By Victoria Stone-Meadows
THEY say the best businesses fill a gap in the market and operate in a space where no-one else does.
Being one of only two manufacturers of a specific type on machinery in Australia, it’s fair to say Lynbrook based Worldpoly has found a niche market and absolutely dominated it.
The father-daughter team Rob and Nikita Hall have recently exported their specific poly-pipe machinery to their 110th client country, Bhutan.
The team at Worldpoly design and manufacture machinery to cut, weld and lay poly-pipe for use in agriculture, civil and industrial engineering, and a whole host of other applications.
Their business developed out of a different company that Rob’s father started when he first bought plastic pipe to farms in New South Wales in the late 1950s.
“Nikita’s grandfather was a farmer in NSW and he saw a need for product that was missing from the market,” Rob said.
“He went to the UK and ended up bringing back the technology for the plastic pipe in 1959 and was the first in the southern hemisphere to have it.”
Worldpoly as it is today was started by Rob in 2000 and since then the business has won a number of export and industry awards that reflect the professionalism and dedication of the Halls.
“We are the smallest serious manufacturer in the world in a really small industry compared to cars or big tech companies,” Rob said.
“Part of our success is we show no fear with exporting and delivering to developing countries and we provide hands-on training in a way they can relate to.”
Both Nikita and Rob said moving to their office and factory in Lynbrook about five years ago had been greatly beneficial for their business.
“The main motivation was driving against the traffic flows,” Rob said.
“But seriously, it is affordable and you have so much access to smart people and you are surrounded by people you can utilise.”
Nikita said the wealth in industry in the south-east suburbs had made Worldpoly a stronger business through the use of local tradespeople and other businesses.
“When we moved in here, we were researching and developing a new machine,” she said.
“When we came up with the new machine, we used laser cutters in Dandenong, fabricators in Cranbourne and so on.”
