Albany's 40 years on Central Coast

Albany International celebrated its 40th year on the Central Coast at the end of 2006 with an open day attended by more than seven hundred guests.

Employees past and present and their families enjoyed barbeque lunch with children’s activities followed by an official ceremony led by Albany’s Senior Vice President Asia Pacific, Hartmut Peters and Managing Director Australia and Director of Human Resources Asia Pacific, Ken Knight.
In a lead up to the open day invited representatives of Albany’s customers throughout the paper industry and past and present employees celebrated the occasion with a gala dinner at Crowne Plaza Terrigal.
Albany’s plant at Lisarow was formally opened in1966 by NSW Minister for Decentralisation and Development, the Hon. J.M. Fuller and has been a shining example of the decentralization policies of the government of that time.
Albany employs 320 full time staff at it Lisarow plant and unlike many other manufacturers in Australia does not employ casuals on a regular basis. Commenting on their staffing policies that makes Albany a preferred employer among the Central Coast workforce Managing Director, Ken Knight, said, “We have a loyal and committed workforce with many being with us for almost as long as we have been on the Coast. Its something that we are very proud of.”
Albany is also one of the Central Coast’s leading corporate citizens totally committed to the community supporting many worthwhile causes from charities to business.
Albany is Australia’s largest manufacturer of paper machine clothing, on which all grades of paper from lightweight sanitary tissue to heavyweight container board, is made and represents more than 80 percent of the company’s turnover.
Albany has always been at the forefront of customer service working closely with their customers to assist them and in so doing improving the way Albany’s products run on their machines.
Albany is totally quality focused having introduced its Quality Management System in the 1980’s based on “continuous improvement”. This system improved the organisation’s efficiency and production that has given Albany the competitive edge that has enabled it to grow and expand in a highly competitive market place.
In a major restructure of the company worldwide some five years ago Albany Australia became part of what is referred to as the Asia Pacific Corridor. Albany’s manufacturing plants in South Korea and China with each plant specialising in a particular product. Previously the Lisarow plant had made all the products involved in the paper making process. It now specialises in the production of press felts with forming fabrics made in South Korea and dryer fabrics made in China.
It remains a centre for research and development in the textile industry.
Albany is gearing up to take advantage of a growing China market.
Commenting on the China market Mr Knight said that the capacity of the company’s three plants will not be sufficient to cope with the growth of China over the next 10 to 15 years. “We therefore need to build a new plant in China to meet the market demand,” he said.
Mr Knight said that China should not be viewed as a threat to the company’s Australian operations.
“There are workers in the manufacturing industry who fear for their jobs. But its all about open communications, we talk to our production teams regularly and discuss our financial results and business plans. While placing the utmost importance on quality and safety and attention to detail we aim to ensure our products are equal to anything manufactured in the world,” he said.
‘One of our key challenges is to operate efficiently while maintaining a global vision. Its essential when considering that Albany has a number of worldwide competitors competing for the same markets.
In Australia Albany also operates two other divisions.
Fibre Cement Felts are used in the manufacture of fibre cement products and the Lisarow plant supplies customers in the USA and SE Asia. Albany’s Lisarow research and development department developed the technology to make these felts that made them a world leader.
A smaller division is Albany Door Systems which manufacturers industrial roller doors at their plant at West Gosford. Albany Rapid Roll Doors are used for internal openings in manufacturing environments where it is necessary to segregate production areas.
Commenting on the company’s future in Australia Mr Knight said that having been through the restructuring and cost reduction of years gone by the company aims to capitalise on the growth opportunities now exist in the Asia Pacific Corridor. “To achieve this we must focus on improving human resources within our workforce which is the key to our vision.”
“This can only be achieved through continual training to staff appropriately skilled and up to speed. It means tighter quality control and the reduction of costs.
“As part of our vision we need to maintain employer/employee relations through open and honest communications. With the Federal Government’s WorkChoices program it is now more important that the business maintains closer ties with its staff.”
“There has always been a strong union involvement in our industry but with unions being at a crossroads it is our responsibility as employers to break down previous paradigms and to invest not only in our existing staff but also our new recruits on a long-term basis.

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