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Speaker 1: Twenty four to eight now on five double A. Thrilled

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Speaker 1: to have it in the studio with me one of

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Speaker 1: our leading it's fair to say electronic manufacturers here in

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Speaker 1: Anthony Kittle, who CEO. I've read down at Lonsdale. It's

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Speaker 1: a business that's been operating for some decades now, and

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Speaker 1: I think Andrew bought into it quite some years ago.

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Speaker 1: It was just a fledgling business. But let's talk about

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Speaker 1: the history. Andrew. Good evening, Welcome, thanks, Matte. Yeah, Anthony, Anthony, sorry,

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Speaker 1: that's right, I've got it in front of me. The problem.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, we purchased read Ouk in nineteen ninety seven,

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Speaker 2: just a little small business in Lonsdale handmaking electronics, and

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Speaker 2: myself and my wife's mother and father purchased the company

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Speaker 2: and started to grow the business mainly in trucking, and

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Speaker 2: then diversified into the RV and the full drive space

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Speaker 2: into the early two thousands, and you know, really started

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Speaker 2: to invest back into R and D, so developing our

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Speaker 2: electric brake controllers probably what people know us for best,

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Speaker 2: which controls the brakes on your caravan or on your

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Speaker 2: horse float or boat trailer. And then our power systems,

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Speaker 2: which again in caravans, you know, run the microwaves and

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Speaker 2: power your cook tops and all your appliances in.

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Speaker 1: The van, so be pretty specialized.

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Speaker 2: It's a very niche area. Yeah, Para electronics iss only

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Speaker 2: probably you know a dozen companies around the globe that

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Speaker 2: specialize in that area. But yeah, we hire some obviously

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Speaker 2: very smart people. And the great thing is we're able

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Speaker 2: to design here in Adelaide, develop and manufacture, which is

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Speaker 2: quite unique. I mean a lot of offshore companies have

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Speaker 2: gone off shore. We've decided to invest heavily in manufacturing,

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Speaker 2: heavily into R and D, and that's really given us

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Speaker 2: that competitive advantage.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fantastic. And I've got to say I first

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Speaker 1: found out about red Arc through Jay Weatherill because I'd

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Speaker 1: done a story I don't know if you remember this,

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Speaker 1: and I came and interviewed you as a result. About

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Speaker 1: ten years ago, I've done a story about I think

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Speaker 1: it was Coroma out at Nord at McGill Road there

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Speaker 1: that shut and around that time, so roughly ten years ago,

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Speaker 1: there'd been a speed of factory closures and people being

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Speaker 1: unemployed as a result, and I'd listed them all. He

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Speaker 1: was the next person on the phone to the Brecky

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Speaker 1: Show and he said, well, I should go out and

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Speaker 1: have a chat to a successful business and he quoted you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, and we met then and it's been interesting

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Speaker 1: finding out about red Arc and the fact that you

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Speaker 1: took me for a tour through the factory. Some two

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Speaker 1: hundred odd people at the time. What are you up

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Speaker 1: to now close to four hundred?

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Speaker 2: Wow, So we're doubled since that time, and obviously with

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Speaker 2: this new investment that we're have made in the defense

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Speaker 2: and space we want to add another two hundred people.

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Speaker 2: So hopefully when we talk again, we're six hundred.

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Speaker 1: Matt, let's talk about that the investment fifty million dollars

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Speaker 1: first stage of the space hub that you've created. What

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Speaker 1: does that mean exactly? What are you doing?

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Speaker 2: Okay? So I guess we're setting out a building that

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Speaker 2: we can do advance electronics for the defensive space sectors,

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Speaker 2: so looking at very complex systems that obviously are very

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Speaker 2: ruggedized and heavy duty for defense sector, but also able

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Speaker 2: to go up into orbit, so we can do all

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Speaker 2: the manufacturing, we can do all the testing, vibration, shock, temperature,

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Speaker 2: all the different aspects to make sure the product survives

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Speaker 2: in the most harshest conditions, and I guess a whole

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Speaker 2: suite of technicians, assembly, manufacturing, and engineering development from trades

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Speaker 2: right through to PhDs. So yeah, we'll develop sophisticated electronics.

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Speaker 2: And a lot of it is where we take the

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Speaker 2: intellectual property from our commercial business and then bring it

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Speaker 2: over into the defense sector power related products, and we're

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Speaker 2: able to provide power to vehicles or anything where the

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Speaker 2: battery it moves. That's our, I guess, our biggest opportunity.

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Speaker 2: But then we also make customer electronics for some of

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Speaker 2: the key primes. So we're building all the LED lights

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Speaker 2: for the Hunter class frigates really something like the first

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Speaker 2: three ships twelve than six hundred different kinds of LED

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Speaker 2: lights for the ships. You know. We're building all the

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Speaker 2: complex electro mechanical systems for the nassam's anti air air

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Speaker 2: missile protection systems for the Australian Army in conjunction with

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Speaker 2: Kongsburg Defense Australia. And the best outcome is obviously when

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Speaker 2: we can actually export that technology as well, and which

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Speaker 2: we're doing with Congsburg now going into Poland to coastal vessels.

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Speaker 1: Okay, chie, isn't it amazing? Out of a fledgling business

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Speaker 1: started by a mechanic or a mechanical enginet engineer. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: all those years ago, it's turned into this. Can you

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Speaker 1: believe that?

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Speaker 2: I can't. I was only just saying to people today.

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Speaker 2: You know, I was born and bred in Portugusta, and

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Speaker 2: you know you could pinch me to say that, that

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Speaker 2: young boy in Portugusta. You know, we've been able to create,

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Speaker 2: you know, we're a great team of people create the

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Speaker 2: business that we've got today, which is a global business.

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Speaker 2: Our brands recognized globally. I was selling into the US,

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Speaker 2: were selling into Europe, was selling into the Middle East,

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Speaker 2: South Africa, some thirty eight countries. So it's very exciting.

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Speaker 1: After Port Augusta, what happened? Did you become a mechanical engineer?

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Speaker 1: I did.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I left school and went to Wyaler and worked

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Speaker 2: in the steel works. So I've got a really a

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Speaker 2: strong relationship with the Wyaler and BHP that owned it

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Speaker 2: at the time. I went through my engineering degree and

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Speaker 2: stayed on for another three or four years, and then

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Speaker 2: I moved to Adelaide and that's when I came into

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Speaker 2: the automotive sector, working for Arrowcrest Roh down at Woodville

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Speaker 2: making car wheels, and then in my early thirties I

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Speaker 2: was chatting with Michelle, my wife's father, Dennis, and you know,

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Speaker 2: we decided that I'd love to take the plunge and

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Speaker 2: buy a small business, and with Dennis's and Jones support,

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Speaker 2: were able to do that. So we took that risk,

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Speaker 2: mortgage the house and had a crack.

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Speaker 1: Wow, what a crack.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So it's obviously changed to be talking building

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Speaker 2: facilities to the value of fifty million, and everything's a

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Speaker 2: risk to Obviously we're backing the defense and space sector

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Speaker 2: and the South Australian government is and the federal government

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Speaker 2: are doing, you know, a great great job in bringing

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Speaker 2: shipbuilding but also future submarines to Adelaide.

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Speaker 1: So you just look at getting involved in that way.

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Speaker 2: We are certainly looking in the Orchest program. And you know,

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Speaker 2: we just have just come back from London with the

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Speaker 2: with the premiere and with the Treasurer. We're on a

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Speaker 2: defense CEO delegation. We went to a big international defense

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Speaker 2: show called DSEi, which is probably the largest defense show

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Speaker 2: in the world, and we had a whole series of

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Speaker 2: meetings and one of those in particular is related to

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Speaker 2: Orcus and the submarines, and you know, I guess, as

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Speaker 2: red Ark, we had the opportunity to put forward our

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Speaker 2: skill set and our case and I guess our pedigree

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Speaker 2: in terms of the results the runs we've got on

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Speaker 2: the board and look really positive meetings, and I'm just

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Speaker 2: so excited because there's not many projects that you can

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Speaker 2: say if you get involved thirty forty year time frame,

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Speaker 2: it is a long time and it will outlive me

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Speaker 2: and outlive many of our employees. So you think you're

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Speaker 2: creating jobs for your grandchildren.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, the hub you've got so if you're testing

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Speaker 1: spacelike conditions and you'd want it to be absolutely right,

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Speaker 1: of course, because as lives will depend on what you're doing.

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Speaker 1: That's quite specialized, very specialized. This is why fifty million right.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's the cost, but also you know you can

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Speaker 2: buy the equipment, then you've got to have the very

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Speaker 2: the best people be able to operate it. So we've

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Speaker 2: got a great relationship with the universities. You know, we're

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Speaker 2: hiring from Flinders, from UNISA, from Adelaide, great relationship with Taife.

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Speaker 2: Just signed a partnership with the new Tonsley Technical College

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Speaker 2: so we can take young apprentices into Radark and train

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Speaker 2: them and develop them into the next future technicians and

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Speaker 2: engineers of the company. So yeah, it's that complex machinery,

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Speaker 2: but having very smart people being able to operate, interpret

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Speaker 2: the results, and guarantee in the right conditions that that

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Speaker 2: product will survive. And yeah, it's again it's it's amazing

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Speaker 2: to watch and amazing to see the conditions that we

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Speaker 2: test the product in, you know, from plus two hundred

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Speaker 2: degrees to minus one hundred degrees in two or three minutes.

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Speaker 2: It's incredible. The variation and the challenges that we create.

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Speaker 1: With the Hunter class LED lights that you said in

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Speaker 1: twelve thousand nine. So are they a different thought of LED?

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Speaker 1: Do they need to be?

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Speaker 2: They are? They need to be shot proof. I've got

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Speaker 2: to survive very harsh corrosion testing conditions. The LED, the

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Speaker 2: actual LED's circuit board itself is I won't say it's standard,

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Speaker 2: but it's you know, it's it's a normal type LED

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Speaker 2: type product, but it's then battle hardened. It's got to

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Speaker 2: be able to survive very tough conditions. And they're gain

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Speaker 2: tested to heavy shot conditions and all sorts of environmental conditions.

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Speaker 1: A long way away from the caravan that you're talking about.

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Speaker 2: It is, it is, but again, you know, our core

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Speaker 2: strength is that manufacturing, technology, development, testing, and so we're

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Speaker 2: able to take those skills that we've weren't from caravanning

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Speaker 2: and you know, you take your caravan out in the outback. Again,

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Speaker 2: it's just that next level up where we're talking about

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Speaker 2: a military vehicle in harsh conditions, and then the next

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Speaker 2: level of gain to space conditions. That's obviously a next,

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Speaker 2: you know, another level.

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Speaker 1: So you'd have to be talking to NASA, to SpaceX,

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Speaker 1: our origin whatever it's called.

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Speaker 2: We talked to a number of those US based companies

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Speaker 2: and had some really you know, I had one of those.

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Speaker 2: I won't mention their name, but one of those US

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Speaker 2: based companies come to Adelaide and they walk through the facility.

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Speaker 2: They've been to see us twice now, and the last

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Speaker 2: time the manager that came, he said to me, Anthony,

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Speaker 2: you know, this is an incredible facility. It's not if

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Speaker 2: but when we do business, which I thought was it's

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Speaker 2: just amazing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's brilliant. So I don't know if you've read

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Speaker 1: Elon Musk's biography or any number of them, but he's

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Speaker 1: employed the same principle all the way through, and he

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Speaker 1: did it with the US government when he was working

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Speaker 1: with Trump. That is there a cheaper way of doing this?

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Speaker 1: Why do we spend x amount on this component when

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Speaker 1: we can get the same thing virtually from big w

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Speaker 1: down the road. Do you do that? Look, we do.

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Speaker 2: I think the you know, the big thing about these

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Speaker 2: companies that are that are really causing this disruption, it's

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Speaker 2: the fact that they just won't tolerate the status quo.

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Speaker 2: They want to get rid of bureaucracy, and they want

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Speaker 2: to have fail fast, test, fail fast, and then iterate

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Speaker 2: and then move on. And that's what I see in

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Speaker 2: the company that I mentioned has got exactly that philosophy

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Speaker 2: where they're well known for for disrupting in the industry

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Speaker 2: and they've wont some major, major, billions of dollars worth

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Speaker 2: of contracts. So yeah, that's you know, we love to

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Speaker 2: be able to partner with those sorts of businesses because

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Speaker 2: we can support them.

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Speaker 1: So there's a philosophy in business of doing exactly.

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Speaker 2: That, exactly right, exactly right.

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Speaker 1: Interesting evs have they just to get back to the

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Speaker 1: basics of the has the EV I wouldn't call it

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Speaker 1: revolution because what is it ten percent at the moment,

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Speaker 1: but we're doubtless. Yeah, that's right. So has that made

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Speaker 1: a different to your components in carts and caravans as well?

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Speaker 2: Look at something that we're certainly considering, and I guess

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Speaker 2: the percentage is not super high yet. And again we

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Speaker 2: don't see a lot of evs that are going to

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Speaker 2: the Simpson or to Cape York.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Correct, it's a long way and there's not many charging

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Speaker 2: stations out there. So so, but one thing we are doing, Matt,

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Speaker 2: is making sure that our products will work in an

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Speaker 2: EV vehicle and are able to extend the life of

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Speaker 2: the vehicle in terms of whether that be the capacity,

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Speaker 2: the distance, or the fact that you'll still want to

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Speaker 2: when you take your EV out. You don't want to

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Speaker 2: do anything different than what you did with your petrol, correct,

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Speaker 2: you know, so you want to take all the appliances

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Speaker 2: and everything you did at home. So it's actually giving

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Speaker 2: us more opportunity.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, avenues there, Yeah, the future of this so

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Speaker 1: this is this is part that's right, So what do

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Speaker 1: you want to do beyond this?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's effectively a three stage process. So the stage one,

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Speaker 2: which was open today is ten million dollars of that

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Speaker 2: fifty and that's basically the ground floor where all the

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Speaker 2: innovation is happening.

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Speaker 1: This is all at Lunsdale, And there's actually a little.

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Speaker 2: Story there, Matt is that this building was the old

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Speaker 2: R and D Center for solar optical Okay, so anyone

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Speaker 2: with glasses today, the lenses in those glasses where the

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Speaker 2: R and D for that happened in the building. That

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Speaker 2: where we've now resurrected and fully revamped. So the ground

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Speaker 2: floor's done, it's where all the R and D happening.

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Speaker 2: The top floor is where all will have Zone Force security,

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Speaker 2: so we'll be able to do secret work or the

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Speaker 2: electronics or the manufacturing capability. And then Stage three is

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Speaker 2: where we add further test and validation capabilities in a

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Speaker 2: separate building as well, and that's for able to test

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Speaker 2: test in space conditions. So that's the three stages. Stage

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Speaker 2: one is done, and we had a great oak today

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Speaker 2: and our staff I really enjoyed that, and they've all

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Speaker 2: moved in. Stage two will be to renovate and fully

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Speaker 2: revamp and kid out this advanced manufacturing equipment. And as

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Speaker 2: I said to every one today, you know the products

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Speaker 2: that we're creating today you wouldn't have you know, or

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Speaker 2: we will create you haven't thought about yet when you

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Speaker 2: think about you know, in terms of SOLA doing R

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Speaker 2: and D fifty years ago, we want to be doing

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Speaker 2: R and D for the next fifty years.

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Speaker 1: Amazing. And my guest is Anthony Kittle from Red Duck

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Speaker 1: CEO down at Lunsdale. And perhaps many people don't know

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Speaker 1: you even exist around Adelaide.

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Speaker 2: You know, I think that's probably true. I hope that

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Speaker 2: maybe there's a red Uck product in their full drives.

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Speaker 2: But one thing when we do show people through our

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Speaker 2: manufacturing facilities, the first comment, I guess, I just can't

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Speaker 2: believe this exists in Adelaide. Like I said, many other

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Speaker 2: companies in this field of manufacturing offshore. But we're proudly

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Speaker 2: South Australia. We're proudly Australian and we export globally.

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Speaker 1: Got a text if Mark who says in nineteen ninety

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Speaker 1: till ninety eight, I worked at the old Sagascar. It's

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Speaker 1: a gas company. All our trucks had two way radios

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Speaker 1: and tucked under the front seat of the Pantex was

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Speaker 1: a red Arc aluminium finned box. I guess taking twenty

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Speaker 1: four vaults down to twelve correct for the radios.

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Speaker 2: That's correct. So the founder of red Arck was a

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Speaker 2: gentleman called Bob Mackie, and he started in Blackwood in

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Speaker 2: the Adelaide Hills in a house, in a room of

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Speaker 2: the house actually, and Bob developed pretty much the first

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Speaker 2: voltage converter. So he would take so those trucks that

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Speaker 2: Mark was talking about, there would be twenty four volt

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Speaker 2: electrical systems, probably from either from Europe or from Japan.

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Speaker 2: They come to Australia and your radio's twelve vaults, you

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Speaker 2: need this voltage converter, and Bob designed those. Unfortunately, Bob

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Speaker 2: passed away in the mid nineties. His wife put the

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Speaker 2: company up for sale, and that's when Dennis and I

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Speaker 2: stepped in.

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Speaker 1: He'd be amazed, wouldn't he.

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Speaker 2: In fact, I had a letter from his wife, you know,

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Speaker 2: congratulating us and wishing us well and saying how proud

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Speaker 2: Bob would be. Yeah, it was really nice.

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Speaker 1: That's fantastic. You mentioned other companies, similar companies going off

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Speaker 1: seats over seats of sure. Yes, what do things like

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump's tariffs mean for red arc.

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Speaker 2: You know, we've been we've been developing the US market

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Speaker 2: now for about ten years, working really hard. We've got

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Speaker 2: a dozen full time staff members in the US, mainly

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Speaker 2: sales and marketing people located in strategic areas around the

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Speaker 2: United States, and we've done a lot of hard work

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Speaker 2: to developed our brand. Their full drive market in the

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Speaker 2: US is called overlanding. We've got a really solid reputation

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Speaker 2: and we're also moving into what we call the work market,

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Speaker 2: which is you're a bit like the Sagestco trucks that

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Speaker 2: we talked about, and sort of trucking and those sorts

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Speaker 2: of applications, and I guess we've done a great job

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Speaker 2: at building the brand. The challenge we have now is

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Speaker 2: that you know, we're being taxed or the tariff imposed

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Speaker 2: on us from July onwards of ten between ten and

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Speaker 2: up to twenty five percent, and if you have a

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Speaker 2: metal component it's fifty percent. So it is very, very

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Speaker 2: difficult now to remain competitive in the United States from

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Speaker 2: Australia and Trump's you know, his aim is to bring

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Speaker 2: manufacturing back to the United States, and like I say,

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Speaker 2: it makes us very it makes us uncompetitive in some ways.

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Speaker 2: We have put through some price rises to try and

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Speaker 2: cover those tariffs, but I guess you know what what

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Speaker 2: I as a proud export I think we need that

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Speaker 2: Australian government support to lobby the US, you know where

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Speaker 2: we had a free trade agreement and you know we're

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Speaker 2: a friendly country. We support them. I'd love to see

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Speaker 2: those tariffs reduced back to zero so that we're equal

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Speaker 2: playing level playing field.

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Speaker 1: Would it mean a red Oark branch oppers in the

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Speaker 1: US to make a few things there?

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Speaker 2: Look, I'm loathed to do that because I want to

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Speaker 2: continue to invest in South Australia. But one thing we

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Speaker 2: have done is set up we have you know, I've

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Speaker 2: got a couple of really good connections and one of

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Speaker 2: them is a third generation family owned manufacturing business. We

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Speaker 2: have set up a partnership with them so that we

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Speaker 2: can not do all the intellectual property development but finish

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Speaker 2: off the manufacturing in the US. So we have done

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Speaker 2: that just to try and limit some of the risk.

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Speaker 2: But as I say, I just love that Australian government

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Speaker 2: lobbies for us to have those tarifs.

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Speaker 1: Ule We've got to get that meeting happening, meeting for

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Speaker 1: Alba and Donald Trump. That's it, all right, fascinating discussion, Anthony,

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Speaker 1: And you're saying you want to get it up to

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Speaker 1: six hundred people with this HARB growing expansion. Yet, how

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Speaker 1: long will that take? Roughly?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think that'll take to twenty thirty two. Okay,

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Speaker 2: so you know about seven roughly six six seven years. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: so that's the plan. But generally, what we found in

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Speaker 2: the past is that we've set these goals and where

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Speaker 2: we managed to beat them by a couple of years. So,

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Speaker 2: you know, I think if we can with the amount

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Speaker 2: of investment in R and D that we're doing, I'd

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Speaker 2: hope that I won't write that down, but i'd hope

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Speaker 2: that we could achieve it quicker than that plan.

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Speaker 1: For people listening or young people even might be listening,

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Speaker 1: and certainly their parents and grandparents, well sort of field,

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Speaker 1: if they think this is of interest, what should they

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Speaker 1: be pursuing at the moment, perhaps if they're towards leaving school,

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Speaker 1: what should they be looking at?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I look apprenticeships in electrotechnology, electronics, and communications. There

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Speaker 2: are some basic trades, but even electrical trades as well.

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Speaker 2: And then when it comes into engineering, it's software, it's electronics,

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Speaker 2: it's mechanical, it's mechatronics, it's even chemical. Mathematics is an

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Speaker 2: area that seems to have be gone by the wayside.

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Speaker 1: Sounds fun.

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Speaker 2: We love engineers that have got mathematics. Is is one

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Speaker 2: of the one of the degrees because they are able

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Speaker 2: to do algorithms and some really smart logic. And then

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Speaker 2: of course you know obviously sales marketing and you know

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Speaker 2: even people that are unskilled that would come to red

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Speaker 2: Ark and we'd be happy to train them. Stores and warehousing, logistics,

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Speaker 2: you name it. There's there's a and there's obviously there's

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Speaker 2: new technologies with AI and other areas that that is.

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Speaker 1: That making a difference AI to your field.

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Speaker 2: It is it is, it's it's you know, it's infiltrating

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Speaker 2: and we can't get left behind, so we're making investments

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Speaker 2: in that area. And that's it's really get riding and

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Speaker 2: getting rid of a lot of those mundane, boring tasks.

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Speaker 2: You know that you can automate through through AI. And

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Speaker 2: I think it's you know, if it's managed well, it's

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Speaker 2: it's actually a good thing.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, great speaking with you tonight. Great catching up with

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Speaker 1: you again, and we've almost run out of time, but

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Speaker 1: very quickly. Of course, you're also involved with the industry

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Speaker 1: leaders and for people who don't know that this is

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Speaker 1: this is a self funded training organization or supplies the

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Speaker 1: ability the funding for people to go and learn at

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Speaker 1: universities or other places overseas, within Australia, within Adelaide. That's amazing. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So I was lucky enough in twenty ten to win

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Speaker 2: a scholarship for my first year at Harvard to do

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Speaker 2: what was called the Owner President's Management Program, and I

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Speaker 2: came back a different person, you know, I had a

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Speaker 2: much more of a global outlook, and I guess also

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Speaker 2: a different risk appetite because I was mixing with a

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Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty CEOs and I can see the

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Speaker 2: way they'd grown their business. So the opportunity that that

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Speaker 2: training program gave me was enormous. And so now there's

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Speaker 2: I think we're up to more than two hundred leaders

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Speaker 2: that have gone through different training programs, and last night

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Speaker 2: there was twelve awarded their scholars award last night at

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Speaker 2: the Intercontinental Premier YEP, and they'll be our next generation

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Speaker 2: of leaders.

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Speaker 1: That's amazing, isn't it? And you've credited that with to

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Speaker 1: a degree to your success.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's helped change me as a leader and a manager.

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Speaker 1: Amazing, great seeing you, Anthony. Thank you for coming in

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Speaker 1: for your time tonight.

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Speaker 2: Appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Matt, see you. I've reader down in the Southern Suburbs.

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Speaker 1: If you're interested, if employment or whatever else, have a

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Speaker 1: look at their website. They've got a whole list of

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Speaker 1: things there in terms of career opportunities and everything else

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Speaker 1: they do. Red Arc down at Lonsdale