Private Perth company QVS Shopfitters has won what it considers the biggest fit-out tender in Perth this year following a $500,000 investment in robotic automation equipment.
Its winning tender was for Royal Perth Hospital’s $1.6 million refurbishment of the old dental hospital, which is to become the new home for its outpatient clinics.
The hospital tender continues a run of successes for QVS, including refurbishment contracts for St George Bank subsidiary Sealcorp, the Fisheries research and education centre at Hillarys, and the Broadwater apartments in Kalgoorlie.
Marketing manager Peter Nicol said QVS had targeted the “big end of town” as a growth area, following a restructure and change of ownership in 2002.
It is aiming to double turnover to about $20 million and plans to increase corporate work to more than one third of its business.
The corporate work is additional to its traditional base in pharmacies, newsagents and other retail outlets.
To support its growth strategy, the company has invested in a new factory and has progressively upgraded its equipment.
Mr Nicol said the newly commissioned routing machine was the first of its kind in Western Australia and represented an investment of about $500,000 in equipment, software and training.
Chief executive John Nicol said the new automated equipment would revolutionise the way QVS competed for business in the corporate sector.
“This investment in a highly productive manufacturing process allows QVS to go from concept to design to finished work and installation at a rapid pace, as well as producing higher quality workmanship with significant cost savings,” he said.
Peter Nicol said the new equipment had fundamentally changed work routines and job descriptions for some QVS staff.
He said cabinet makers were now working with computers rather than saws.
The software in the robotic equipment is able to automatically work out the most efficient “set out” and takes away a lot of the routine, ‘grunt’ work, allowing staff to concentrate on finishes and customising.
Mr Nicol said some labour intensive tasks that used to take about three hours can now be completed in 21 seconds.
