There are very few companies in Australia that are over fifty years old and Australian owned. H.I.Fraser is one such company and the secret to their success has been continually looking for opportunities for growth. As a result, the company has grown to be a multi faceted organisation providing a diverse product and service range throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

With only 44 staff, H.I.Fraser is a niche engineering company that has a deep level of technical expertise within gas, fluid and waste engineering. “The size of the company means we are able to support niche gas, fluid and waste systems on board ships. As a result we focus on the through life support of systems providing good support for suppliers at good value for the end user. The point of importance is that Small and Medium Enterprises provide DMO with a long term credible in-country engineering and technical presence,” says Chris Williams, Marketing and Major Project Manager.

With workshops and offices located in Sydney and Perth, a major drawcard, for clients is that all the design, manufacture and installation work is competed under the one roof. “We have traditionally been very good at learning about new mechanical and marine systems and applying these to new markets. We have very skilled and enthusiastic people who are always working with our customers to find better ways of doing things,” says Mr Williams.

H.I.Fraser has developed their business strategy around the opportunities for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in sustainment support to DMO as well as approaching like minded international mechanical and marine system suppliers to support their equipment for the DMO.

One of the biggest projects the company has recently undertaken was for Bosch Rexroth Hydraudyne for the HMAS Sirius RAS Rig. Throughout the project the company worked alongside both Tenix and Bosch to ensure that there was a skilled Australia company able to commission and maintain the RAS system through life.

H.I.Fraser’s work outside Defence has included the:

• design and manufacture of Nitrogen accumulator systems for coal reclaimer fire fighting systems,
• supply of vacuum toilets to the Ghan, Indian Pacific, Tilt Train, Vic Rail and NZ Rail passenger rail cars,
• design and manufacture of oil & gas well head valve control panels and emergency shut down systems for supply throughout Australia and Asia,
• manufacture of 300 Bar Oxygen filling manifolds for BOC, and
• supply of dk-lok compression fittings to commercial marine ship builders and the rail industry.

H.I.Fraser with the help of Industry Capability Network (ICN) has identified opportunities for the Air Warfare Destroyer and the LHD Amphibious Ships. With future opportunities firming up, H.I.Fraser has sought the assistance of the Skilling Australia’s Defence Industry (SADI) program to ensure that employees are trained to conduct the specialist engineering and technical support required for the new generation of gas, fluid and waste systems.

As well as working on these major projects, H.I.Fraser will be focusing on four different export opportunities ranging from high pressure charging systems for aerospace to diving system integration and is keen to work with other SMEs through these projects.