As it has just ticked over to five years since our acquisition of the RIG business, it is an ideal time to reflect on the journey so far, particularly the successes and challenges throughout the transition.
Five years ago, Monadelphous’ operations in New South Wales were predominantly in the Hunter Valley and the company was actively looking for an opportunity to expand into Newcastle.
When RIG Installations came up for sale, it was identified as a great fit, with solid long-term customer relationships and services that were well aligned to our own service offering. By purchasing the business, including the workshop at Kooragang Island, we were well positioned to respond to the significant need for maintenance and industrial services in the region.
Operations Manager Greg Walker said that the success of the business today is a result of incorporating and building on the strengths of both RIG and Monadelphous.
“One of the greatest opportunities that RIG had was the existing customer base and the robust relationships that can take many years to establish,” Greg said.
“What we brought to the business was the great systems and processes Monadelphous has that mean we continuously improve the quality of our work and ensure that we deliver great outcomes for our customers.
“In recent years, we have also enhanced the capabilities of RIG, including the introduction of new services, such as scaffolding, blasting and painting and rope access.”
Overall, RIG has proven to be a success story, in terms of both retaining customers, expanding service offering and seeing the revenue nearly double since acquisition. Greg said that reaching these achievements has only been possible with a lot of hard work along the way.
“The key challenge that we have really risen to is not losing the strengths we first identified in RIG particularly the relationships and reputation, but to instead leverage on these and ensure profitability in the process,” Greg said.
“It has certainly been hard work but it has really paid off, which I believe can be attributed to both having great team members and taking the time to get the structure right in the beginning.”
We are looking forward to seeing what the next five years have in store for the team in Newcastle.