Flender to expand in WA with a new purpose-built facility

Flender, a supplier of mechanical drives and a subsidiary of Siemens, has announced plans for expansion into Western Australia with a new state-of-the-art facility in Tonkin Highway Industrial Estate in Bayswater. The move comes as Flender continues to grow in the region and looks to expand its operations in Western Australia to meet increasing customer demand, especially in the wind energy and mining sectors.

The investment will include a new purpose-built 3500 m² facility set for completion in September. When complete, the new premises will apparently be the only OEM facility on the west coast with a 1.5 MW test bench capable of testing complete drive systems up to a voltage of 6.6 kV.

Kareem Emara, CEO and Managing Director at Flender Australia, said that relocating to Tonkin Highway Industrial Estate will allow Flender to centralise operations and get closer to customers in Western Australia.

“Flender has been renowned for high performance, innovation, quality and reliability of mechanical components for over 120 years,” he said. “We have been growing exponentially the last few years and now have the biggest installed base in mining and wind turbine gearboxes compared to any other OEM in Australia.

“Regardless of where we are, being close to our customers is the cornerstone of our business model. Western Australia has been an excellent market for us in the recent years. It’s only natural for us to reinvest in this key market and be where our customers are, to offer them the combined brains trust of over 50 facilities worldwide through this new state-of-the-art centre.”

Flender has the largest installed base of industrial drives in Western Australia. Some installations have been in operation since the 1970s and are still in service today in mine and port locations across the Pilbara and other regions of WA. The facility will also be designed to cater for projected growth in geared wind turbines over the next couple of decades. The new facility will enable Flender to combine sales, project delivery, engineering and training in one location.

“While COVID-19 has presented challenges to the Australian economy, we take a long-term view and are confident in our expansion plans to help set up the right support structure for the nation’s critical energy infrastructure and industry,” Emara continued. “Having been in WA for over 40 years, our view is, and always has been, long term. We are supporting critical industries such as mining now and are preparing for future growth in other industries.”