Entrepreneur awarded for innovation

Hedland business owner James Taylor last month claimed an international award for his entrepreneurial spirit in building a successful engineering company from scratch over the past decade.

He picked up the gong for entrepreneur of the year on March 11, at the annual Business Excellence Forum run by business coaching group Action Coach.

It recognised how Inline Engineering Services had expanded from only fitting and maintaining gearboxes for mining conveyor belts and other machinery to now supplying replacement systems to BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group.

Mr Taylor said he had partnered with Chinese manufacturer Donly to build the gearboxes because it could be done cheaper and faster than those sourced from Germany.

But he said it also gave his company extra know-how when it came to servicing the equipment.

"It puts us in a stronger position because we also rebuild this equipment on site," he said.

"So we are always close-by and on-call for the backup and the correct installation of it."

The Donly partnership and award comes as a welcome boost for Inline Engineering at a time when falling iron ore prices have forced nervous contractors across the Pilbara to look for new ways to boost tight profit margins.

Mr Taylor said the move into China typified how his company always looked to get in early to seize new opportunities.

He said even the company's founding in 2001 came opportunistically when Mr Taylor looked to fill the niche left behind by the closure of his former employer David Brown Gear Industries.

With a skills shortage at home, he then also travelled to South Africa, bringing back four skilled workers and their families.

As Hedland property prices then rocketed skywards, he said he acted quickly to purchase housing for the families and avoid the coming "rental market rat race".

The investment paid off, Mr Taylor said, because the families still live in Hedland today, although they had since moved on to supervisory jobs with BHP and other miners.

But while the South African recruiting trip worked, Mr Taylor said his focus remained on training local apprentices.

Peter Watson - the man who trained Mr Taylor when he was a 19-year-old apprentice - also works at Inline Engineering and mentors the new trainees, while the workers benefit further from the company's move into China.

Apprentices have accompanied Inline Engineering employees during their trips to China to oversee the build and quality control of new gearboxes.

Mr Taylor said the trips opened the workers' eyes to new engineering opportunities and the scale of manufacturing in China.