Kari Armitage: Managing Director at Quarry Mining

Kari Armitage, Managing Director of Quarry Mining, shares her remarkable journey from civil engineering to leading a thriving manufacturing business in the mining industry. She discusses taking over the family business, growing it from just a few employees to over 100, and expanding into international markets. Kari provides a glimpse into Quarry Mining’s innovative technologies, including 3D metal printing and lights-out machining. She reflects on the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry and offers advice for those looking to enter the field. Kari also touches on work-life balance, sharing her passion for long-distance triathlons. This conversation offers valuable insights into leadership, resilience, and the evolving landscape of manufacturing and mining in the Newcastle region.

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Please note: this transcript has been auto-generated and may contain some errors.

hanks for joining us today on the NewyTechPeople Engineering Success podcast. My name’s Mel Seatsma. I’m the senior engineering consultant here at NewyTechPeople.

Today I’m joined by Kari Armitage, who’s the managing director of Quarry Mining. Thanks for joining me, Kari. Thanks, Mel.

Thanks for having me. Yeah, it’s great to be here. So, Kari, I guess for those who may not know your story, I’d love to, I guess, share your career journey today.

Where you started and I guess where you are now. Yeah. Okay.

In quick summary, I started work at Parsons Brinkoff, which is now Worley Parsons. And I was working as a civil engineering designer on lots of civil roads and infrastructure projects. I had a fantastic boss and great opportunities there and I really loved my job.

But 18 years ago now, my dad asked me if I’d come and help him run his small little mining supply business. And I really didn’t want to go at the time because I loved my job and the people I worked with. But I got some advice from a few business owners that I’d met through my old job and they were, you know, maybe it’s a good thing to go and work for yourself.

Could be good. So I went and tried it out for a few weeks to help mum and dad. And at that stage it was just mum and dad and one other storming.

And I thought this could be. This just needs some love and attention and it could be really great. And so I did.

I took the leap and I now it’s 103 people. Wow. And it’s been a fantastic ride and I’ve got such a good team and I’m very, I’m very fortunate.

Awesome. And I guess civil engineering, was there something that kind of, I guess a light bulb moment that where you went? I’m going to study civil engineering. Yes.

I wanted to be a civil engineer from about the age of six when I found out what a civil engineer was. So I was one of those lucky kids that went through school just knowing what I want to do. And I did love it.

I really. And it’s been a great grounding for what I even do now. I mean, you would not call me a mining engineer by any stretch.

I just run a. I run a small to medium size enterprise that’s manufacturing. But engineering has been an amazing base for that.

Yeah. And I think a lot of the disciplines, as much as they are specialized, they kind of cross over a lot in various industries. Yeah.

And engineering is one of those things. I think it just makes sure that you’re made of the right stuff, you know, tests you out along the way. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, very good. And throughout your career, has there been like a key mentor or person that has helped guide you along the way? Yeah, they’ve changed over the years. So my mentors now, I still have, but they’re a bit different.

But when I was working in the design role, I had a fantastic boss and I really looked up to him and. And he used to call me his bloody shadow because I’d follow him around to all the jobs on the weekends just to try and learn more, soak up his brain. Now I’ve got some friends in the industry and outside of the industry.

One guy that I often will ring if I’m having a down day or a moment or I just don’t know what to do. He runs a civil engineering contracting business and I still talk to him and I met him back in my old career, so I’ve known him for about two long. 30 years or something.

And I still go to him. So I’d call him a mentor too, to this day. Yeah, very good.

And I guess, you know, you touched on taking over a family business that can come with its own challenges. Yes. Can you share with us some of those challenges along the way? Yes, it has been very challenging.

My. I’m not the son my dad wanted, unfortunately for him, he’s very old school. Well, he was.

He’s passed away now. He was the older school than old school, I called him. You know, everything was beers after work and, you know, you take your customers out and you get drunk with them and it’s pretty hard to.

And. Oh, and s. That’s ridiculous.

What’s that? You know, nobody needs that. Just be careful. So, yeah, bringing quarry mining into the next world, which, luckily enough, I’d had some background working elsewhere first.

Yeah. So let’s just say if my dad had been my mentor, would have been a lot of trouble by now. Yeah.

But we had our challenges, dad and I, and you know, in some respects, you look back and it’s. It’s quite sad, but in other ways, I hope I made him a little bit proud. Yeah, I’m sure.

You. Tricky subject, my dad. Yeah.

I think, you know, it sounds like you’ve done quite a achievement in the growth there. Yeah. There’s some people there at Quarry Mining that have been with me through the whole way, you know, the 18 years, and they listen to me talk about my dad and they’ll be just.

Yeah. Many examples of him and his behaviours would come to mind for them. Yeah, yeah.

But I think as you touched on, there has definitely been a shift across many industries in how we approach the thought of WHS and things like that, which, you know, the so called old school mentalities, they are very different from. Yeah. You know, 20, 30 years ago.

So. Yeah, yeah. And my mum worked in the business for my dad then too and she, she really wanted to be a nurse but she gave up her career for him and for quarry mining.

And really she’s the one that held it together. I really think from a financial perspective, certainly my dad was a good salesman and good customer relationships, but she didn’t get enough credit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It’s often those behind the scenes that do hold the businesses together. Yeah. You know.

And were either of your parents engineers or tradespeople? No, mum was a nurse and loved it. And dad? Actually my dad, he’s Norwegian and he ran away from Norway when he was 17 and when he got to Australia, really didn’t know what to do with himself. When I say ran away, he actually stowed away on a boat.

He should have written a book. Wow. But he got to Australia and he met a couple of other Scandinavians and Scandinavians are into hard rock.

Like there’s so much hard rock and mountainous country that drilling is their thing. That’s how he got into it. Drilling.

Yeah. Just by meeting Scandinavians in Australia is a bit of a. Somewhere to gravitate to.

Wow. Sounds like your dad has a really interesting story. Yeah.

And that’s just one. Yeah, yeah. And obviously the business has evolved over time.

Are there any other parts, I guess the quarry mining history in general that you’d like to share with us? When I first got to quarry mining, dad said to me, you need a purpose built facility, our own machining center. Because they didn’t have that, they just ran it out of the garage at home. Ex underground coal miner who could be your sales rep.

So they’ve got some technical expertise. Yeah. Stop renting.

Pretty much, yeah. Own. Own something.

And so. Okay, no worries, we’ll go about that. But his point was that we should look at coal mining because that’s a niche market and that’s where there’s a little foothold.

His passion was tunnels, so we still do. All of 95% of the business today is still in underground coal mining and tunneling. Yeah, tunnels are mined, so they’re very related.

Related, but it’s different drilling. He wanted to go off and do tunnels and I focused on the coal mining. Okay.

I just went about learning Everything I could about that. And then Phil, who’s the general manager today, found him back then, and he was an ex underground coal miner. So he’s ticked one of Dad’s boxes and yeah, he’s still there.

And his expertise has been invaluable and he’s just helped me grow the business. And it’s. It’s been an incredible growth.

Yeah. Trajectory, people, facilities, you know, now we’re up to something like seven facilities and factory in China and all sorts of exciting things. Wow.

Yeah, it’s very exciting. Yeah. And in that growth, are there some, maybe some key projects that you’re currently involved in that you’d like to share with us? Well, we are the major supplier for the underground roof support tools for most of the coal mines in Australia.

The preferred supplier or contracted supplier. I’d say we’d probably have 90% of that market share, which is. We’re very proud of.

But I do remember the days that Phil and I had that conversation. We were supplying one Glencore mine, this must have been back in about 2008 or something. And he said, glencore is talking about, you know, putting all of their mines into one contract.

And I remember saying to him, how on earth would we manage that? And now that’s just a funny. We still laugh about that because now we have all of the. All of the mining companies put all of their mines into one contract and we have all of them.

Yeah. It’s such a massive market share to be proud of. Yeah.

And we’re very proud of the work we do in the tunnels, too. So West Connect, north connects, all those Sydney tunnels, Brisbane tunnels all up the east coast of Australia. We’ve been involved in drilling tools for that.

And we have little claims to fame. Like, Phil walked the North Connects tunnel before a car ever went through it. He walked the whole way.

You know, little stories like that. But we’re very proud of our relationship there and we give them our best attention all the time. Yeah, it’s kind of nice, I think, sometimes when you’re driving and you can have a bit of claim to fame with like a tunnel or a roads project that you’ve been involved with as well, when you’re taking other people in your car.

Yeah, that’s definitely the way I bore my daughter on the way to Sydney sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we also.

I really love working with the smaller guys. And when I say smaller, they still run fairly big companies doing all sorts of swinging off ropes and drilling into cliffsides and. And most of the time those company Owners are actually doing some of the work or at least very much managing the crews, doing the work.

And they’re so interesting, those people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And sometimes they’ve taken over from their dad.

Usually in all cases so far they’re men. Yeah. But yeah, you know, you get a bit of a story.

Yeah, yeah. And I think going back to that, I think sometimes when you’re taking over a family business is often I think that feeling that you have to prove yourself that little bit more in a family as well to show that it wasn’t just gifted but you’re, you know, you’re capable. Well, there’s that.

That’s right. I did, you know, it’s mine now and it has to be my way. But I think the hardest thing about all that is that your dad will always think you’re 11.

If you know, I never, how could I possibly know anything? You’re still 11. Even though I was 32 or whatever it was. Yeah, yeah.

That is a hard thing I guess. Looking where the business is currently. Are there some new services and capabilities that quarry now offer? Yeah, that’s an interesting space and I’m very proud of that actually.

We used to have not so long ago, sort of one boiler maker that would come in part time and make a few jigs and stuff for us for our machine shop or our fitter department or something. But now that whole light fabrication is a real little business unit on its own. Okay.

We’ve got some fantastic toys in there and I’m very proud when I give, get to give people a tour. We’ve got a laser cutter that cuts up to 30 mil plate and we the engineers send files straight to it and it cuts out all sorts of things. It’s super efficient.

And then we’ve got 12 apprentices at Quarry mining now, which is a great number for a business of that size. Yeah, Looking at apprentice numbers is always a good sign of how healthy your business is going as well. And the toys they get to play with, you know, the technology that they get to use work and keeping them interesting and trying to keep them on once they finish their trade.

And those spaces where there is interesting ways to do the work. It’s not the old way we used to do them anymore. We can think outside the square and they can have some buy into that.

Yeah, is, is really cool. The most exciting thing at the moment though is of course our new 3D printing. There’s all fancy words for it.

Additive manufacturing and all these words. I haven’t really learned very well, must admit, I just call it the 3D printer, but it prints metal and special plastics and so intricate and yeah, it’s, it’s really quite amazing. And the whole premise of quarry mining over the years has been that the whole, the whole, our whole mantra, if you like, let’s make bespoke products, let’s make what the customer wants, let’s listen to what they want and do what they want.

Whereas a lot of manufacturing companies sort of do it the other way. We make this. You must want it.

So we’ve, we’ve done it the opposite. And that’s probably come from my background as a consulting engineer. Yeah.

Where you have to listen and consult. So it’s a co. I always call it a consulting approach to manufacturing.

So this 3D printer will do exactly that. It hits that sweet spot where you might just want to make four or five of something. You don’t necessarily want to make 5,000.

Like a lot of our manufacturing is the volumes game or you just don’t want it. It’s not something where you just weld one up. It’s that middle ground where you might need a few things and that they’re, they’re very tricky.

So you don’t have to mold or injection mold or cast or anything like that. You’ve got this printer that can do all this and with pretty much no waste. Yeah, that’s fantastic.

Yeah. And I’m assuming with some of the supply chain issues, you know, that have been happening over the last couple of years, that would alleviate a lot of that as well. It alleviates that.

And it also again, produces some really interesting roles for the engineers. We’ve got one engineer there who’s particularly passionate about it. He’s the champion of it and, and the stuff that he knows, you could sit there and listen to him all day.

It’s just really cool and really a little bit futuristic, which is something most manufacturing companies don’t have. You know, you have work boots and blue shirts and dirt on us. Yeah.

But I think it’s kind of setting up, you know, future proofing the business by having that innovation there, I guess, for your next chapter. Really. Yeah, yeah, I hope so.

Yeah, I do hope so. And very complimentary to the machine shop though. That’s still the most, you know, the engine room.

Yeah, yeah. And has it, I guess sometimes when you look at more advanced manufacturing, you know, sometimes the older school mentalities that we’re chatting about can, you know, not be as open minded. How’s.

Has it been taken up? Okay. By the Employees. Yes.

Yeah, the employees have been really on board, which is great. I think we’re moving away a bit more from that old school. Finally I found it more of a challenge even just five years ago.

Yeah. Where older people just. Just weld it.

Just do it the way we’ve always done it. Yeah. Not open minded to the change at all.

But the tradesmen and the apprentices. Yeah, they all love it. And the manager of our fitting department, he’s about.

I don’t know, he’s about 40, but he’s really on board with it. He wants to make products lighter and stronger. You know, I used to laugh when they say that I need it lighter and stronger.

You can’t have both, but you can now. Yeah, they are. And we’re all ready for that.

We all want it. Yeah, it’s great. I find it really mesmerizing watching the machines do the printing.

Yeah, me too. Yeah, I like. I love watching excavators.

Just dig. It’s pretty cool. Yeah, yeah.

And I guess you’re also known for some of your CNC machine work which you touched on earlier, but I understand does some of that work around the clock, 24 7. Yes, that’s right. We call it unmanned or lights out technology.

So we have. It’s sort of semi automated. We do have some robots there as well, work throughout the night.

But the other is. Yeah, bar fed. And then we have some communication from machines back to your mobile to say, you know, this one’s down or we give all the machines names.

So it’s pretty funny. So Arnie, big, big strong machine. Yeah, yeah.

Arnie’s had a tool problem. So it’ll tell you on your phone and that’s how we manage it. Yeah, yeah.

It’s also good for power usage and stuff like that. Yeah, yes, it’s quite automated. So how many sites do you have in Newcastle now? Like how many workshops? We have six workshops at Beresfield and then we have one in Broadmeadow which has a heat treatment plant in it.

So we do the heat treatment of everything we machine internally. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, as you reflect on that story once again, I think it’s really important to highlight the growth that you’ve had over that time that you’ve been running the business.

Yeah, yeah. Treatment in houses is amazing. Yeah, Real major thing.

Which means we get metallurgy. We have metallurgists in house as well. And that’s a great trade to have.

Yeah. And we have two machine shops, one at Broadmeadow and one At Newcastle in Beresfield. Yeah.

And then the others are fitting and fab shops and then the engineering printing. Yeah, yeah. Robotic welders, things like that.

Yeah, yeah. Which I’m assuming there’s probably not that many businesses that, you know, covers such a breadth of machine options that you probably, you know, a bit of a standout business in that area. Yeah, we do do most things in house.

We. We don’t these days subcontract anything and in. When I first got to quarry mining, everything was subcontracted out.

So it’s been great to bring it all in house and have that flexibility and reactivity. The mining industry is very demanding like that though. Yeah.

If you can’t react, if you haven’t got what they want today ready yesterday, you’re in big trouble. Yeah, yeah. So we have to make sure that what is front of mind for everything that we want to produce.

Yeah. You know, we touched on. Industries are changing.

Have you noticed many changes in the mining industry over the last few years? I think that’s a really hard question for me because I’m so focused in. On our little niche part of the industry. Yeah.

I’m going to say they will embrace changes as in, they will work with our staff to look at better ways or better methodologies or better products. And our sales force are all ex underground coal miners. So they go underground and make sure it is working for the people at that particular mine site.

Yeah. And every mine site has a little bit of something different to their range. So in that way, yes, they’re ready to embrace new ways or new products, but I can’t really comment on a broader scale.

Yeah, yeah. Newcastle Hunter region. We’re known quite a lot for mining and for manufacturing.

Is there a reason you chose to start your career in the region? I think my dad chose it for me. Yeah. I.

Till I was 11, when I grew up in Canberra. He wanted to move to Newcastle because it was all about mining and he, he loved mining, drilling, tools in pneumatic equipment. They were sort of his background.

And I remember him saying to me when I was about 10, we’re going to move to Newcastle and you know when you’re a kid you think, what’s that? Where’s that? I don’t know, I’ve got to change school. And he said they call themselves Novocastrians and it’s a great city. I was like, Novikastrian.

That’s not a word. I remember thinking that. And the next thing I know I’m sort of 11 and I’ve got my horse.

And I’m growing up at Loch and Bar. Yeah. And then quarry mining just always was there in the background.

So they started it when I was 11 and so it kind of chose me, but I’ve never wanted to leave. I think it’s a great place. He was right, Nova.

Christians are great people and it’s. It is a really beautiful region with so much to offer. Yeah.

And my adult life, I’ve always loved living here, not being able to do all the things I want to do. Yeah, yeah. So you studied at the University of Newcastle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I actually did an MBA at University of New South Wales as well. Okay.

Just be. Just before we really had online stuff, but it was like by correspondence, they called it then. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cool. And what about, I guess, having a mining business in the hunter regions? What are the main advantages of that? I think in the greater region, it’s. It’s very.

You’re very proud. It’s a pride thing to be in the mining still in the mining industry. Yeah.

If you work in mining or health in Newcastle, that’s kind of expected. Yeah. It’s a bit unusual to work in something else, but that’s good.

And you. And you know, those whole. I’m third or fourth generation coal miner.

Yeah. That’s a lovely conversation. You know, it is proud to be a part of this industry and I know that people.

I can. I can understand people are against coal and I can understand, you know, the issues with it and that we do need to transition to other things and. But it’s not.

It’s not going anywhere yet. And I feel like my little tiny drop in the ocean is to do what we do as responsibly as possible. Yeah.

Yeah, That’s a good point. Yeah. And I guess some people talk about skills transitions or, you know, skill shortages amongst all of that.

Is that something you’ve seen on your end yet? I think that’s a real tricky one. No one’s actually been able to say to me yet what I need to transition my people to. Yeah.

Is we’re looking after Colin. We’re so busy doing that. But I.

This business hunter runs some good workshops and roundtables and things on that. Yeah. Which I appreciate.

And I did go to one once, and I remember being so frustrated with the conversation because I can’t pay my boilermaker, who’s on $120,000 or whatever, you know, back to $70,000 to retrain him as something else. That’s not fair on anybody or. Yeah.

And I remember Bob Hawes just beautifully articulating, you know, what if you were Carrie? What about all these challenges? And I remember thinking, I just want to give him a hug and say thanks because there is a lot of challenges in that space. But thankfully we’ve just been so busy looking after coal and doing our bespoke thing that hasn’t really become a front of mind problem yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I guess with some of them innovation that you got going on, you’re kind of moving just baby steps towards something that’s next even though we’re not quite sure what that is. Yeah. You know, like a mining business has stopped and kind of, as you said, done it the old school way.

So it sounds like you’re moving forward with, with innovation. Anyway, when I first started getting the CNC machines, I remember thinking, it’s okay, you know, if this goes pear shaped, we, we can make anything out of these machines. We can make lawnmower parts if we have to, whatever it is.

Yeah. But I don’t know if we could, honestly. But we haven’t had to, thankfully.

Yeah. Yeah. So I guess as far as just talking about your staff, you know, boilermakers and things like that, why would you like, if you’re selling quarry to a future employee, why would someone want to come and work for you? I’ve always put a big emphasis on organizational culture.

Gets harder and harder as more people. Yeah. More personalities.

And when it was 10 people, we would never forget a birthday and we’d always have a birthday cake and it just can’t happen anymore. Which is a little bit sad, but it’s also great. It’s grown the way it has.

But I think there is a very good culture there still. We’ve got this thing there where we say you think big and act small. And I’m trying to hang on to that.

Yeah. So I just think that that keeps that team work. The sales team are amazing at camaraderie.

That’s their background in coal mining. You know, they really know how to look after each other. Yeah.

And they do. And I think just because of the leadership nature of them, the rest of the team wants to help them. Yeah.

So if somebody, if I was trying to convince somebody to come and work there, I would say, I would say, you know, hand on heart, it’s a, it’s a good, there’s good people here, it’s a good place to work. But there are also exciting technologies to work with and you will be a key. Every role there is a key role to me.

We need to listen to the apprentices because 18 year olds think very differently to me and I often find myself thinking, wow. Never thought of it like that. Yeah.

And that’s a healthy. Good thing. Absolutely.

It’s nice having that I guess where all voices are kind of heard. Organization And I have. We have undergraduate engineers there and, and professional engineers.

Yeah. And then we have the trade staff, all the different trades, fitters, boilermakers, machinists. And I love it when they work together because I really think you get a one plus one equals three.

Yeah. Yeah. You.

They really need each other more than they knew. And I tell them that you need an engineer to design something amazing because you couldn’t have done that. But they need you to fix it and make it work because they can’t do that.

Yeah, yeah. So let’s all work together and it’s pretty special. And I think most of the time in the real world there’s not enough of that.

No. They’re kind of very much siloed. Yeah.

Yeah. So that’s my. Been my mission.

Inquiry, mining to bridge those gaps. Yeah. That’s.

That’s nice. I think it’s good for. Yeah.

Both skill sets to learn off each other. Yeah. Yeah.

It causes a fight some days. I’m sure it does. Yeah.

But I think it’s still a good thing. Yeah. Yeah.

And obviously mining’s a very male dominated industry and would come with its fair set of challenges being, you know, for a female in the industry. Yeah, I guess. How have you managed to navigate success in this space? I think not every day is a success but back when I was working for pb, I found it harder now that I look back, I did.

You know, you had, you would say I had to work twice as hard to be seen as equal. And you hear that a lot. And I used to think I didn’t like the sound of that but when I look back it’s probably true.

I probably really did. Yeah. And that’s okay because it probably made me stronger and tougher and more resilient.

Yeah. And I’m proud of my resilience. If there was one thing I was going to be proud of.

Yeah. I’m a bit of a. I don’t.

I’m not a quitter and that’s helped. Yeah. Because there are days there, you know, there are days sometimes where you just feel like you’re not being heard.

Not in my team, not internally. It’s a great team and they have a lot. We all have a lot of respect for one another and I Feel like there’s pretty much just no gender barriers in there.

It’s most of the time very, very nice like that. And there are some amazing women in Newcastle and yeah, as a CEO of Kwame, I’ve been really lucky to meet them. And they will a lot of the time just keep you going.

Yeah. Really successful, incredible women. And I meet people all the time and it doesn’t.

In my older. It doesn’t really matter if they’re a man or a woman. If they are a great person doing amazing things, you learn something.

Yeah. Yeah. And so that all just keeps you going.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think men.

Men have different challenges to us. But they still have them. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I love that.

I think there is definitely a really strong network of people that do help support each other and prop each other up in Newcastle. Yeah. Outside of your immediate business.

So I think that’s really nice. The advantage of being. It’s Newcastle.

Everybody knows somebody. Yes. But that is the advantage.

Yes. It is true. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And what would your advice be to someone looking to enter the industry? And I guess even more so in females looking to enter the industry.

Yeah. I think this mining industry is still full of amazing opportunities. And don’t write it off and the jobs it creates.

If. If you want to be an accountant or a lawyer, you can do that in mining here in this region. But if you want to be a mining engineer or an underground tradesman, whatever your passion is mining can just about offer it up.

Yeah. Yeah. So have a think about what you really want and just see where it can offer it.

And you will get to work with some incredible people and learn more than. More than you ever thought you would and learn about yourself. I think it’s a really good industry to teach you about yourself.

True. Yeah. Yeah.

I think that resilience piece that you touched on before, I think mining definitely brings that out in people. Yeah. As well as that.

Lots of other good personality traits. Yeah. Learning is an interesting thing, isn’t it? Largely learning hurts.

Yeah. Yeah. It’s a bit like climbing a mountain.

I really want to get to the top of that. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to be worth it.

And I’ve learned a lot in my career. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and some of them really sting. Yeah.

And you don’t see the lesson at the time because of the sting. But later on you think, okay, you know, good lesson. Yeah.

Yeah. Is there one of those that you’d like to share with us? There are so many. I was trying to think of one on the.

In the car on the way down here. Yeah. I’ve lost money on bad products, as in invested in bad supply or bad suppliers.

I’ve invested in the wrong people over time. Yep. Yeah.

You got to not dwell on it. Got to not dwell on those mistakes, but sort of learn from them and forge on. There are times, obviously, when you think back on a mistake or two and you just cringe at yourself or the situation, but you.

You’ve got to keep going and you’ve got to eat humble pie. Sometimes you really do. Yeah.

Admit when you’re wrong and it’s okay. Yeah, yeah. Only human.

Yeah. I do say sometimes, you know, when people. This hasn’t gone right or this hasn’t gone my way or that way.

And I think. And I say, I’m glad I’m only the Prime Minister of Quarry Mining and not Australia, because. Jesus.

Hard to please everybody. You just can’t. Yeah, yeah.

And you mentioned yourself, mentioned earlier, sorry. That you’ve got your own daughter. You know, are you having that similar approach where you want your kids to come through the business or are they going to go in a different career direction? Yeah, no, she’ll definitely go in a different career direction.

Yeah. I was always a tomboy, you know, I was building roads with my Matchbox cars when I was 4. And she’s a girly girl.

I don’t know how that happened. She plays the cello and I can’t see her at all on this, in this business. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But that’s okay. Yeah, yeah. No, she’s.

We’re very different. She’s great. But no, I can’t see it.

So, Kari, earlier you mentioned that. I guess the business is expanded overseas now in China as well. Would you like to share with us a little bit about what your China arm of the business does? Yes, the China arm of the business does.

The volume. Lots of volume. So we.

And also we really had to get manufacturing done in China to remain on the playing field here. We would have been kicked off. Too expensive, too slow.

But the journey in China has been just amazing. The guy that runs the Chinese factory for us, the Chinese man, is just so professional and trustworthy and amazing and he’s just like one of the team. We chat him and zoom all the time.

We go over there three or four times a year to the factory. We’re always. As the company grows and the products are in high demand from a volume point of view, we’ve pushed more and more onto him.

So in the early days we’d only ever get finished, sorry, semi finished product from China. But now we get fully finished product and it’s of the same quality that we would produce here, which was always very challenging in the early days to get that or if we’d get the right quality. But then they couldn’t repeat it.

But he understands our standard, he wants to understand it and he cares what we think of his work very much. And so it’s been a really amazing hybrid model of manufacturing. Able to do our medium sized runs and bespoke and super reactive here.

Yeah. In Beresfield within our machine shops. But then we’ve been able to keep the price down and keep the stocks up and compete with other suppliers in the supply chain because of the good work coming out of China.

Yeah. And out of curiosity, the like the machines are using for the manufacturing, are they the same as the ones in your Brisfield business or have you got different brands? Or different brands? So we use Japanese machines here. Yeah.

And they use Chinese machines there, but they’re, they’re very similar in the way that they operate. Yeah. We do have some input into what plant equipment he buys and he runs.

All that bias, it’s a joint decision. But largely what his people know, what his people are skilled in would be the machines that we. Yeah.

That we get there. We’re just about to actually expand our Chinese factory and build a bigger one. Okay, that’s exciting as well.

Yeah, yeah. It’s good that it’s all going so well. And how many people in that factory? There’s about 30.

Okay. But that would probably be 10 here. Yeah, yeah.

So about the same as about 10 people here. Yeah, yeah. Cool.

Yeah. And do you think you have future plans of expanding into any other countries or just leaving it at China at this stage for manufacturing? Yeah, no, I think we’ll leave it at China. But what we will do maybe in terms of expansion is so the coal mining product, which is largely the product we manufacture in that factory in China.

We do manufacture hard rock equipment in China, but in other factories. So he sort of sub contracts it out to a point. The products that we manufacture for underground coal mining in that factory are very specific to Australia.

The Australian coal mines, we have fairly hazardous conditions, but we have the best coal. So we have to find a way to get that coal out even though it’s hazardous. So other countries around the world don’t really quite need the standard of product we need because they don’t have the hazards or the coal’s more shallow or whatever it might be.

But as they get deeper and safety standards get higher around the world, in some of the countries around the world, we think there’ll be opportunities to take Australian products and methodologies into other countries. So we’re hoping that we can maybe be the early adopter of that from. From China to say, I don’t know, Sri Lanka or Turkey or wherever it may be that is next.

That’s really exciting for that. Yeah. And he’s definitely the right person to do it with it because manufacturing is quite a difficult model to run in terms of being able to make things in time.

And the stock and the minds are demanding they change things on the fly so you’ll be stuck with something that they didn’t quite want. It’s, it’s a. It’s, it’s.

Again, baby steps. It’s just got to be very careful that you don’t. Yeah.

Warehouse. Yes, that’s right. Yeah.

Yeah. It’s happened before. Yeah.

One of those lessons I should have learned from, I hope. Yeah. Good.

And any, I guess, any other things about the Corey business that you’d like to share with us we haven’t already chatted on? I hope that it’s one of those flagship SMEs in the region. Yeah. There’s.

I look around the region all the time and see businesses of. Around about our size and I admire them and the people that own them and I feel really privileged when I get to chat to them and I hope they feel the same way about us. Yeah, I’m sure they do.

Yeah. Yeah. I think the business has a, you know, definitely has a strong reputation in the Newcastle market.

So we always call it good for the flag. Yeah. You know, if somebody’s representing us out there or we’re interviewing especially for the sales.

Sales rep team. You know, we. We say he’ll be good for the flag.

Yeah. Yeah. It’s important.

Yeah. Cool. And obviously, you know, your role’s a big role in the company.

How do you balance that out when you’re not at work as far as mental health and just. Yeah. Balance in general.

I know what you mean. Yeah. I love triathlon, so I run and swim and ride my bike all the time.

Bit of mountain bike riding, but yeah, I love my bike and I like long distance triathlons. I call it my yoga. So if, if I was to go for, say, 100k bike ride, that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.

Wow. And that would be my nice downtime, my escape time. Yeah.

So I can’t live without that now. I’m a bit addicted. Yeah.

But it does keeps me sane. Yeah. Yeah.

The only thing I wish that I didn’t have to sleep as much as humans do because I don’t. I don’t really find that productive. Every night I think I have to go to bed yet I’ve got all small to do.

Yeah. Yeah. And do you compete with triathlons? Yeah, just as an average age creator.

Not nothing special, but yeah, I do like to put it all together in a race every now and then. Yeah. Yeah.

Awesome. Yeah. And is that just been Australia base or.

Actually a few weeks ago I did a triathlon in Poland. Wow. So that was pretty fun with a friend of mine who’s Polish because she wanted to go home and do a triathlon in front of her family.

So we had a great time and I actually did the world. I was lucky enough to get a spot in the world championships in Hawaii last year in Ironman, which was. Yeah, pretty pretty.

Once in a lifetime, pretty amazing. It’s pretty crazy. While running a business, they had a women’s only race for the first time.

So there were more spots. Yeah. So I got in.

But yeah, it’s great. Yeah, it’s a great achievement. Yeah.

But it’s all back to that resilience thing. Long distance triathlon where because you swim 3.8, ride 180 and run 42, that’s just like running quarry mining on a bad week you just got it.

You got to keep on going. No matter what you’re going to get, you’re going to get that done. Yeah.

How much training does one do to get to that stage? Yeah, a fair bit. Yeah. And I probably train, I don’t know, 12 to 14 hours a week, get up early and run or on a good week you have bad weeks and.

Or it rains, you can’t get on your bike or. Yeah, yeah. But it’s sort of easier when you love it, you know, you just want to do it.

Yeah. So it’s not as hard as it sounds. Yeah.

And it’s not like I’m running fast. Yeah. Yeah.

Awesome. Well, is there anything else about your journey or that you’d like to share with us? Probably. I feel like I’ve talked a bit too much about myself maybe.

Yeah, probably not. I’m just, I’m. I’m really proud that HMA would, you know, want to hear from me and.

Yeah. And I think it’s great what they’re doing with their marketing and it’s definitely the classiest ball in the calendar every year. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We’re really excited, I guess, to, you know, collaborate with hma, share the stories of, you know, not only the key people in the businesses, but the businesses themselves. Because I think a lot of local businesses often fly under the radar. So, yeah, it’s nice just to give them the attention that they deserve and hopefully get their profiles out there a little bit more.

Yeah. I think it’s hard to run a business, get really busy and promoted at the same time. That’s tricky.

It is, yeah. And. And when the business is small enough, you feel like that promotion has to come from the key people.

You can’t just kind of outsource it or bring a marketing person and say, hey, market us, because they haven’t lived in your shoes all that time. I don’t know the business so intimately as you do, and you’re not big enough to have great big sort of motherhood statements or, you know, B amp control who just speaks for itself. It’s amazing already.

Yeah. And I guess, you know, in the smaller businesses, you know, the owners are the faces of the business that people, you know, associate with that particular brand, so. Yeah, that’s true.

Yeah. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Yeah.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me today. I really do appreciate your time.

Thanks for having me. And I’m sure that water community, we really enjoy hearing your story. It’s actually lovely to have a chance to reflect.

You don’t do that often enough because you’re just so busy. Yeah. Awesome.

Thank you. Thank you.