Diggaholics drive to keep Australian manufacturing alive.

In recent years Australian manufacturing has being said to be in decline with retailers, producers and end users opting for cheaper, foreign imported goods. Some of Australia’s largest brands are fighting cheap international ‘copycat’ brands and competition from low-cost competitors in China, India, Vietnam and Thailand has sent many Australian manufacturers into decline. Ford, General Motors Holden and Toyota have closed their Australian plants, costing many jobs at local component and accessory makers and suppliers.

For Digga Australia, keeping Australian manufacturing alive and continually developing jobs and trades within Australia, is key in keeping customers loyal to the brand and pivotal in future success of the business.

Following the devastating fire at the facility and head office in Queensland almost 2 years ago, the company could have easily turned to outsourcing manufacturing overseas. Instead the owner’s dedication to Australia manufacturing and keeping jobs local saw the facility rebuilt and fitted with some of the most advanced machinery in the country.

Today the company employs over 200 staff here in Australia and growing. Also known as the ‘Diggaholics’ the employees of Digga Australia are proud to work for an iconic Australian brand, being a part of the drive to keep manufacturing in Australia and actively strive to manufacture and distribute quality earth moving attachments and planetary drives.

Currently supporting numerous apprentices through their work-based-learning as well as ‘up-skill’ government initiatives through a number of traineeships, Digga believes investing into their staff and creating an inspirational and innovative work environment leads to longevity and loyalty which helps the brand continue to deliver proudly made machinery attachments. Digga’s longest serving employee celebrated his 33^rd year with the group earlier this year. 

The Digga brand promises only the strongest and most durable machinery attachments the market has to offer, manufacturing 85% of all parts and components for their earthmoving attachments and planetary gearboxes in-house using some of the most technological advanced manufacturing machinery in Australia.

Practising lean manufacturing, Digga continue to invest into the manufacturing team and their facilities to stay at the forefront of the industry, working streamlined and efficiently to get the job done. Their 12,500sqm factory and main operating facility in Yatala, features a totally refitted machine shop and manufacturing plant of world class machinery including:

·      A CNC machine shop with 10 Mazak lathes and mills for precision machining and cutting of parts and components with manual machining options for greater customization

·      Bystronic 6kW laser cutting machine gives the facility the capacity to cut steel up to 25mmfrom flat sheets of steel up to 4m x 2m, while their HDP CNC plasma profile cutter allows Digga to cut steel up to 64mm thick with a bed size of 4m by 2.5m

·      Multiple press brake bending machines, saws, rollers and flight presses

·      4 state of the art robotic welding cells plus 30 manual fabrication bays

·      A custom built finishing centre ensuring a quality finish to attachments with media blasting and heavy duty powder coating

·      11 gear cutting machines both manual and CNC controlled giving the facility the flexibility to cut internal and external gears and splines of varying diameter and depth

Digga CEO Suzie Wright explains

 “The fire literally breathed new life in the facility. We are continuing to reduce setup and processing times, which in turn reduce costs and allow us to stay highly competitive in both local and export markets. Our outstanding loyal team who put in day in, day out, and investment in to them is a key part of the businesses success.”

The video attached was produced by the team at Digga to say ‘Thank you’ for choosing Digga and supporting Australian made, Australian trade, Australian quality, Aussie employees and all of their families. This is shared across Digga Australia’s social media platforms and sent out to customers from the sales team regularly.