SJC Engineering: Getting Things Done

Over the past 10 years, under the leadership of Chris and Skye Klowss, they have experienced steady growth in terms of their company size and capabilities. These days, between their expert team of skilled tradespeople and experienced project managers, and their workshop full of state-of-the-art equipment, they have everything they need to manufacture and install structural steel quickly, cost-effectively, and to an extremely high degree of quality.

When Chris and Skye first purchased SJC Engineering, the company was operating out of a 300-square-metre shed with one door and a car park for steel storage, and their focus was primarily metalwork fabrication. Under Chris and Skye’s direction, they started doing more structural steelwork, such as awnings, commercial extensions and miscellaneous small structural projects, and the company quickly grew. Three years in, they purchased an 800-square-metre shed in Underwood and worked there for five years, gradually gaining bigger and bigger jobs and continuing to grow.

Today, SJC Engineering is more than 10 times its original size, with 2,500 square metres of shop space and a further 5,000 square metres of storage. They can now take on a multitude of projects that range from 5 to 200t. According to Chris, they average 800 man hours a week with significantly more capacity and currently produce up to 50 tonnes of steel week per week through the workshop.

In Chris’ view, the most important step in the company’s growth journey was one they made a couple of years ago when they purchased a CNC beam drill line system from Germany – as well as a new facility in Crestmead to house it. Prior to that purchase, they had to contract out their steel processing to steel service centres, and those service centres weren’t able to fit into the tight deadlines SJC Engineering was aiming for.

The lead times for their steel processing became intolerably long.

“There was such limited time between when we received construction drawings to when we had to install the steel on-site,” Skye recalls. “At the time, it was taking between 1 to 3 weeks for cut and drilled steel to be delivered.”

“So we decided we needed to do something,” Chris says. “We needed to have more control.”

To solve their problem, Skye and Chris did some research, while also reaching out to Todd Dolling of Specialist Machinery Sales. In consultation with Todd, they eventually decided on purchasing a beam line system that would cut, drill and mark all four sides of a product in one pass in addition to lights-out automation. They then purchased their new facility in Crestmead.

The beamline system has made the company so efficient; Chris explains that within 24 hours of receiving drawings, they can start having steel cut and drilled. Further increasing their efficiency is the amount of gantry cranes they now have – over the last few years, they have gone from having a workshop with no cranes to having four cranes.

In addition to reducing fabrication time, that beamline system has also reduced the number of fabrication issues that later have to be resolved on the side. That’s largely a result of the four-side layout marking, which the steel service centres they used to work with would never provide. Layout marking increases the speed of fabrication due to less time spent interpreting the drawings and measuring out cleat locations, it also increases the accuracy due to all parts being manufactured as per the model, with millimetre perfection.

“A few months ago, we looked at the last 5,000 pieces of steel we put through,” Chris says. “Of those 5,000 pieces, we could only think of four issues we’ve had on-site. So that’s less than one percentage point of issues. That’s pretty amazing. Now if we have an issue on site it’s usually a drafting issue, or a site condition that’s changed, or the issue is with another trade. It’s very, very rarely a fabrication error that holds us back.”

SJC Engineering commissioned its new beam line system about one year ago, during a period when they were already growing quickly. Once again, that acquisition helped the company grow even faster and to even bigger heights.

“Over the last, say, four or five years we’ve doubled our turnover,” Skye says. “We’ve nearly tripled it. We’ve had a fairly big period of growth.”

Moving forward, that growth is poised to continue, with the company recently receiving its CC3 certification from the ASI National Structural Steelwork Compliance Scheme. That certification will allow them to work on more complex and higher-risk projects, such as larger commercial, residential, and educational buildings, as well as larger hospitals, bridges and other structures. That’s important, Chris explains, because the population of Southeast Queensland is growing quickly, and a lot of structures in that category will need to be built to accommodate that growth. In addition, the upcoming Brisbane 2032 Summer Olympics will necessitate the construction of more sports facilities. According to Chris, “That should help us with securing a lot more work.”

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