Home in_30days EWS Recycling and Kobelco: a partnership set in stone

EWS Recycling and Kobelco: a partnership set in stone

They say the best way to find a gap in the market is to solve your own problems. And when you back that vision up with the right people and tools, it’s a virtually foolproof recipe for business success.

And that’s exactly how EWS Recycling, a family owned and operated concrete recycling and transport business located in the southwest of Sydney and now expanding into Brisbane, got its kick-start.

We were lucky enough to pin down their Chief Operations Officer, James Mchefsky, and General Manager, Peter Kalijewski, to get the scoop on tapping opportunity, building the foundations for future growth, and why partnering with STM and Kobelco was a pivotal moment for the business.

General Manager, Peter Kalijewski.

EWS Recycling has actually been around for a decade, but it was around 5 years ago that a bright idea changed everything.

“We originally started off driving agitators and we saw there was an issue with concrete returns,” shares James. “They’d call us up with a return and send us to our tip, an hour away. But, as a self-owner of a concrete truck, the goal is to do as many loads as you can in a day. We thought, if we could have a bin in the yard, and you could tip into the bin on site, that would be amazing.”

Chief Operations Officer, James Mchefsky.

Solving that problem is what saw EWS take off in a new direction. “My dad, Satch, and I sat down and thought about how we could make this a business. That’s when we came to the idea of making patented skip bins,” James explains. “Operators could tip concrete waste into our skip bins, we’d send our trucks to pick the bins up, bring the materials back to our yard and process them. We were spending upwards of an hour mucking around back at the tip. This way we can just go back to the yard, tip off in the yard, get loaded again and keep going.”

Peter takes the opportunity to chime in regarding the bin design. “Sash just has that vision,” he explains. “He’s been through various businesses in his life, and he worked long and hard to perfect the design of the skip bins, making sure the way they operated added value for our concrete customers. It really is a unique and well thought out idea. Spotting that potential of returned concrete and making it into a product that’s sustainable was a smart solution the market was crying out for.”

Of course, when you’ve got an idea that good, you need to protect it. “Obviously they’re patented,” James explains. “So, no one else can make those type of bins with the concrete release mechanism – that’s where you just lift the pin up and the bin comes out. Seven cubes of concrete come out in one go. And then you break it up.”

James admits at the time it all felt like a bit of a gamble. “Making the skip bins and investing the money that we did, was a bold move, but it’s worked out in the end,” he shares. “We never thought it would grow this fast, and with such good clientele behind us. But our customers and people believe in us. So, I’m super happy with where we are today.”

Life’s all about timing. And luckily the guys got it just right. “It was just prior to COVID the concrete bins were rolled out,” Peter recalls. “The first concrete plant to receive it was Boral and from there it’s gone into the various other major concrete suppliers across Sydney. There’s peaks and troughs in the construction industry, so the more concrete that goes out the door and is supplied to projects, the more that inevitably ends up coming back into our concrete skip-bins.”

EWS started primarily as a logistics business with recycling obviously coming on board more recently. But trucking is still a core part of the business. “At the moment in our Sydney location, we run 5 to 10 tippers based on demand and based on truck availability,” Peter shares. “They service our major concrete quarry suppliers. And our concrete hook bins we run between 5 and 10, again based on demand. They’re 10-wheeler rigids based in Sydney.”

And the recycling plant equipment? “For crushing and recycling, we’ve got a John Deere front end loader, Rubble Master 120X crushers, and two Kobelcos. We’ll be looking to replicate that setup at our newer locations in Brisbane and in the Gold Coast.”

Initially, the team worked with a 14-tonner from another brand but switched to Kobelco based on the good reputation they’ve built in the market. “We went to Kobelco because they’re well known and everyone raves about the service behind them,” James explains. “And STM Trucks & Machinery – that’s where we buy our machines from – their service really is unbelievable. You call Adrian or Mick, and they answer straight away. Doesn’t matter if you have one machine, 5 machines or 50 machines, they’re always there to help you out.”

That back up is what matters most in any business that runs on equipment. “It’s all about service and parts,” James says. “And you shouldn’t even mind paying a bit more money for that because downtime is money. We can just call up STM and say, ‘I’ve got a 13 and a half that needs a service.’ No more than two days later, they’re here servicing the machine on site. And if you call them up and say, ‘look my 38 needs a hydraulic change,’ they’re here within the day if there’s parts available. So, that turnaround is amazing. And that’s all I care about.”

Like all Kobelco owners, James admits the machines look the business, too. “The colour of the Kobelcos is unique,” he says. “All the rest of them are yellow. This nice blue colour is attractive and I think it really stands out.”

Of course, the real test is what the operators think. “Oh, they like the screening, the seat warmer and all that kind of stuff,” James says. “I get feedback from them saying how they’ve driven several machines before they started with me. But once they’ve hopped into the Kobelcos, it’s just outstanding. I mean, they’re sitting in that cab up to 11 hours a day, six days a week. They’re comfortable. It’s nice and quiet – they can listen to the radio, or they can talk on the phone if they have to on the UHF. They think it’s great.”

And what about attachments? “We just get civil spec,” James explains. “So that’s digging buckets. But we’ve also got hammers, pulverisers, and even rippers – but we don’t use them very often. The most important one is definitely the digging bucket and the mud bucket we use.”

For hitches, they couldn’t walk past Doherty. “They’d have to be the best on the market by a long way,” James says. “They’re quick and easy. One touch, boom, it’s open, change your bucket and off you go. There’s no shaking. No bucket dropping on the floor. No downtime at all. Not like the old-school way where you’d have to go through the process of taking the bucket off and putting it back on. Imagine not having a quick hitch or only working with one bucket. It’s just not as versatile.”

Another thing you notice as you walk around the yard is all the gear is brand new and top notch. “You really do get what you pay for,” James says. “With Kobelco there’s less downtime and no breakdowns. And we buy new because operators love driving good gear. You don’t want to give them something old or bashed up that makes their work or their day harder. You’re not going to get good operators that way.”

Despite their policy of sticking with brand new machines, James reckons another advantage with Kobelco is they retain their value. “With the other brands I had previously, I lost an infinite amount of money. They just didn’t hold their value,” he shares. “That’s another reason I’ve gone with Kobelco. They hold their value and their performance. When we had to wait for one of our machines, we hired a 50 tonner from STM. It had 8,000 hours and it was still operating like it had 500 hours. Just amazing.”

Speaking of performance, Peter says technology and compatibility is also a big factor for choosing the Kobelco machines.

“We need live data. We want to understand how the machine’s performing. How much our machine’s producing. So, that technology is critical,” he shares. “The more the machine is automated, if there’s a PLC in a machine, that’s a big tick there for us. We want to take the machines into the future, so technology is critical as part of our automation, and as part of our growth strategy. We want to be able to tie everything together into our ERPs, the machines need to communicate to our systems. Kobelco offers us that.”

Accommodating rapid growth has also meant expanding their footprint and team. “We’ve got around eight operators here in Sydney and six in Brisbane,” James says. “In terms of locations, we’ve got the Sydney base covered, from the city to out west. Then we’ve got the yard in Brisbane, and one at the Gold Coast. So, the guys never have to go too far.”

The move into Brisbane represented a whole new chapter for EWS. “About the end of last year, we felt we were ready to take the next step,” James shares. “So, we started looking into Brisbane and opening our significant yard up there. That was something that they lacked, so we’re going to be there to fix everyone’s issues.”

James feels establishing that presence ahead of the Brisbane Olympics will really pay off. “That’s only eight years away, so we wanted to get in there and get going,” he shares. “Construction around the Olympic Stadium is definitely going to boom. And more generally, we project our growth will go from 100% to 500% within the next year and a half. So, we’re looking at further locations where we’ll have room to facilitate people coming in and tipping as well.”

Despite its big ambitions, EWS is still, at its heart, a family business. “It’s me, my brother and my father that look after EWS and Recycling,” James says. “But Dad is mainly leaving it up to us now. It’s hard to believe we started with only three people. Now we have 30-40 staff under us. The responsibility is big, to make sure that we accommodate for everyone and feed everyone.”

It’s a big responsibility, but it’s a challenge James enjoys. “Yeah, I love it,” he smiles. “I go home every day happy. Of course, some days are stressful. Things sometimes do go wrong, and you have your ups and your downs. But we’ve got it to a point where we’ve been really successful and that’s exciting.”

And what advice would James give to someone who has a vision and is thinking of starting a business?

“If you see that there is something to be made of it, don’t give up,” he shares. “It is hard at the start. Those first couple of years are difficult. But if you’ve got that belief and the right people behind you, you will succeed in the long run. Nothing happens overnight.”

Speaking of the long-term view, what’s in store for James and his family? “In 3-5 years, I plan to be living somewhere in Brisbane or the Gold Coast,” James laughs. “That’s our plan – both for the business and for the lifestyle. Sydney’s a bit of a rat race. I want to take my young family up to the Gold Coast and find a waterfront up there. Do the best we can.”

Now that sounds like a concrete plan.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

To Read the Magazine in HD

Follow on Most Popular social community and receive NEW posts in your social line every day!