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Ensuring their clients projects are delivered on time and to the highest quality is the goal for the team at Vulcan Steels.

From their Albury base, the team supply engineering machine shops, stainless fabricators and manufacturers internationally, nationally and locally.

"We continue to provide a competitively-priced product backed by an extensive stock holding, mill certification, state-of-the-art processing equipment and next-day delivery all part of the package," Vulcan Steels manager Bruce Gregory said.

"We offer the most comprehensive stock holding of special steels in the country."

All branches stock a wide range of products and sizes; these include Carbon steel, High Tensile, Case Hardening, Tool Steel, Hollow Bar, Cast Iron, Bronze, Chrome Plated bar, Cylinder Tube, Feedline Tube, Bright Bar, Aluminium, Brass and Stainless Steel.

A more recent addition to the Vulcan Albury stock offering is an extensive range of Stainless Steel products including - Sheet, Plate, Flats, Angles, RHS, SHS, Tube, Pipe, Flanges, Fittings Treadplate, and Welding Consumables. High-quality laser and plasma, sheet and plate, cutting services (including cut to length sheet/coil) are also offered. A high wear / impact resistant plate (Creusabro®) is available in a range of thicknesses, full plates or cut pieces.

Vulcan Steels Phoenix Place facility in Albury was opened in 2004 with steady growth since including the purchase of Interlloy Albury in March 2018.

The business employs 10 people from the Albury-Wodonga community who service and support the local engineering industry.

A Wodonga-based engineering firm is pushing the boundaries of mechanical engineering through automation, digitisation and innovation.

Location, lifestyle and family roots are why Peter Taylor, managing director of RMR Engineering, calls Albury-Wodonga home and why he and his wife Christine bought the business in 2012. Aside from a two-year stint overseas and a few years working in Bathurst, Peter has spent most of his life in the North East and is passionate about finding innovative ways to support local industries.

"The real driving factor for keeping the business here is that there's a lot of industry in and around Albury-Wodonga that we can partner with and create a community around our business and the people we want to work with," Peter said.

RMR Engineering specialises in the food and beverage industry, working with names like Nestle, Mars, Saputo, Sunrice and Staughton Group. The team also works across defence, construction and infrastructure.

Not one to do things in traditional ways, Peter and the team strive to improve processes to deliver more efficient and better quality outcomes for their clients. They use a unique three-step process with their clients (Evaluate, Innovate, Generate), honed over Peter's 35 years of experience, to find opportunities to reduce costs and innovate using new technologies.

Using grants from the Victorian government, Peter has recently purchased two- and three-dimensional laser cutting equipment for the business and is investing heavily in automation to fuel business growth. The laser cutters will enable the business to expand the products and services they offer.

He's also taken advantage of funding to bolster the back-office processes through automation and digitisation, providing opportunities for his team to upskill and grow. The digital growth phase focuses on streamlining information gathering, job costing, timesheeting, and inventory management to help RMR Engineering run as smoothly as possible.

While some may say that automation will remove jobs, Peter is firm in his belief the opposite is true and benefits the industry and the wider community. "We will have people that can not only run the equipment, but they can program it, and they can maintain it (trades upskilled to technicians)," he said. "We see it as gaining jobs because I don't believe we'll ever completely remove the hands-on trade aspect of our industry. We can automate large parts of [engineering], but we can't ever get rid of that human element."

Future innovation and expansion plans include the introduction of robotic/cobotic welding, fabrication, and 3D printing.

Securing the global food supply has never been more important with current affairs across the world impacting freight and stock.

Walla Walla bulk-solids storage and handling specialist, Kotzur, take their role in securing Australia's food supply seriously.

Kotzur general manager Dean Glanvill said despite current challenges around availability of labour and raw materials, not to mention ever-increasing input costs, the Kotzur team remains highly committed to delivering on their promise of providing quality products and service.

"A strong motivator for our people comes from the fact our business plays a small but critical part in feeding the world," Mr Glanvill said.

"Our silos are a critical tool at the front end of the food supply chain used by farmers, feedlot operators and food processors.

"We take pride in the fact that what we produce safeguards and optimises not only people's livelihoods but also the supply of grains that ultimately end up as food to be consumed by people across the globe."

Kotzur employs nearly 200 people across sites at Walla Walla, NSW, and Toowoomba, Queensland, and is currently working on projects for customers in all states of Australia.

The business is unique in that it provides Australian made full turn-key solutions.

"Where we are different is that we have highly-skilled in-house teams of engineers, designers, production staff, project managers and maintenance personnel," Mr Glanvill said.

"This allows us to control the process from enquiry through to commissioning and we take full responsibility for all of the steps along the way."

An new Greenfield installation at a feed mill in Western Australia has used automation to streamline work processes and increase safety.

Operators will have access to full visualisation of the operating process equipment, a display of silo / hopper levels, system alarms and production throughput figures at their fingertips.

The upgrade will also provide a safe working environment thanks to the integrated safety systems installed on the various manufacturing machinery and equipment.

The multi-million-dollar project is being delivered by Electrical Design & Construction who specialise in comprehensive engineered solutions including electrical, automation projects and data installation.

From their base in Wodonga, the team deliver complex and extensive projects on time and on budget across Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia.

The highly-skilled team is made up of project managers, electrical engineers, electrical design and drafting personnel, industrial installation electricians, hazardous-area accredited electricians, high-voltage cable joiners, authorised high-voltage operators and data cabling installation workers.

Together they specialise in industrial electrical automation projects, high voltage installations, control systems safety design and assessments, detailed electrical design, hazardous area zoning and installation, turn-key automation, engineering solutions and industrial data.

With a long list of future projects, engineering manager Mark Edwards said they are always looking for more electricians and project managers to join the team. For more information go to www.edcelectrical.com.au.