“We don’t do average! is a bit of a company mantra around here”, says Emilio De Stefano, General Manager of dynamic engineering and specialist steel fabrication company, Smart Fabrication Pty Ltd. Smart Fabrication is headquartered in Port Adelaide and operates across two sites with its oil & gas division in Kilburn. The company services a variety of industries including oil & gas, defence, mining, water, marine and civil and is capable of planning, designing, constructing and installing a wide range of steel and aluminium solutions to these industries. Choosing to partner with Engineers Australia was a natural choice as it looks to professionlise the business and give its team of 5 professional engineers the opportunity to progress their careers through the Engineers Australia Professional Development Program (PDP).
“Our clients consistently tell us that we’re the most professional fabricators they’ve ever dealt with” says Mr De Stefano. The company takes great pride in delivering outstanding client service and ensuring that its engineers are at the forefront of their industry through maintaining high levels of continuous professional development. “There aren’t too many fabricators that are partners with Engineers Australia yet. We want to stand out from the rest for the right reasons, and partnering up with Engineers Australia shows just how serious we are about this” says Mr De Stefano. According to Mr De Stefano, a Chartered Professional Engineer himself, it also helps Smart Fabrication deliver on one of its strategic goals to become an employer of choice as more engineers look to join companies that can support them through the PDP.
Over the last 18-24 months, Smart Fabrication has moved into the oil & gas industry and it now forms a large part of its business where it manufactures large quantities of pipe spools, pipe skids and pressure vessels. Some of the company’s clients in this space include Santos, Beach Energy, Epic Energy, APA Group and McConnell Dowell. Mr De Stefano believes much of the company’s growth over the next few years will come from the oil & gas industry and he also has plans to grow the engineering design and consultancy side of the business through this industry.
Mr De Stefano believes Smart Fabrication’s partnership with Engineers Australia will help the organisation achieve this objective, stating “the PDP will help us identify any gaps in the competency of our engineering staff and allow us to tailor a development plan for each individual so as to ensure those engineers are given the opportunities they require to close any such gaps. This will undoubtedly help us further develop our engineering expertise as an organisation and also cement our reputation as a company that not only delivers exceptional results as an advanced manufacturer, but also in the professional services space”. “We’re excited to have signed the partnership and look forward to the opportunities it will present us with” said Mr De Stefano. Last May the company beat 40 other manufacturers nationwide when it was named the winner of the 2014 Manufacturers’ Monthly Endeavour Award in the category of Business Transformation.
Image: Caroline Argent MAICD, General Manager Engineers Australia South Australia, presenting Emilio De Stefano MIEAust CPEng General Manager, Smart Fabrication, with the Engineers Australia PDP Partnership Certificate
Alex Kennedy
Senior Business Relationship Manager
T (08) 8240 1876
E [email protected]
W www.smartfab.com.au