For manufacturers like Byrne Trailers, change is a given.
The family business’ patriarch, Mick Byrne, was seemingly no stranger to adaptation, having worked an assortment of jobs around the regional town of Peak Hill, New South Wales, at the beginning of his career. In addition to being a steel merchant and welder, Mick was also a driver, carting livestock with his brother, Bill, in the early 1970s.
Mick’s ability to change and adopt skills with ease was complemented by a critical understanding of road transport equipment. So, when he was directly approached to build a trailer in 1974, he dropped everything to do it. With the help of his other brother, Des, Byrne Trailers was born.
Mick and his wife, Teri, helmed operations while also raising a family. Their son, Jonathon Byrne, remembers the two endeavours going hand in hand.
“Byrne Trailers’ first piece of equipment was manufactured at our old home in Peak Hill,” he recalls. “That was when the idea for the business was conceived. We bought the block of land next to our house and put a shed back there which we eventually built into a small factory.”
Business wins came early after Byrne Trailers was fully established. This was particularly seen in the form of Mick’s own livestock trailer designs which changed the entire industry.
“Livestock trailers were only built with three decks of sheep back in those days,” Jonathon explains. “Dad designed the four-decker which required a larger height of 4.6 metres. He lobbied with the National Party of Australia at the time and got the law changed to accommodate his trailer height.
“But that wasn’t all. Cattle trailers were predominantly tin-sided trailers in those early days and wooden-sided trailers before that. My dad designed a monocoque diamond pattern which is now used by the vast majority of trailer manufacturers in Australia.”
This string of innovations and subsequent success eventually prompted further changes in Byrne Trailers. In 1988, the company relocated to a new factory in Wagga Wagga, NSW. The business became an interstate operation shortly afterwards in 1993 when it set up a dedicated repairs depot in Toowoomba, Queensland, to service its northern and western customers.
These facilities have seen their share of managerial changes this year alone. The Toowoomba depot was the site of an operational shake-up in January when Jonathon purchased the business segment from his parents.
“The ownership of the business has shifted a bit, but we still work very closely together,” Jonathon says. “The relationship between both sites is strong. We’re still aiming to achieve the same business goals.”
Additionally, Byrne Trailers welcomed its new General Manager, Mick Bray, at its Wagga Wagga site. Mick has long been associated with the Byrnes in some form or another.
“My mum actually taught Mick when he was in primary school,” Jonathon says. “He ended up working for us in Peak Hill for some time before he left. Then, in 2019, he came back as a salesman and worked his way up to General Manager.”
Having seen Mick in action, Jonathon is confident that his wide scope of expertise and personability will be a boost for the business.
“Mick has a lot of industry knowledge and a lot of respect in the sector,” he explains. “The industry can be a bit old school as far as the values it holds and the things it expects. The space is a lot more rural, too. But Mick was brought up in a country area and he has already had so much exposure through his career. I think he’ll be great at building relationships which will be really good for business.”
Mick is spearheading a seismic shift within Byrne Trailers’ operations by steering the business away from some of its manufacturing niches and instead focusing on its main product type – livestock trailers.
“We’ve been doing a lot of bulk transport with tippers and walking floors over the years”, Jonathon says, “but as of late, we’ve changed our direction and put that on the back burner to purely focus on livestock. It’s like a return to our foundation.”
This refocus was made largely in response to growing demand from the livestock sector. From what Jonathon and the team have seen, this part of the industry is doing very doing well in a period where others are struggling.
“Demand in the livestock space is huge, while other sectors have slowed down a bit,” he says. “The pricing of beef is what’s driving this at the moment. The number of feed lots opening up in the last four to five years has really helped the cattle numbers throughout Australia.
“This is particularly in Queensland, a state which has more cattle than the rest of Australia. That, combined with a few wet seasons in the north which have allowed for an increase in beef production in recent years, makes it very attractive for people to sell cattle.
“All of this, as a result, means more people need to cart cattle. This is where our builds come in and it’s why we’re tailoring our operations to this space. As a business, we’re simply catering to the market demand.”
Accommodating market demand is something that has always been a strength for Byrne Trailers. Jonathon says the team has the capacity to satisfy its clients by shifting its attention away from non-livestock trailer builds in a sense.
“Some customers are very specific about what they want,” he says. “Requirements always vary from customer to customer, but we do get a lot of repeat customers. This allows us to learn the combinations and specifications that they need over time.
“We’re there to service our customers’ needs, and being familiar with them makes this process much easier.”
Byrne Trailers’ flexible manufacturing process has been cultivated over decades of customer feedback, technological changes and the internal development of more efficient methods. One of the company’s more recent innovations, for example, is its stainless steel trailer designs which have been a specialty of the Wagga Wagga site since 2016.
“We’re pulling materials from three or four different countries around the world to manufacture these trailers,” Jonathon says. “Every trailer coming out of the Wagga Wagga factory is completely stainless from the chassis up.”
The Toowoomba depot, which began manufacturing its own trailers four years ago, has largely followed suit.
“Our semi-stainless builds are in Toowoomba because there’s a higher risk of rust in the area,” Jonathon says. “This is due to the climate and the effluent from the animals that customers carry.”
Between these relatively new builds, the company’s bolstered management structure and the business’ altered direction, it is clear that a new age of Byrne Trailers has been ushered in.
“Our products and services have greatly evolved from when the company was founded,” Jonathon says. “But, with everything that’s been happening this year and our future plans, there’s a lot more for us to do.”
