DANDENONG STAR JOURNAL
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Tankers earn a barrel of interest

By Shaun Inguanzo
WHEN Dandenong businessman John Williamson took over as managing director at Marshall Lethlean in 1985, the company was in receivership.
Fast forward 20 years later and it is now the nation’s most successful provider of road tankers to Australian businesses.
Mr Williamson said the tankers are built from either aluminium or stainless steel, and carry anything from petrol, wine and milk, through to grain and chemical powders.
Trucking companies such as LinFox, Toll, and McColl’s, are regular customers.
Mr Williamson describes his business as a team of engineers with a few boilermakerwelders, because it is only the aluminium variety of tanker that Marshall Lethlean builds in Australia, at its Dandenong South factory.
The stainless steel versions are built in China.
Mr Williamson said he is often criticised for outsourcing the jobs, but said a shortage of boilermakerwelders in Australia meant he had to look elsewhere.
He began turning to China’s strong trade industry 15 years ago, and said it had taken that long to break down the cultural divide and form a fluent working relationship with the nation.
“We spent five years alone training them to build their first tanker (to our standard),” he said.
Mr Williamson admits the China move made him a pioneer in global manufacturing.
“People don’t want to hear that we are exporting jobs, but that is a fact of life,” he said.
“Global manufacturing means getting the job done in the parts of the world where it is most efficient, then do the bit in Australia we are most efficient in.”
Only the barrel part of stainless steel tankers is made in China, Mr Williamson said.
“It comes into Australia in a container, then we put it on wheels and do the bits and pieces to it Australians want.”
The tankers are made to order, meaning there are many variations to designs.
These include road trains, BDoubles (two tankers), fuel tankers, and chemical tippers.
The heavy engineering focus of the job means Mr Williamson and his company might be in for the long haul, but that is exactly how they like it.
“We picked the product that is most difficult to do,” he said.
“It gives a higher barrier to entry (for potential competition).”

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