JOBS: Business giant Wagners makes urgent call for staff

BUSINESS giant Wagners is looking to expand its workforce after a plastics factory gained approval from Toowoomba Regional Council.

BUSINESS giant Wagners is looking to expand its workforce after a plastics factory gained approval from Toowoomba Regional Council.

Wagners, one of Queensland's largest private companies, gained approval to transform sheds on its land at Wellcamp into a plastics factory after a council vote on March 16 this year.

Michael Kemp, executive general manager of Wagners Composite Fibre Technology, said the approval of the company's multi-million-dollar CFT operation at the Wellcamp Business Park had prompted an urgent call for qualified staff.

"We've had a very strong start for 2017 winning contracts throughout Australia and New Zealand.  We need to grow the workforce to meet the demands of these projects and fill our recently council approved facility," Mr Kemp said.

Bridging gaps in the market

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CFT is experiencing significant growth in in the design, fabrication and site installation of composite fibre civil structures with 15 pedestrian bridges and five road bridges to be supplied by the end of the financial year. 

He said carpenters, builders, production workers and labourers were urgently required for immediate-start positions within the company's CFT division.

"CFT's previous facility saw us in one factory, and we became very constrained as the business grew. 

"At our new $6m, three-hectare facility at the Wellcamp Business Park we have built three buildings side by side, one for each key component of our business; Pultrusion, Crossarm fabrication and our civil structure fabrication - road bridges, jetty structures and pedestrian structures," Mr Kemp explained.

He said the new CFT headquarters would allow the business greater space for work flow and better efficiencies in material handling and operational processing.

The plant will be constructed in the Wellcamp Business Park, a development owned by the Wagner family. Picture: Contributed

With the support of the council, Wagners CFT developed and supplied five pedestrian bridges into the Toowoomba region over recent years.

This has now developed into a mature product line that is in demand from councils across the country. 

"We have had successful market entry into Western Australia, Victoria and New Zealand in the past 12 months and our proximity to Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport will assist is with international export opportunities within the next 12 months," Mr Kemp said.

For more information on employment opportunities at Wagners refer the Careers Section at wagner.com.au.

How the plant will work

• Pultrusion

This is a continuous process in which the glass fibres and resin are drawn through a heating die to produce the structural sections.

Wagners produce three hollow profiles (100x75mm, 100x100mm and 125x125mm).

The pultrusion machine also includes a saw to cut the beams to length.

• Coating

The pultrusion beams are then coated by a coextrusion process for ultraviolet and tracking resistance.

This is a continuous process where the beams are fed through a co-extrusion die that applies a primer then wraps them in a thin layer of polymer.

• Drill & push

The coated beams then have holes drilled according to the design and plastic blocks called inserts pushed to each hole position to reinforce the holes.

As the beams move through this cell a robot first applies a chamfer to the front end of the beam, the holes are drilled and then the robot applies a chamfer to the rear of the beam.

The drilled and coated beam is then moved to the pusher lane where inserts are pushed into the beam to align with each hole.

• Glue

A two part polyurethane glue is then injected around each insert which significantly improves the load bearing capacity of the hole.

As each drilled, pushed and coated beam is fed into this cell the first hole is moved into position and a camera identifies its location and size, the hole is glued and the next hole is moved into position etc.

• Dress

This is the final stage of production for a crossarm where end caps are glued to the ends of the beams, the customer details are stencilled and each beam is inspected for defects.

The arms are then stacked onto a palled and wrapped in packs of 50 for 100x100 arms or 40 for 125x125 crossarms.

Vegetation has already been cleared from the land. . Picture: Contributed

Water

The developer is a water service provider and will purchase treated water from council to store in reservoirs before use.

The development will also be serviced by reticulated bore water mains from licensed on-site bores.

A separate development application for a waste water treatment system was approved by council on 30 October 2014 and will ultimately service this development.

Parking

Combined parking at the facility will include fifty eight car parking spaces and provision for articulated vehicle parking.

Landscaping will be used to "soften" the development on external areas not otherwise used for vehicle parking, manoeuvring or storage.

The site has been cleared of vegetation. 

Originally published as JOBS: Business giant Wagners makes urgent call for staff