Bradken foundry Ipswich: Karrabin site sold to White Industries from Dalby after 180 workers lose jobs

Bradken’s Ipswich foundry site has been acquired by another company as operations wind down after almost 50 years.

Bradken Ipswich Operations has been sold to White Industries from Dalby.

BRADKEN’S Ipswich foundry has been sold to a company from out west but it remain unclear as to what this means for the nearly 200 workers who lost their jobs.

About 180 staff were laid off with Bradken’s operation of the foundry and machine shop on the Karrabin site to finish up by the end of the month after a 12-month phase down period.

Most of the foundry workers finished in April. At its peak there were about 400 people working across three shifts a day and pouring 35 tonnes of metal around the clock.

Former Bradken workers had a drink at the Walloon Saloon Hotel after the company shut down its Ipswich foundry in April.

The site has been acquired by White Industries from Dalby, which is the largest privately-owned foundry group in the country.

A heads of agreement has been finalised by the two companies, with the transfer to take place in the final three months of the year.

It is a move welcomed by the manufacturers’ union, which praised the opportunities for future employment it would bring.

As part of a lease agreement, Bradken will continue to operate its fabrication plant on the Ipswich site and employ 25 people to service the domestic mining market.

“White Industries is pleased to announce the acquisition of the manufacturing site currently known as Bradken Ipswich Operations,” the company said in a statement.

“The sale has been in the making for some time, but both parties were subject to a confidentiality deed and unable to discuss the transaction until (now).

“With the acquisition, White Industries bolsters its capacity in the Australian foundry sector and increases its stake as the largest privately-owned foundry group in Australia.”

White Industries CEO Craig White with Ipswich West MP Jim Madden.

“The sale of the Ipswich site for Bradken is a result of the strategic decision to move away from the industrial markets in Australia.

“White Industries is committed to Australian manufacturing, always seeking opportunities to continue our growth, so by operating from both these facilities, we can see a great future.”

Ipswich West MP Jim Madden said he recently met with White Industries CEO Craig White.

“White Industries is a family-run business, which has operated in Dalby since the 1960s,” Mr Madden said.

“It is great to see a Queensland company taking over the massive Bradken site at Karrabin.

“Fabricating metal products is White Industries’ core activity so I am sure they will make full use of the foundry located at the Bradken site.

“Ipswich has a proud history of foundry work and metal fabrication for the railways as well as the mining and the agricultural sectors.

“I am looking forwarding to working with White Industries to help them secure work from both the state government and the private sector.”

AMWU Queensland and Northern Territory secretary Rohan Webb said that a new owner and continued foundry operations in Ipswich would specialist skills are not lost from the local manufacturing industry.

“Just like how the redundancies impacted workers, their families, the local community; this new chapter presents opportunities for the whole Ipswich community and local industry,” he said.

Bradken foundry workers hold a stop work protest meeting in 2016.

“If we’re serious about local manufacturing and supporting Aussie made, we simply must retain this manufacturing capacity in our local communities.”

The union said it looks forward to working with the new operators to “ensure these jobs are well paid and secure (and) with good industrial conditions”.

Bradken’s decision to sell comes after a call last year to focus on the mining sector.

Bradken was acquired by Japanese company Hitachi Construction Machinery in 2017.

“Bradken has worked hard to make Ipswich an efficient and viable operation, but declining customer demand, changing market conditions and the decision to focus on mining markets and products has resulted in the decision to exit Ipswich,” CEO Simon Linge said last year.

Known as the Scott’s Foundry with a history dating back to the early 1900s, it moved to Karrabin from a site near the Bremer River after it was flooded in 1974.

Long time Bradken moulder Alan Dale finished up in April after 33 years in the Ipswich foundry over two stints.

While he was retiring, he told the Queensland Times some workers were “hanging on hoping” another company would buy the foundry and reopen.

“Some of them are sweating on it opening back up,” he said at the time.

“It’s a waiting game.”

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Bradken foundry Ipswich: Karrabin site sold to White Industries from Dalby after 180 workers lose jobs