By CASEY NEILL
“I’M NORMALLY not lost for words…”
But AW Bell chairman Geoff Bell struggled to express his pride and thanks when the company his parents Alan and Sadie started 61 years ago took home the medium company Manufacturer of the Year title at this year’s Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame awards on Thursday 6 June.
“One thing they taught me was you have to reinvent all the time and never let anyone tell you something can’t be done,” he said.
“I hope AW Bell is still around in 100 years.”
His surprise at the honour even saw him forget to thank wife Yvonne in his speech, as well as the company’s first apprentice, who remains there today.
George Hellyer joined the AW Bell family just months after it started in 1952 and, at a time when apprentices were the invisible workers, was made to feel he belonged.
Mr Bell said he’d been integral to the business’ success.
“He’s been an exceptional person for the pattern making industry over the years,” he said.
“His knowledge is recognised right throughout industry.
“He was my boss when I started.
“I still use him very much if I have an issue and he’ll tell me if he agrees with me, or not.”
The company has transformed from supplying simple general engineering castings to specialising in casting complex-shaped parts for demanding applications.
“Our goal is to be the first choice for high-quality, complex castings with high mechanical properties for the biomedical, defence and aerospace industries,” Mr Bell said.
It’s transitioned from supplying patterns to the automotive industry to exporting to Europe, Asia and North America, and recent investments have been focussed on continuing to build AW Bell’s niche and ability to compete internationally.
This has been achieved through installing robotic casting processes, x-ray technology, computer-controlled heat-treatment furnaces and additional spectrographic equipment for analysing metal alloys’ chemical composition.
AW Bell has not only adopted emerging technologies but created its own.
In partnership with the CSIRO it developed the ABE casting process using rapid and controlled solidification, which delivers cast complex aluminium parts with superior mechanical properties to those achieved by standard investment casting processes.
Mr Bell told the packed Palladium at Crown that it was great to see everyone and see that the industry was still alive.
“I’m amazed there’s so many manufacturers when I look through the hall here, I didn’t think there were that many of us left,” he joked.
