial design team at Superior that makes this vision a reality however we are only ever as good as the feedback and relationships we have from customers.

We encourage you to participate is this user led design process to maintain Australian manufacturing expertise and to enrich the communities in which we live.

Until next time.

John

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