Nineteen years ago Scott Collins paid his grandfather $1 for the naming rights to the business he now operates under strict protocols from Kyabram’s booming industrial estate.
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It’s not quite a scene from a James Bond film, but the owner of Cantech in Kyabram is quite considered in what he says and who he invites on to his premises.
Such is the level of his clientele that, in many instances, he is unable to completely share the details of the contracts he holds with — in some cases — defence organisations and foreign governments.
One thing is for certain, if you are a consumer of any magnitude you will have handled — or at the very least know of — products that have come off a Cantech-designed assembly line.
Scott’s Cantech Engineering business has created specialised equipment for Ford, Nestlé, SPC, Fonterra and Bega — to name but a few of a who’s who of manufacturing in Australia.
Conveyor belts, sorting equipment and production systems are among a few of the products we can talk about.
Scott has taken the simple name that his grandfather applied to his business and added an exceptional degree of complexity to the company.
“Mum’s father was a design consultant. His name was John Campbell and I bought the Cantech name from him,” Scott said.
“He decided to move to the country for the fresh air after losing two children to cystic fibrosis.
“He didn’t own a single tool, but worked mostly in design with the canning industry at the Kyabram IXL factory.”
Scott’s grandfather will feature prominently when the Kyabram cannery’s centenary is celebrated next year.
Now almost two years on from the start of the pandemic, the adaptable businessman is in a stronger position than pre-COVID. He has one significant contract that relates to the assembly of production equipment for COVID-related testing equipment.
“We haven’t boomed, but we haven’t starved. I have probably been more particular about the business we have taken on during this time,” he said.
Scott, like many of his age bracket (42), worked as a box boy for the Fitzgerald family at its popular supermarket before he started an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner with FoodMach in Echuca.
“It is funny because Dallas Fitzgerald’s son, Mitch, is our clean-up boy here at the factory,” he said.
Foodmach probably looks longingly 38km to the south-east as five of the six-member design team at Cantech started with the Echuca manufacturer.
But Cantech is just one component of what Scott has built from his location.
His nine-year-old crane division supports the engineering team and the business interlocks with Workplace Pedestrian Safety, which he runs in partnership with Matt Henderson in Boronia.
Jason McMeakin, a long-time friend of the engineering entrepreneur, was recruited to partner up through his Ky Paint and Panel business to complete all Cantech’s paint and coating requirements.
Cantech is at the forefront of production line development, a project with a long-term sister company involving the construction of a specialised shipping container that is designed to detonate explosives from former military bases in remote Australian areas.
“We do some really cool stuff,” Scott said.
“The shipping container is currently working in southern NSW and will soon be re-locating to northern Victoria,” he said.
Cantech has also designed a sorting and auto-painting system for scaffolding, which identifies specific lengths of piping.
The secret COVID project the business is working on will keep four of Scott’s employees busy for six months as the parts are assembled here in Australia before being shipped interstate.
A new Ford distribution centre in Broadmeadows is one of the largest projects for his pedestrian safety business. It will house vehicles and spare parts sent to Australia after being manufactured overseas.
“We are responsible for things like boom gates, line marking, swipe cards and bollarding,” he said.
“There are probably only five to 10 businesses in Australia that work in this space, it’s very specialised.”
There are about 35 staff between the three branches of the business, but a series of subcontractors lift those numbers considerably.
The father of 11-year-old Zahli and 10-year-old Ayla has been married to Alicia for 12 years and apart from a short stint living in Echuca has always called Kyabram home.
A keen ski racer, he and business partner Matt Henderson are part of The Wedge ski race team with David Atley and Craig Cox.
“That’s my release,” Scott said.
Speed and a little bit of danger link together with his other passion: riding dirt bikes in the hills.
He describes his home town as “a hidden gem”, which is quite fitting. Because that is probably the best way to describe Cantech.
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