By Luke Voogt
A new $3m Lara plastic factory has created a handful of jobs and could bring a dozen more to Geelong, according to its management.
Axieo chief operating officer Jade Weiss said the company hoped to increase its Asia and US export markets in the next five years.
“We probably have the capacity to build a second shed and double (production) – the site’s quite large.”
This could mean doubling the site’s workforce to 24, Ms Weiss said.
The 80,000 square metre site will replace Axieo’s existing Geelong plant.
“It was a pretty old rundown site,” Ms Weiss said.
The company has hired an extra four employees and relocated its eight Geelong staff to the new site.
Ms Weiss admitted the company had looked at offshoring the operation to Asia or moving it to its Thomastown facility.
“We decided – if we could – we’d prefer to stay in Geelong because we have a very long term workforce there. I’m proud that we’ve managed to keep the facility here.”
“It’s pretty high-skilled work what the guys do operating the machines. (They) have an awful lot of know-how – it’s quite an art.”
In an “Australian first” the new plant will manufacture black carbon-based plastic pellets or ‘masterbatch’.
Masterbatch has a number of uses including exterior cables, major infrastructure piping, water tanks and explosives storage containers requiring exceptional static discharge properties.
“The facility will allow us to make grades that had previously been brought into Australia,” Ms Weiss said.
She added she was excited to work with other manufacturers in Geelong’s “Carbon Cluster HQ”.
