
A successful small engineering business has put down roots in Gunnedah, opening new branch doors to the community.
Morgan Engineering specialises in engineering services for the coal mining and construction industries, and for the past 47 years has thrived in the Singleton community.
The owners hope to fill out the new North West team with local talent while providing an economic boost to the growing area.
"Our biggest success around here [Singleton] has been giving back to the local community," operations manager Matthew Morgan said.
"Next year, we will get into the local sporting side of things and start to do a lot more sponsorship. If we can keep giving back to the community up there [Gunnedah], it shows that we're in it for the long haul.
"I recently had to have a very direct meeting with a bloke up there [Gunnedah]. We are renting at the moment and he felt we were gonna be fly-by nighters, but I said, 'I'm in it for the long haul. I'm gonna be up here for the next 20, 30, 40 years," Mr Morgan said.
The long-standing business aims to up-skill residents, both young and mature-aged workers, via their award-winning apprenticeship program.
"We grow our own timber around the shop all the time," Mr Morgan said.
"It gives mature-aged or young apprentices the opportunity to basically get into the mining world, but also learn to trade at the same time,"
"One of our longest-standing apprentices - he's actually one of our managers now - has been part of the team for the best part of 15 years."
The business has also found great success in training female apprentices. Mr Morgan said they found each woman the business had trained had been highly beneficial to the company.
Mr Morgan said the option to expand into the North West region had come at the perfect time.
"It comes from the needs of the town and our clients, Whitehaven and Hitachi," he said.
"The equipment is now five years old, and all that equipment needs to be repaired.
"So their only option was either to bring it all the way back down to Newcastle for repair or have someone like ourselves [Morgan Engineering] move into the Gunnedah area and be able to provide the services that they need," Mr Morgan said.
Morgan Engineering's new depot is located on Mathias Road in Gunnedah.
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