No-one bends it like Uneek

By Shaun Inguanzo
A DANDENONG company is bending it better than a team of English soccer stars.
Uneek Bending in Dandenong specialises in the bending and rolling of steel and has more than 40 years’ experience in the trade.
Business development manager for Uneek Bending John Lovell said the company began in late 1963.
Mr Lovell said its founders were forward-thinking when they gave the company a very unique name.
“The U was at that time followed by a (hyphen) then the word Neek,” Mr Lovell said.
“The U portrayed a piece of steel being bent into a U shape.
“So the work we are into is truly reflected in the name of the company.”
But Mr Lovell said Uneek Bending had progressed from providing a service to in some cases providing a complete product.
Part of the move is a value-add to the bending and rolling services in a determined bid to compete against Chinese companies who offer to undertake high-volume contracts for less money.
But Mr Lovell said the push originally came from customer demand.
“We’ve become much more of a one stop shop,” he said.
“We have created a situation where we can supply the services of rolling and bending and now do the rest of the fabrication.
“It was really pressure by customers that pushed us that way and hence we’ve grown accordingly.”
Mr Lovell said one of the key characteristics of Uneek Bending was its focus on servicing the Dandenong area.
Mr Lovell said Uneek sourced all of its materials from Greater Dandenong-based companies.
“The fact is we are in Dandenong and we have got everything we want here,” he said.
“So supplies wise we are not in the situation of having to go elsewhere because pretty much everything we need is on our doorstep.”
Uneek Bending has grown rapidly since it moved to fabrication as well as rolling and bending and Mr Lovell said the company was moving to a larger premise in Dandenong South in June.
But, despite the success, skilled workers are still a challenge to find, he said.
“We are in situation where we have got some full-time employees as well as contract employees on our site,” Mr Lovell said.
“We are running with around 65 people and out of that we use a number of different trades, but probably the most outstanding is trained welders.
“We need welders trained up to well skilled levels so we’ve been hunting and hunting, using local personnel agencies, too.”
People may be unfamiliar with the Uneek bending brand but will have unknowingly touched their products on more than one occasion.
“We manufacture components for normal stainless steel handrails,” Mr Lovell said.
“That ranges from normal train stations through to hospitals and situations where you have paraplegics (who rely on handrails).
“We have also rolled all of the piping for the new Southern Cross Railway Station, so it’s a varied range of work that we do.”