The wheel deal maker

Expanding local manufacturer aims for huge production boost

GEELONG wheel maker Carbon Revolution is eyeing a future when it is making more than a million carbon fibre wheels a year. At the launch of a $100 million expansion of its Deakin University site yesterday, chief executive officer Jake Dingle said the company was planning to genuinely disrupt the industry in the way aluminium wheels did in the 1970s. The 7000sq m expansion, which will come progressively online, takes Carbon Revolution’s total footprint at Waurn Ponds to 10,000sq m and gives it the capacity to lift production from about 10,000 units a year to more than 150,000.

A future expansion earmarked for the site would add an extra 5000sq m with production heading towards 250,000 wheels a year.

“We are the world leader, this is why we have an opportunity to extend that leadership position by growing and improving the technology and to make this a much more industrial scale," Mr Dingle said.

He said the vision for the business was to be as disruptive in the market as the introduction of aluminiumbased wheels.

“Today there is about 200 million aluminium wheels produced every year and put on new cars,” he said.

“Our wheels are 40-50 per cent lighter than a standard aluminium wheel, so you can see why we have these aspirations as to where the technology can get to if we are successful in this industrialisation stage.”

The company has indicated that in the fu- ture it may have to move production offshore to be closer to major car manufacturers. But Mr Dingle said Waurn Ponds would remain home to its product and manufacturing process development arms.

The company, which earlier this year flagged the possibility of a public float, was still exploring options to fund the $100 million expansion,’ he said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who officially launched the expansion, refused to disclose the State Government’s contribution.

Mr Andrews said Carbon Revolution was creating sustainable jobs using world-leading technology. “It’s taking Geelong skills and Geelong products to the world,” he said.

Mr Andrews also launched a Made In Victoria social media campaign, which will showcase excellence in industry and will include Carbon Revolution alongside other Victorian success stories such as Cobram Estate olive oil, which is made by Bound

ary Bend in Lara.