Manufacturer Dragon Glass chooses Goulburn

The Wagga Wagga based businesswoman wanted somewhere between that city and Sydney that offered reasonably priced land, good transport and logistics and a ready workforce.

Goulburn came up trumps on all fronts. That was last year. Now the company, Dragon Glass, is just weeks away from sending its first product out of its Copford Road premises.

The $3 million venture will manufacture the largest and strongest laminated construction glass in the Southern Hemisphere using innovative technology involving multi-layering. The military grade product is used in airports but also top end retail premises that need specialist glass, just to name a few. Investigations are also underway into using it in interactive television screens.

"We do everything no one else wants to do, like all the big commercial construction. Wedo all the glory jobs," Ms Wendt said.

"...Everything we do is engineered to a structure because of the size and weight."

Since November, machinery, some of which was designed by Ms Wendt, has been set up in the spacious 1200 square metre building. It includes a large tilting table onto which the raw product is placed, an automatic glass washing machine, a clean room, which is one of the largest in the world, interlayer table and oven in which the glass can take anywhere from 30 minutes to five hours.

The operation will produce laminated glass panels from 32cm by 24cm to 12 metres by 3.3 metres and if needed, can accommodate special designs.

She came up with the lamination technology herself and then sold the patent to a Spanish company in order to fund the Goulburn operation. Spanish and Chinese companies have also been involved in research and development at the Bradfordville factory.

Her company also has a CSIRO grant to explore how much multi-layering of panels is possible with the technology.

"The more layers you can achieve, the more structural glass you can do," she said. 

Currently the plant employs five Goulburn people but under a five-year expansion plan, up to 30 positions are possible. Ms Wendt is negotiating purchase of the leased premises.

Mayor Bob Kirk, Hume MP Angus Taylor and council business development manager Jackson Reardon toured the operation on Friday.

She told them that Goulburn was the ideal choice. It was just 90 minutes from her Bankstown warehouse and close to Canberra. Importantly, it also had a rail hub which would transport product to port for export.

She told The Post the Hub had been particularly helpful in sorting out her container issues and ensuring smooth movements. The raw glass product also comes in via port and is transported to Goulburn.

The company will maintain its Bankstown warehouse but move everything else to Goulburn. Currently it has an accounting base in Wagga Wagga. Ms Wendt owns a farm nearby, at Harefield.

"Goulburn makes sense from a transport and logistics point of view. It's the perfect place," she said.

The managing director also praised Goulburn Mulwaree as the most proactive council she had ever dealt with and thanked real estate agent Peter Mylonas for making the connections.

She intends to double in size within two years, taking advantage of the two hectare site to add space.

Ms Wendt described herself as a grounded person with a background in construction and "a very creative side."

Friday's tour was a chance to speak to Mr Taylor about her quest to change and modernise Australian glass standards and increase power capacity for the building.

The Hume MP said the federal government had a role to play in helping such businesses set up quickly, working in conjunction with the council and State. 

“This is a particularly exciting new business because Kate has a boutique product which she will be exporting to the world,” he said.

Mr Taylor said 80 new businesses had set up in Goulburn Mulwaree in 2017/18, based on a Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Business report. It represented the highest rate of growth in his electorate, where a total 1000 had established in that financial year.

“I am aware this kind of growth is not blanket growth. There are some sectors doing it tough, particularly retail," he said.

"...(But) Goulburn is particularly seeing enormous demand for industrial land because Sydney is running out of space," he said.

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