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Company Announcement – Tyree Group of Companies

The Tyree Group wishes to announce changes implemented as a result of a recent strategic review conducted by Sir William Tyree, in conjunction with the board of Directors.

The board of Directors has been strengthened with the addition of non-executive directors Robyn Fennell (nee Tyree) and Ralph Waters in the capacity of Chairman, with David McNeil also accepting a non-executive directorship. The board of Directors will be supported by Chief Financial Officer David Ward in the continuing capacity of Company Secretary.

The board of Directors also wish to announce that the Tyree Group of Companies has been fully refinanced by Sir William who is continuing his ongoing investment into the long term future of the Group. These investments support  the recent expansions undertaken at the Mittagong operations for galvanising, fabrication, kiosk substations and distribution transformers and will also allow the Directors to further the investment that has been made at the Melbourne Cable business, Tycab, which continues to grow by offering its customer base first class cable products and service.

In support of his lifelong ambition to promote engineering within Australia, Sir William is establishing a trust that will be used to distribute a high proportion of Group income for philanthropic purposes, with a strong bias towards education of engineers.

Tyree Industries is also pleased to announce the recent appointment of Mr Keian Barnard as Chief Executive Officer. An experienced senior executive with over 25 years’ experience, Keian is an associate fellow of Engineers Australia and a former Chief Executive of O’Donnell Griffin. He also previously held senior management roles with Ampcontrol and Metal Manufactures.

Keian commenced in his role in September 2013 and is charged with executing the growth strategy of Tyree Industries to capitalise on the significant investments made into increased production capacity, and grow the existing product lines including power transformers, distribution transformers, pole top transformers, kiosk substations, and switchgear.

Keian leads a strong and experienced management team; including Cheryl Smith as Financial Controller, National Sales Manager Scott Steele and Michael Stack as General Manager. This team is also strengthened by recent the appointments of Will Vanleerdam to the role of Operations Manager Power Transformers and Rob Norton Operations Manager of Distribution Transformers.

Tyree has continued to invest in Australian manufacturing with a new 4,000m² fabrication workshop nearing completion at Mittagong NSW designed to support the growth in power and specialised distribution transformers and kiosk substations. The new workshop incorporates a significant investment in new machinery to further increase production capacity and efficiency. The new equipment includes  a 33kV power supply, 15,000 tonne per annum galvanising plant, Bystronic Laser Cutter, Farley Plasma cutter, a recycling shot blasting bay and two paint bays.

The additional floor space will also provide Tyree with increased production capacity to support the continued growth in demand for the assembly of specialised small power transformers, kiosk substations, distribution transformers and medium voltage ring main units.

 

“I am honoured to be leading Tyree Industries, an icon in Australian manufacturing and a market leader in transformers. Sir William Tyree has provided this company with a strong financial base for the long term and his foundations will continue his lifelong investment into engineering education. My management team and I are committed to achieving his vision of being ‘Future Ready’ by capitalising on our key strengths and technology partnerships.

This is an exciting period for Tyree as we transition to the future and continue to deliver on Sir Williams’s vision through ongoing reinvestment into Australian manufacturing and engineering training.”

Keian Barnard, Tyree CEO