Mackay Rubber bites the bullet - into administration

[Franco Cozzo]

Thought this might be some interesting industry news,

No doubt everyone is familiar with Mackay Rubber,

Well they've gone into administration:

https://publishednotices.asic.gov.au...3-03ae434eaf28

No surprises, dealing with them business to business was like pulling teeth, they'd barely carry stock on hand and trying to order in their products they'd quote ridiculous prices and give you a 90 day lead time.

It might get very difficult to get things like engine mounts and radiator hoses for our cars now, might be worth stocking up and keeping some in your garage for future use, particularly those of us with the older cars.

I believe they're still trading at the moment with their staff still doing their jobs but its a big warning.

[Citroënbender]

Yes, an odd company although my experiences were at consumer level. Not good news!

[Dr Smith]

Growing up in the area I used to see and pass their factory several times a week, even collected some prototype items for a Ford engineer once
Always interested by the factory (Moorabbin) as it looked like a hangar...thought the place looked a little run down on recent passes and now I know why, or did they relocate everything to Dandenong and have nothing at Moorabbin?
https://www.google.com.au/maps/uv?pb...8Qpx96BQiBARAF

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Yes, an odd company although my experiences were at consumer level. Not good news!

They outsourced product manufacturing/outsourcing product lines to China, then had no stock on hand in a cost cutting effort, so that's why they'd quote you 90 day lead times and ridiculous minimum order quantities. That's not how this schtick works, you need to hold the stock on hand or you just become a two-bit buying house and your customers will go elsewhere.

If you're going to charge me up the ***, have huge MOQs and take 90 days to give me what I ordered then I might as well as go source it directly from your overseas supplier?

I don't need some useless middle man charging me up the *** solely to pass on my purchase order to somewhere in China.

[Hulsty]

I used to work at Mackay ~ 7 years back and helped setup their Thailand factory, I saw the writing on the wall back then and got out. I know a few people there still, most leaving.

The site in Moorabbin before Mackay was a trucking yard of some description, but twice the size, they sold the land off next door ~20 years go. The main site got sold to Pelecanos for development few years back and was flattend.

Being a family owned business, they made some dumb decisions ending up where they are now. I hope they do pull through or someone atleast buys up and continues the car side, they do make heaps of goverment defence gear which would be lucrative for someone to buy.

I can imagine the environmental, OHS and costs issues have not helped them at all.

It was cool to work with all the massive old machines they had, big old extruders, mills, 2000T rubber presses and crazy German knitting machines.

On the car side, they had drawings and could still make parts for stuff going waaaay back, like the 1940's. Once a tool is made for a radiator hose, particularly if made from stainless they more of less last forever with minimal maintenance, while the hose itself is reasonably generic.

[FTE217]

Cheers Hulsty - I'm sure it would have been a great experience working for them, especially being a fam owned company.
I thought the writing was on the wall anyway once the OE's started pulling back and in the end withdrawing from the market.
Alot of that business would have been volumes in keeping the factory pumping despite the less margins, the amount of product going to the Aftermarket would have been good business.
Once vehicles started going to more IRS rears and strut fronts was another calling card and market penetration by poly bushings.
I recall they tried some PU bushings but it never really took off for them too late to market and not enough range.
Hope I'm right all above.
Agree the "special" product made for Gov and other contracts would always be good business as long as they could hold onto to them.
I got to know alot of their Aftermarket Reps back in the day that their names escape me, good blokes a few of them.
Real shame for their product quality was very good and another loss to Oz manufacturing.

[arm79]

That is sad to hear. They were a mega business in they heyday. Long gone now since local manufacturing disappeared. But I suppose does kind of explain the difficult in sourcing parts amd stock through them in recent times.

Might suck additional balls for me as I have some outstanding parts I purchased through Supercrap on Christmas eve. Apparently one of the parts was in hand but the engine mounts were on backorder. So off to contact Supercrap now and see what goes.

I wonder what is happening in the world right now?

We have a massive shortage of Mining Tyres at the moment and we are about to possibly start parking up gear, is rubber production being affected by the war in Russia somehow??

[Dr Terry]

I think there is some good news though.

As I understand it, several companies were trying to purchase it as a going concern & one Aussie company has won out & Mackay will live on.

Dr Terry

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

I think there is some good news though.

As I understand it, several companies were trying to purchase it as a going concern & one Aussie company has won out & Mackay will live on.

Dr Terry

Thats good news - hopefully they get their **** together and they still manufacture in Australia.

Alternatively, whats going to happen is they'll ship all the tooling overseas and make it there, churn out cheap Chinese **** at Mackay Rubber prices and trash the brand

[arm79]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Thats good news - hopefully they get their **** together and they still manufacture in Australia.

Alternatively, whats going to happen is they'll ship all the tooling overseas and make it there, churn out cheap Chinese **** at Mackay Rubber prices and trash the brand

Just I thought when I read that post... They will produce cheap crap parts and sell them under the Mackay name to offer a level of credibility until people realise they are cheap crap and not bother anymore.,

Like the resurgence of Aunger... But not as a plastics company, as someone who sells a range of generic parts. Like shock absorbers...

[roKWiz]

I had read somewhere else the quality was already declining on older cars pieces with things such as the metal spring missing from the bottom hose pipes.
So went out and compared them at the local Supacrap, sure enough looking at their part no's in store some crossflow bottom hose pipes had the spring others didn't. As did some Holden comparisons.
Walked away with a couple of Mackay's brand sporting the spring.

I hope Dr Terry is correct, they recover and continue to produce this stuff here to specification.

[arm79]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

So went out and compared them at the local Supacrap, sure enough looking at their part no's in store some crossflow bottom hose pipes had the spring others didn't. As did some Holden comparisons.
Walked away with a couple of Mackay's brand sporting the spring.

I had this conversation with both Gates and Mackay a couple of years back now and I think what you saw is advancements in technology and design rather than poor quality control. I thought the hoses I bought were missing bits too.

They both said to me that they had redesigned the hoses with external support that rendered the spring obsolete and it was a change being made to all the hoses they make, just the biggest sellers saw the change first and part numbers remained the same.

If you look closely you can see a spiral wrap of sorts on the outer and inner of the hose.



This apparently provides the support that the spring used to.

You might have simply come across stock of the old and new design together.

For the record I have a springless Gates in my car and Dad has a springless Mackay in his car and there is zero problems.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by arm79

I had this conversation with both Gates and Mackay a couple of years back now and I think what you saw is advancements in technology and design rather than poor quality control. I thought the hoses I bought were missing bits too.

They both said to me that they had redesigned the hoses with external support that rendered the spring obsolete and it was a change being made to all the hoses they make, just the biggest sellers saw the change first and part numbers remained the same.

If you look closely you can see a spiral wrap of sorts on the outer and inner of the hose.

image

This apparently provides the support that the spring used to.

You might have simply come across stock of the old and new design together.

For the record I have a springless Gates in my car and Dad has a springless Mackay in his car and there is zero problems.

Ta. Spotted that, still wasn't impressed. So stuck with the springy thingy's.

[Top_Ghia]

Originally Posted by TrVrPhiLpsiNdstrys

I wonder what is happening in the world right now?

We have a massive shortage of Mining Tyres at the moment and we are about to possibly start parking up gear, is rubber production being affected by the war in Russia somehow??

Yes the war has definitely had an impact. Apparently Ukraine supplies about 80% of the stuff that makes tyres black.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

Yes the war has definitely had an impact. Apparently Ukraine supplies about 80% of the stuff that makes tyres black.

Also stuff like wheat and the SYNC 4 centre screen in the Focus/Fiesta ST

Production of the facelifted 2022 Ford Focus ST hot hatch for Australia has been placed on hold until June – for first showroom arrivals likely around August – as the Russia-Ukraine conflict cuts the supply of the car's 13.2-inch infotainment touchscreen.

The updated Focus ST was initially due in Australian showrooms next month (May), with a new look, upgraded safety and, atop the dashboard, a new 13.2-inch infotainment touchscreen running Ford's latest Sync 4 software.

However, the ongoing war in Ukraine has seen "one of [the] key suppliers of parts for the 13.2-inch Sync 4 screen ... unable to meet demand," according to Ford Australia – making it impossible to build the screen and fit it to new cars.

While Ford in Europe has decided to instead offer a smaller 8.0-inch Sync 3 touchscreen – as fitted to base-model Focus variants in Europe, and shared with the pre-facelift Focus ST globally – Ford Australia has opted "not to compromise on spec", and instead halt production entirely.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/2022-f...screen-supply/

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by TrVrPhiLpsiNdstrys

I wonder what is happening in the world right now?

We have a massive shortage of Mining Tyres at the moment and we are about to possibly start parking up gear, is rubber production being affected by the war in Russia somehow??

The issue was happening before the war started, and isn't related.

https://magnatyres.com/news/global-rubber-shortage/

Natural rubber starts as a fluid produced by rubber trees. Rubber trees predominantly grow in warm and humid regions. That is why most of the worlds rubber production is located in Southeast Asia. Because of natural causes such as leaf disease and flooding, rubber-fluid production has been low. In addition, the past years we were not able to plant many rubber trees due to COVID-19 and due to the low rubber prices of recent years. Rubber tappers had little incentive to plant new trees and it takes up to seven years for a rubber tree to mature. This has led to fast declining supplies worldwide, which brings us to an impending shortage.

[arm79]

Just an update for those who are interested and travellers who may follow.

As Dr Terry previously said someone has rescued the business and Mackay will live on.

I've been chasing up my parts through Supercrap and was told stores were advised in the last couple of weeks that as new owners take over and get their crap together there will be a slow down of parts supply (I personally didn't think it could get any slower being I've been waiting nearly 3 months for transmission mounts) but all backorders will be fulfilled before moving back to a more normal level of supply.

So if there is anyone waiting on orders, or hoping parts will come back into stock, apparently it will all happen. Just need to remain patient a little longer.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by arm79

Just an update for those who are interested and travellers who may follow.

As Dr Terry previously said someone has rescued the business and Mackay will live on.

I've been chasing up my parts through Supercrap and was told stores were advised in the last couple of weeks that as new owners take over and get their crap together there will be a slow down of parts supply (I personally didn't think it could get any slower being I've been waiting nearly 3 months for transmission mounts) but all backorders will be fulfilled before moving back to a more normal level of supply.

So if there is anyone waiting on orders, or hoping parts will come back into stock, apparently it will all happen. Just need to remain patient a little longer.

Curious to see if they make cuts to their range with the new owners - IE are they going to remove slow moving parts from their range and then continue only high volume parts.

[Citroënbender]

Will the smart money offer to take as scrap, any moulds they decide will never be used again?

[Hulsty]

Bought by Derwent Industries

https://www.derwentindustries.com.au/news

[arm79]

Originally Posted by Hulsty

Bought by Derwent Industries

https://www.derwentindustries.com.au/news

Thats interesting. Derwent seems to be a plastics and plumbing company, one that continues to manufacture in Australia.

They must have saw something interesting about Mackay to add it into the fold. Maybe some good IP or a cost savings in numbers acquisition. Either way, I hope they keep operating it the same way and they keep up with the automotive parts side too.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Will the smart money offer to take as scrap, any moulds they decide will never be used again?

I tried to do that with tooling from Preslite Drive Technologies when they went tits up in Melbourne but they thought they were made out of gold rather than scrap value so I let their tooling go to sims metal instead

[Citroënbender]

I’m not surprised, if they’d been less vain and more agile in the first instance they might not have arrived at such a point.

[arm79]

Bastards at Mackay have removed their online automotive catalogue. Put a password protection on it. Pricks!

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by arm79

Bastards at Mackay have removed their online automotive catalogue. Put a password protection on it. Pricks!

Watch things start disappearing, or they'll force you to go through their reseller network who will be the only ones with access now.

[Sar4890]

Probably only a temporary thing until their new owners do a range revision to see what they are going to keep moving forward.

[Syndrome]

I'll never forget Mackay Rubber. In 1997 Holden started production on the VT Commodore only to discover the fuel hoses on the V6 engine beginning to delaminate. Spent two weekends in a row in late July and early August with a team of work colleagues reworking all of the cars at the Holden plant in Elizabeth.

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

I'll never forget Mackay Rubber. In 1997 Holden started production on the VT Commodore only to discover the fuel hoses on the V6 engine beginning to delaminate. Spent two weekends in a row in late July and early August with a team of work colleagues reworking all of the cars at the Holden plant in Elizabeth.

I forgot to mention that the hose were supplied by Mackay Rubber. They were changed to Contitech which fixed the problem.