As seen on ABC News
23 July 2020, by Rachel Pupazzoni
Local supply chains
After the roofs of the Australian National University and the National Library of Australia were damaged by January’s Canberra hailstorm, they were covered in an Australian invention made in Sydney.
Stormseal is a polyethylene film that is laid on storm-damaged roofs. Heat is applied to it and it shrink wraps onto the roof.
The company’s managing director Matthew Lennox makes the product on food-grade manufacturing facilities in Sydney and most capital cities in Australia.
He also has plants making his product in France and the US.
“We call it a storm-ready response product, so what that means is that when a big storm hits we actually have the ability to make it on demand, which allows us to not to have to hold stock or have expenditure when we don’t need it,” he said.
Mr Lennox has been approached to produce the film in Asia where it would be cheaper, but he said making it close to his customers meant he could deliver the film more quickly and support the local economy.
“It’s good in respect to keeping jobs here in Australia for the reason of the manufacturing side of things,” he said.
“But it’s not just the manufacturing, it’s the supply chain that has benefits too, so our polymer, our fire retardancy, our UV inhibitors that go into the film, that all has a flow-on benefit.
“Outside of that, we’ve got several consultants that we use for marketing and sales and communications that are all Australian based too.”
About 30,000 square metres of his product remains on the roofs of national buildings in Canberra.
