Wirtgen Australia opens new sales and service centre

Around 150 customers from Australia and New Zealand attended the official opening ceremony of the Wirtgen Group sales and service company Wirtgen Australia on August 10 in Penrith/Sydney, NSW. The new building for the Wirtgen Group subsidiary was set up in nine months and the team moved into the modern premises in 2008 relocating offices and service workshop from their former headquarters in Blacktown.

The opening featured a machine exhibition with products from the renowned brands Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm and Kleemann and a customer service presentation on spare parts. Attention focused on the new Compact Line from Hamm, the large and small milling machines from Wirtgen (a W 2000 and a W 50 DC were displayed) and on the innovative VISION series of Vögele which is currently introduced into the Australian market. The exhibition was rounded off by a mobile Kleemann crusher MC 120 Z.

With the brand new and much larger facility the Wirtgen Group strengthens its local presence in the market considerably. The new building stands on a 12,500 square metre site, including more than 2,000 square metre of useful space for sales, the workshop, wash bay, spare parts store and training facilities. For future plans to expand the subsidiary another 4,000 square metre are available around the new premises.

Stefan Wirtgen, President of German based Wirtgen Group, John Geary, General Manager of Wirtgen Australia, and his entire team had the pleasure and honour of inaugurating the new building together with customers and local guests as the Mayor of Penrith City, Jim Aitken, and Todd Carney, representing the Federal member for Penrith.

Four strong brands from a single source provider

The Wirtgen Group`s market relations have grown over more than two decades and now enjoy a long tradition in Australia. And above all, customers can rely on the teams long-standing experience. Wirtgen Australia was founded in 1986. In the early days the company acted as a contractor operating milling machines until the concept was accepted and the business could survive on machine sales and service support. Later, more Wirtgen products like cold recyclers and slipform pavers were introduced. Today Wirtgen Australia offers customers the complete line of road building equipment from the brands Wirtgen, Vögele and Hamm. Three years ago Wirtgen Australia entered the mining business with Wirtgen Surface Miners cutting iron ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. And finally with the acquisition of Kleemann through the Wirtgen Group, Wirtgen Australia is today in a position to offer a full range of crushing and screening technologies in order to make another step within the mineral technologies business segment of Wirtgen Group.

The new subsidiary: a clear commitment and long-term investment

Stefan Wirtgen, President of The Wirtgen Group, emphasized the importance of the new sales and service centre and is very enthusiastic about the future development: “This new location carries big hopes for us. Despite the worldwide economic crisis, we at The Wirtgen Group want to set a sign for optimism and confidence and I think we have every reason to do so. This new location is another milestone on our way to our future. I call the new sales and service centre a milestone because it shows our determination and trust in this country and especially in our clients, partners and friends here in Australia. It underlines our long-term strategy and our endeavour to be “Close to our customers” in this very important market.”

Manufacturing machines alone is not the only business focus of The Wirtgen Group. All subsidiaries around the world provide professional customer service support including spare parts, service in the workshop or on site, application consulting or customer training. Having this in mind John Geary was proud to present the many opportunities of the newly built premises to customers: “The subsidiary`s new location and facilities afford several advantages. The focus is clearly centred on the bigger workshop with four machine bays, the professional after-sales support, the high spare parts availability in our three times larger warehouse and the new training rooms. We have now a much better environment for our activities. And we would like to use these new possibilities to serve you as our customers even better and more efficiently.”

More information on Wirtgen Australia and its complete product range is available at www.wirtgen-aust.com.au