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One of the industry's great survivors
2014 is the year that New South Wales-based Yamba Welding and Engineering (YWE) marks 40 years of prominence in Australia's boat building sector. Its founder, Bill Collingburn, passes the same landmark, and neither he nor YWE have any plans for winding down any time soon.
Starting the business in 1974 was almost accidental. After visiting many coastal towns in Australia, Bill and his wife fell in love with the seaside town of Yamba, NSW, and decided to settle there. Unfortunately, no one wanted to employ a marine engineer, so he had to employ himself.
After a short stint doing repair and refitting work on trawlers, Bill eventually built his own steel trawler with the intention of going fishing. However, he never got to use the new build. Upon its completion. Bill got an offer too good to refuse, and soon began building boats alongside servicing trawlers.
The early 1970s were early days for aluminium vessel construction. Bill was already familiar with aluminium fabrication and welding from his apprenticeship with Sydney's naval dockyard, Cockatoo Docks and Engineering. There, he fitted aluminium superstructures to naval patrol boats and Daring-class destroyers. Initially, some aluminium work came YWE's way, but pure aluminium construction at Yamba had to take a second place to business survival. To keep is head above water, Bill diversified into structural steel work for local businesses such as the Yamba Public School, the Treelands Drive shopping centre, Maclean TAFE, the Maclean Squash Centre, and the Harwood sugar mill and refinery.
But Bill stuck to his guns, and soon enough ship and boat building began to prosper, with YWE starting to build recreational boats alongside commercial fishing vessels. The occasional production order was eagerly welcomed, with notable early orders including fleets of flood boats for the New South Wales and Queensland State Emergency Services organisations.
Consistency breeds efficiency
From there, expansion was rapid and the customer list soon lengthy, with many of these customers remaining with YWE for up to three decades. This sense of loyalty is also reflected internally, with YWE having maintained an excellent employee retention rate, a fact that Bill Collingburn credits with much of the company's success and endurance. The collective expertise and experience of dedicated...