FJ Hawney - Company Bio - Australian Welding Institute

F J HAWNEY Pty Limited

Proudly Australian owned and operated

FJH is a steel fabrication and general engineering company based in Yennora, NSW. The company fabricates all types of tanks, conveyors, furnaces and furnace components (cupola recuperators, holding furnaces, and blast furnaces) plus fabrications for the mining industry which include sides for mining crushers and fan castings.

They are a company known for their troubleshooting and repairs and maintenance capabilities which is a bonus as the company completes a lot of onsite erections, fabrications and welding.

The company’s current Director is Mr Greg Dawes.

In 1961, Greg began working for FJH as Boilermaker when he was 27, and became foreman and manager progressing quickly in the company.

Greg took over the business in 2002, together with his father, Walter. In 2012, Walter retired from the business after having seen the development of FJH as a proudly, family owned and operated business with a solid history of workers (not much changeover of staff) and great relationships with suppliers, clients and workers.

Developing and maintaining those great relationships are key to the company’s success in sectors which include mining, oil and gas, infrastructure, defence, water, chemical, aviation, automotive and maintenance.

The list of key clients is a long one and some are listed below:

Alcoa ARP

Coregas

CSR Limited

Endeavour Energy (Integral Energy)

Water Infrastructure Group

Visy Paper

One Steel

Blue Scope Steel

Nuplex Industries

Siemens

UEA Electrical

Air Liquide

Turnkey Engineering Group

Rheem

FJH have been the preferred supplier of Alcoa ARP for over 20 years – fabrication and general engineering for their Yennora site, providing furnace tubs, furnace components, scrap bins, loaders, general engineering and maintenance.

The company has also held the status of preferred supplier for over 15 years to Endeavour Energy. FJH maintain ALL substations from the Blue Mountains to Wollongong and the Central Coast. They fabricate, maintain and supply all components for Endeavour Energy’s substations, including the building of the actual substations and large switch yards plus performing general engineering and maintenance.

What is unique about FJH?

Greg states that one of the unique features of the company, is its old fashioned customer service.

However, FJH does have a large, fully fitted factory of over 600m². Most of the work is undertaken in the factory or on site; for fast turnaround. Another plus point is that very little outsourced, which allows for exceptional quality control.

One other key area which makes FJH unique is that the company can (and regularly does) provide a high standard of troubleshooting to its customers.

These unique attributes led to them being chosen by Turnkey Engineering Group to build 2 rotary furnaces.

These units were built in the factory and then transported to site. Each furnace barrel weighed in at 25 tonne and the sub-frames were 23 tonne each. There was a large amount of manpower involved in the project which took 3½ months to build and install on site.

How has the company changed over the years?

Greg states that evolving FJH by constantly keeping up to date with industry standards plus re-inventing the company ensures it is always able to offer fresh services which is in keeping with the demands of its clients.

Those changes and evolution of FJH have seen it continue to hold a strong piece of the market even after a lot of changes such as the turndown caused by the ‘Global Financial Crisis’ to the recent introduction of the Carbon tax.

While a lot of business are being moved overseas, Greg makes the point that due to the service provided, FJH customers have remained loyal, and have committed to use FJH rather than seeking cheaper alternatives or moving their fabrication procurement business overseas.

So what are the future plans for FJH?

Greg states that establishing new clients is a key driver for the company but key, is maintaining the great service to its existing clients and the unique heritage of FJH.