Dunbier turns ‘the big 40’

by Sandman PR on 15 Sep 2009 Dunbier Marine Products is celebrating its 40th year in business in 2009 – an admirable milestone for any company, let alone one operating in the volatile Australian marine industry.

Beginning as a one-man show in a borrowed garage in a Melbourne suburb in 1969, Dunbier now has more than 200 distributors throughout Australia and overseas. Tens of thousands of trailerboat owners throughout Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific nations rely on their Dunbier trailers every day.

The Dunbier story began when Russell helped his father-in-law build a trailer in his garage.

'I naively decided ‘this looks easy’. So I purchased another trailer kit from the sheet metal company and built another one,' Russell said. 'I’d build a trailer in the garage, take it out and sell it, then build another, then sell it and so on.'

Russell soon leased half a 150m2 factory in Moorabbin and started building his business. His persistence and work ethic paid off by the early 1970s, when he developed the Supa Rolla trailer.

'I saw an opportunity for us here, so I spent six months developing the Supa Rolla trailer and refined it to suit all boats,' he said. 'It was really just sheer persistence and plenty of frustration, but in the end we got it right.'

So right, in fact, there have been surprisingly few changes to the Dunbier Supa Rolla trailer over the years.

Dunbier’s growth has remained steady through four decades of economic cycles. After purchasing the Citrus Street factory, Dunbier opened an office in Brisbane in 1989; then, in 1994, Dunbier opened its first Sydney office; then one in Adelaide in 1998 and one in Perth in 2002. Dunbier opened its first, wholly-owned overseas operation, in North Harbour, Auckland, in 2004.

Although forty years have passed since Russell built his first trailer, Dunbier remains very much a family business. Russell and his wife Kay’s two daughters, Michelle Reid and Tracy Jackson, have been with the company for more than 20 years, and became directors in 2007. Tracy’s husband Matt has also been part of the company for more than 20 years.

Each family member is driven by the same values of persistence, integrity and innovation that drove Russell and Kay. And that, according to Russell, is the secret to Dunbier’s success.

It takes more than a handful of people for a company to grow to the size of Dunbier Marine Products, however, and the Dunbier family is quick to acknowledge they could never have done it without the company’s employees.

After forty years of adventure, Russell and Kay are taking a well-earned step back and making way for the next generation. With Michelle, Tracy and Matt at the helm, the next forty years are looking just as bright.

With its current manufacturing facility situated on a massive six-acre site – purpose-built for the design, manufacture and assembly of boat trailers and accessories – Dunbier offers over 60 trailer models to suit most aluminium and fibreglass boats, and PWCs.

Having built its reputation on quality, strength and reliability, the exciting range of new products currently in development will ensure Dunbier will remain a household name in the marine industry for many years to come!

More at www.dunbier.com