Bradken is a manufacturer and supplier of differentiated consumable and capital products to the mining, transport, general industrial and contract manufacturing markets with operations in Australia, China, Canada, India, Malaysia and the United States. It is a subsidiary of

Hitachi Construction Machinery is a Japanese construction equipment company which is into the manufacturing, sales and service of construction machinery, transportation machinery, and other machines and devices. As of August 2022, Hitachi, from which the company was spun off ...

History

In 1919/1920,

BHP BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

steelworks employees, General Manager Leslie Bradford and Chief Mechanical Engineer Jim Kendall and a group of their friends backed a racehorse named Jack Findlay that completed a remarkable sequence of five wins. With each win the group rolled-over their bets and by 24 January 1920 they had won a small fortune pledging their winnings to start a steel

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

business.History
Bradken On 28 April 1920, Bradford and Kendall used their winnings to establish the Alloy Steel Syndicate and build a steel foundry in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. The syndicate was incorporated as Bradford Kendall Limited on 20 March 1922. In 1926 Bradford Kendall began to manufacture railway couplers and undercarriages. In the 1930s it entered the export market, manufacturing dredge buckets for use in Malaysia. In 1948 the company was listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange. In the 1950s foundries were established in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

and

Wodonga Wodonga (pronounced ; ) is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury-Wodonga and is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga L ...

. In 1970 a foundry was established in

Port Hedland A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

. In December 1974 the company changed its name to Bradken. By 1978 Bradken was controlled by

Australian National Industries Australian National Industries was an Australian heavy engineering company with diverse range of holdings. History In 1911 John McGrath began to sell motor vehicles. It operated the first public garage in New South Wales. The company held moto ...

(ANI) and

Comeng Commonwealth Engineering, often shortened to Com-Eng, later known as Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams. History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Common ...

. In 1982 ANI became the sole shareholder. In October 1990, the head office moved from Alexandra to Mayfield West. In 1995 the business was rebranded as ANI Bradken. The business was included in the January 1999 purchase of ANI by

Smorgon Steel Smorgon Steel was an Australian steel manufacturing company. It was the last remaining part of Smorgon Consolidated Industries, founded in 1958 by Victor Smorgon, member of the Smorgon family. In 1997, Smorgon purchased structural materials Wel ...

who sold the business to

Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners Castle Harlan is a private equity firm based in New York City. The company focuses on buyouts and growth capital investments in middle-market companies across a range of industries. Founded in 1987, Castle Harlan invests in controlling interests ...

. In August 2004 Bradken was relisted on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

. In November 2007 a new manufacturing facility opened in

Xuzhou Xuzhou ( zh, s=徐州), also known as Pengcheng () in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in ...

, China. In July 2009 the business of Americast Technologies in the United States was acquired. In July 2011 Norcast Wear Solutions in Canada and SwanMet in Malaysia were purchased. In March 2013 Bradken opened a greenfield foundry development in Xuzhou, China following the construction of a manufacturing facility on the site in 2007. In October 2016

launched a takeover offer for Bradken. The transaction was completed in May 2017. On June 10, 2021, it was announced that

White Industries White Industries is an Australian family-owned foundry group headquartered in Queensland, with significant operations in both Dalby, Queensland, Dalby and Ipswich, Queensland, Ipswich. It is the largest privately owned foundry group in Australia. ...

had acquired the Ipswich site operations, a strategic decision by its parent company Hitachi Manufacturing to move its operations to offshore facilities.

References

{{Hitachi Companies based in Newcastle, New South Wales Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Conglomerate companies established in 1920 Economy of Newcastle, New South Wales Hitachi subsidiaries Manufacturing companies established in 1920 Manufacturing companies of Australia 1920 establishments in Australia