Concrete Cutting since the 1950s

Source:www.stonediamondtool.com Date:2020/7/20 Read:310

Published 6/10, 2008

Australia and New Zealand has a long tradition in concrete sawing and drilling. According to the international umbrella association IACDS has the third biggest national association in this field and is among the five biggest nations in the world in terms of concrete cutting.

The article on the previous pages has been dedicated to the demolition and recycling industries in Australia and New Zealand. But what about the concrete sawing and drilling and concrete floor grinding industries?

Concrete cutting since the 1950s
PDi has been talking to several key persons in the region in order to make a clear picture of the concrete sawing and drilling and concrete floor grinding industries in Australia and New Zealand. One of them who knows this industry like the back of his hand is Lloyd Williams and He has been helpful to gather information for this. 
The use of concrete sawing and drilling equipment dates back to the late 1950s. As Lloyd Williams can remember a Clipper saw was imported in 1957 to Australia to saw joints for underfloor heating, by a Melbourne based company, Smith and Osborne. Clipper should therefore be regarded as a very early player on Australian soil as well as Diamond Boart through the Belgian Jules Joris who operated in Australia but had very strong affiliations to Diamant Boart. 

Strong growth in Australia
Since the end of the 1950s the Australian concrete sawing and drilling industry has been growing steadily and Australia has today 790 contractors that is advertising themselves to carry out this type of work as the primary part of their business. There are similarly 145 in New Zealand. 
The average turn over for a professional concrete cutter in Australia and New Zealand is estimated to be about US$1 M. About 10% of that revenue spent on diamond tools and approximately 7% on associated equipment.
As for most countries concrete sawing and drilling activities are strong in direct proportion to population location with few exceptions. In Australia the New South Wales area stands for about 35% of the concrete cutting activities, 27% in Victoria, 24% in Queensland, 10% in Western Australia, 7% in South Australia and the balance in Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. 
The concrete sawing and drilling sector in both Australia and New Zealand has reported being very strong during the last years and is currently growing with some 4% per year. The growth is mostly coming from a strong economy and diversification in to new fields such as wall sawing, wire sawing, light demolition and surface preparation. 
“The industry has certainly become far more professional in its operations since the inception of the associations, primarily as a result of companies ability to benchmark, share ideas and to remove the “fear of the unknown” by being able to discuss collective problems and solutions in an open forum”, says Lloyd Williams. 

Remoteness give innovativeness
Several persons in this industry that PDi has spoken to believe that the strong development of this industry comes from the attitude of the Australian’s and New Zealanders. And very much has to do with the remoteness in this part of the world. Its people had to be innovative and develop techniques such as hand held, wet cut wall sawing to a level unseen in other countries. Such techniques have made sawing and drilling significantly more affordable and hence opened the market to a much broader customer base. 
“This is reflected in association membership and turnover per business units being much higher proportionately than most countries. It has also brought about stiff competition and hence the desires to constantly improve ones own business and the industry itself”, says Williams. 
Both the Australian and New Zealand markets are extremely receptive to new ideas. The market is expected to continue to grow in Australia on the back of a strong economy, high housing demand, an extremely strong mining industry and high infrastructure expenditure. Regrettably the New Zealand economy is down somewhat, albeit, believed to be temporary. 
But this region of the world, and in particular Australia, also has a very strong impact on the neighbouring countries. Many major Australian Building Contractors are winning major contracts throughout Asia Pacific and most of the times they are bringing local sawing, drilling and grinding techniques with them into the new region. Local industry experts are in strong demand to support and train locals throughout Asia Pacific and also in China. 

Strong branch associations
The professional branch associations in Australia and New Zealand are playing an important role in the industry and are a great support to their members. In Australia the concrete sawing and drilling association has 220 members according to the IACDS statistics making them the third biggest association in this field after Germany and USA. The New Zealand association has 36 members.
In 1993 the Industrial Diamond Association of Australia was founded, a forerunner of the current CSDAA. The association was formed by Lloyd Williams of Dembicon Australia as a medium for interaction between manufacturers, suppliers and contractors. As membership grew, contractors of course far outweighed the manufacturers and the name was changed in 2003 to CCIA (Concrete Cutting Industry Association) and then in 2008 to CSDAA. The collective associations have had 3 Presidents, Lloyd Williams from foundation until 1998, Des Vaughan until 2000 and Greg Mahoney since then. The CSDAA is a very well organised organisation with a clear profile aiming to support the professional contractors in this field and teach the customer why to choose a professional contractor. The association is also publish their own magazine regularly. CSDAA also has a very nice website that can be found at www.csdaa.com.au.

Growing side businesses
In particularly Europe concrete cutting techniques are also considered an efficient method for demolition purposes and the same thing appears in Australia and New Zealand. Many demolition contractors either take up concrete cutting themselves as an additional service or Co-operate with sole concrete cutters. And this trend is clearly increasing and seems to be coming from the smaller demolition companies but some major companies have invested in equipment and experienced people lately. It is expected that this trend will continue where job size in particular determines. It should also be said that Australian and New Zealand professional sawing and drilling contractors are also extending their operations into the traditional demolition industry.
Another side business to the concrete sawing and drilling that has increased dramatically during the last years is concrete floor grinding and polishing. Counting the whole surface preparation business in Australia some 400 plus companies are currently contracting to various degrees. Some estimates suggest the industry overall is worth approximately US$300-400 M a year from a contracting revenue perspective. Serious floor polishing such as the Husqvarna brand named Hiperfloor is growing hugely in demand. Several companies offer their own versions of such floor treatment like for instance HTC’s Superfloor. The major suppliers today are Husqvarna and HTC via Tyrolit in Australia and Holer and Youngman Richardson in New Zealand.

The suppliers, local and foreign
Australia, with a population of around 21 million and New Zealand with almost 4.3 million, has an extensive market for demolition, recycling, concrete sawing and drilling as well as concrete floor grinding and polishing equipment, including all other equipment connected to these industries.
Australia and New Zealand have a long tradition of using equipment for demolition, recycling, concrete cutting and floor preparation, but they do not have a big manufacturing industry in these product areas. Most brands that are sold and used are imported and most of the big foreign brands can be found in use in Australia and New Zealand.
An Australian manufacture that has gained international status is Kanga Loaders. The company is a division of the Jaden Kanga Group, and a manufacturer and supplier of earthmoving equipment to Australian and international markets and was the very first to commercially produce the stand-on compact skid steer loader. The Kanga Loader is designed and manufactured at Burleigh Heads on Queensland’s Gold Coast, and is distributed to Australian branches, dealers and agents as well as to USA, UK, South Africa and New Zealand markets.
The first Kanga Loader was built in 1980 by The Jaden Kanga Group, an Australian owned marine engineering, heavy hydraulics, earthmoving and mining equipment manufacturer, founded in 1978. The Kanga Loader was originally designed as a motorised wheelbarrow and has developed into an earthmoving tool that has changed the face of the workplace for many industries. Another manufacturer that has proved itself on the international arena is former King Concepts, which developed and manufactured floor grinding and polishing machines particularly for concrete floors. The company was acquired by Husqvarna Construction Products a couple of years ago and its products have a strong and growing position in the Asia Pacific region, as well as other parts of the world.
There are several small manufacturers of diamond tools that provide the local market with all sorts of professional diamond tools as well as special machinery for different concrete sawing and drilling tasks. Some of them produce their own diamond tools or sell different brands or both.
The biggest local diamond tool producer in this area is believed to be Holer Diamond Tools in New Zealand that also represents a number of foreign brands of machinery. Other well-known suppliers are Kennards Concrete Care in Australia, Australia’s Industrial Abrasives, Churchill Diamond Products, Delta Diamond Tools, Bianco Diamond Tools, MK Australia and Hoskin Diamond Products. There are several more local companies operating in the market, but the foreign brands have a strong impact. Several of the foreign companies have their own subsidiaries in the region. One very strong player is Husqvarna Construction Equipment who has been represented in Australia since almost three decades first through distributors and now since many years with their own office and production plant. Other manufacturers with a rather long history in Australia and New Zealand are Tyrolit, Hilti, Saint Gobain and others. Below a list of the foreign brands represented in Australia and New Zealand.