ProWay Livestock Equipment
In 2000 three farmers from Dubbo relocated to Wagga Wagga establishing ProWay Livestock Equipment (ProWay). Almost 20 years later the agriculture manufacturing company, specialising in livestock equipment and facilities, is a market leader in product design, innovation, and their investment in their people.
Committee for Wagga caught up with General Manger, Paul Gianniotis, to discuss the development and growth of the company, and what differentiates ProWay from its competitors.
Like many in the agriculture industry, ProWay do not like to self-promote, an approach that has held true throughout the history of the company.
ProWay began by developing livestock products for on farm use and has expanded into more complex and larger scale commercial projects both nationally and internationally. Their global reach includes the United Kingdom, Canada, USA, Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. Closer to home, they fabricated and designed the South Eastern Livestock Exchange near Yass, the Forbes Central West Livestock Exchange and the local saleyards in Wagga.
‘We are proud to have our products designed and manufactured locally.’
‘We have witnessed a large amount of manufacturing move overseas recently; during this period we’ve expanded, doubling in size in the last 4 years and continuing to compete with overseas competitors, that’s a real feather in our cap.’
Installed in 2016, the South Eastern Livestock Exchange (SELX) near Yass were designed, manufactured and installed by ProWay.
‘We produce a quality, custom made product. As a result, we are producing and manufacturing the latest designs specific to our clients’ needs. We pride ourselves on our innovation and our ability to stay ahead of the curve. That’s our point of difference.’
ProWay has grown into ‘a reasonable size and a major employer in Wagga Wagga with around 100 employees. We are really happy with our culture and like to think we are an employer of choice, once we employ a person, they generally choose to stay.’
‘Our designers are our industry experts. Whilst they all have agricultural backgrounds, there is no course that you can study to become one of our expert designers, so whoever comes through our gate, we commit to training them.’
‘As a minimum, it takes about a year and a half before designers reach the expertise level required for us to have them dealing one on one with our clients. It’s a big investment and with the broad skill set required the chances of reaching that level are not a given. We are continually getting better at selecting those who will be successful.’
‘We employ and invest in talent. We are constantly aiming to develop the people here.’
One of ProWay’s cutom made sheep handling facilities.
‘With seven satellite offices and an increasing amount of work being completed remotely, reliable, immediate communication is key to our business. The internet speed at Bomen has been inadequate, but we don’t rest on our laurels, we have developed new systems to improve our business and are looking forward implementing them once the infrastructure catches up.’
Being based at Bomen, ProWay recognise benefits of the Special Activation Precinct (SAP) to their business and are now planning to increase their investment in the area. Paul has been liaising with the NSW Government and their consultants providing local business insights.
‘The challenge will be attracting those first businesses to the SAP precinct, demonstrating its value. We need good innovators to lead the way, from there others will follow.’
‘The State Government is looking favourably at Wagga and, combined with proactive leadership and investment in infrastructure, the approach seems to be build it and they will come.’
‘Recognising that Committee for Wagga and ProWay share many common goals, joining last year was an easy decision.’