Case Study

Allworks and CJD Equipment

Angelo Sarich was only 19 years old when he started working on the railways. Today, some 42 years later, Angelo and his wife Robin are the directors of Allworks Pty Ltd – a leading provider of dry and wet hire equipment and personnel for the civil and rail industry.

Allworks is based in Perth, Western Australia and has been operating since 1999. Angelo and the Allworks team have several lifetimes of experience in both the civil and rail sectors.

Angelo’s working timeline began with government railways, which lasted 16 years from age 19-35, working his way up the ranks during that time. After being retrenched at age 35, Angelo joined the team at John Holland for a four-year stint. At age 39 he started Allworks and hasn’t looked back. Angelo shared, “My wife Robin and I always wanted to work for ourselves. When I was working for the government railways for 16 years, I would look at the small contractors that worked with the rail guys and think ‘that’s what I want to be’.”

Angelo continued “We started Allworks 24 years ago, mostly focusing on the rail industry based in WA. We now work up in the Pilbara area, the wheat belt areas around Perth, and we have started to move into the east coast of Australia as well. As it stands today, Allworks primarily uses loaders and excavators, including hirail excavators both tracked and wheeled, skid steers, water carts, 6-wheel tippers, semis and dual cab 4×4 personnel carriers.

“We started with just a couple of small machines working on a wheat belt job in South Australia. Today, we have purchased more than 100 Volvo machines over the years, and just recently purchased our 50th Volvo wheel loader from CJD Equipment, with another four or five either on the way or recently delivered. Over the years, we have predominantly purchased front end loaders and excavators of 5 tonne to 30 tonne from CJD Equipment.”

DECADES OF EXPERIENCE IN RAIL AND CIVIL WORKS
The combination of reliability, operator vision, comfort and stability has seen Allworks stick with the Volvo brand for a long time. Volvo loaders are incredibly stable when climbing over uneven ground and up onto railway lines, which has made them the perfect machine for the Allworks fleet. When Iasked Angelo about what technology Allworks has most embraced, it was the tracking which overwhelmingly took centre stage. “Our tracking brings information instantly to the office, including hours, location, speed and daily usage. This level of detail has been of significant value and importance for us. Our reliable, modern machinery with enabled technology and our talented staff are the backbone of our operation. Our key people each have decades of experience in rail and civil works,” said Angelo.

Angelo continued, “Back in the day it was a different business to now. No one had the money to go and buy brand new equipment, so the business ran on second-hand equipment from skid steers and excavators to water trucks and semis. Today, we pride ourselves on our fleet of Volvo machines and the quality of product and services we can offer to our customers. Our vision statement of ‘On Track, On Time’ drives and guides our well-equipped organisation to operate in dynamic environments, offering solutions to their customers project timing and budget are maintained within expectations keeping them On Track, On Time.”

BUILDING A NATIONAL FOOTPRINT
The office is based in Perth, however Allworks has depots across Australia and their national footprint covers projects throughout Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. Moving into Conquest Way and seeing how far the business has grown has been some of the highlights for Angelo over the years. There’s no doubt Angelo and Robin have come a long way from the first machine they purchased, which was a second-hand Clark skid steer costing $700. Before they knew it, they were purchasing their very first brand-new machine, which was a little Volvo L50D Loader from CJD Equipment. This turning point of previously only owning second-hand machines enabled the Allworks team to truly appreciate the benefits of buying new machinery and the increased reliability and efficiencies of stepping into the latest equipment and having a great team behind them like the one at CJD Equipment.

THE RELATIONSHIP HAS SOARED
The relationship between Allworks and CJD Equipment, just like the number of Volvos in the fleet, has soared over the years. “We have had several reps over the journey with CJD Equipment, starting with Bill Hastings and now Luke McPherson. Both Bill and Luke have been helpful and knowledgeable on products. I have always believed good products lead to clients wanting to hire them. Our after-sales service and maintenance has also been excellent. Our goal is to be the number-one supplier in the rail industry and diversifying into other fields. We will need CJD Equipment to continue to keep us up to date with supply because we all know that it’s very hard in these times with long leadtimes and increasing costs,” said Angelo.

Luke McPherson has been the regional Sales Manager for the northwest of WA and the northern suburbs at CJD Equipment for the last six and a half years. He has worked with Angelo and the Allworks team for the last two years. During that time Allworks has purchased many wheel loaders (mainly L120F and L90F) and some smaller excavators.

When I chatted with Luke about the relationship with Allworks, he shared, “They are such great people. A family-owned business with great morals is what I love about Allworks because it’s very similar to the owners of CJD Equipment and their business. Most of my dealings are with Angelo and Nick (operations manager) and I believe we have a strong and trusting relationship.”

Luke continued, “Allworks have just taken delivery of their 50th Volvo wheel loader in the current fleet. The Volvo L120F is a powerful machine with serious lifting capacity through the Torque Parallel linkage, which is a Volvo patented product and a great fit for Allworks and their rail projects. This linkage provides a parallel lift from bottom to top – a great benefit when lifting rail sleepers with fork frames and fork tines, which is Allworks’ main use for wheel loaders.

“The reliability of their Volvo range has also been huge for Allworks. Being a mainly dry hire company, they need the reliability of their machines. They don’t keep their machines for a huge number of hours, instead choosing to turn them over after about 6500 hours. The amazing uptime they get out of their Volvo machines and the fit-for-purpose performance, combined with the service and teamwork with us here at CJD Equipment, is why I believe this relationship has been such a good fit for Allworks.”

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