ToThink Engineering director Darren Toth shares his thoughts on the state of the Australian quarrying industry as a well-regarded supplier.
It does not take a long time to have a lasting impact in the industry and ToThink Engineering is an example of that.
The Melbourne-based company has been providing quality screens and feeders to the Australian quarrying industry for just shy of a decade.
What was the most important lesson from 2024?
The biggest lesson we took out of the year was the need to streamline the business to focus more on the equipment side of things.
For the last five years we’ve been manufacturing equipment on top of the hardware we’ve been selling since the business started. A lot of the business we did initially was service based including design consulting and problem solving. We added the equipment side of things later on.
This year we decided to really streamline our equipment offering to ensure we were able to support our loyal customers when they needed it, and it proved quite successful.
What is a trend you spotted, and what has caused it?
The value of experienced people with strong technical skills has continued to increase within the industry as whole. I mentioned this last year, the need for local businesses to step up and produce equipment that is designed and built here with as many locally sourced parts as is practicable remains of critical importance. Nothing compares to the real time support and nuanced knowledge of the Australian conditions provided by Australian businesses.
What do you think is an issue facing the quarrying industry?
Looking broadly across the industry, I think the quarrying industry is struggling for experience and we’ve also seen a slowdown in demand in 2024.
There have been a lot of older workers who have retired and left the industry and there are a lot of young workers who need guidance and support as they start their journey in the industry. I think the younger workers will definitely get there, it will just take time and having the right programs and support in place to help them. In terms of demand and projects, there is a bit of uncertainty as people wait to see where the government expenditure is at and where it is invested in different states. Once people get a clearer picture on this over the course of next year, it will help demand within the industry.
How are you helping to grow the industry?
ToThink’s mission to be the best value equipment supplier by designing locally, building quality machines and pricing competitively remains at the forefront of what we do.
From an equipment and parts and hardware supplier standpoint, I think availability and technical knowhow provides a great amount of support to the industry which in turn promotes growth at a wholistic quarry operation level. Therefore, we are committed to striving to be a provider of these things.
Why have you sponsored the Institute of Quarrying Australia (IQA)?
We are wanting to show our support to an organisation who supports us, and we also want to build our brand within the industry as a trusted equipment supplier.
The opportunities through the events created by the IQA are also valuable to be a part of and we enjoyed our involvement in them this year. We are looking forward to attending more IQA events as well as offering some education through presenting at some of these events.
What does your company have planned for 2025?
We are excited to continue to expand ToThink Equipment, providing value through supplying screens and feeders (especially apron feeders) across Australia.
We’re aiming to continue being the best value equipment supplier we can be.
By doing our job in building high-quality equipment, we’ll be able to support our customers in the industry to a high-level in their projects and applications. So, we’ll continue designing and building our machines locally, pricing them reasonably and support our customers.
We have added to our workforce and we plan to continue to do so. There are also several exciting projects on the horizon to be delivered in the new year.•
For more information, visit tothink.com.au
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