With a mission to significantly boost defence industry in Queensland by 2028, one veteran owned business is leveraging its military experience to create fit for purpose tactical gear for troops.
Specialising in military and tactical gear, Townsville based company Krieger Industries has been scaling its production to meet defence contract requirements domestically and internationally.
Founded in 2019 by Army veterans Stewart Locke and Ben Holland, the business has rapidly grown to meet demand, particularly when the coronavirus pandemic highlighted supply chain vulnerabilities due to overseas reliance.
With 13 major defence bases in Queensland alone, and the bulk of the Australian Army’s combat capability forces based in Townsville, Co-Director Stewart Locke says the goal was to see their products in every unit.
“At the moment troops go overseas into hostile environments wearing gear made offshore, what’s the sense in that?” he says.
Having an understanding of how equipment is used and worn in the field is a point of difference not many other companies can claim, Mr Holland says.
After finding himself making alterations to service gear and that of his colleagues while serving as a Military Policeman, Mr Holland is now the company’s lead designer.
He said it’s all in the detail. “Without quality materials, stitching, design and fittings like the clips you have serious injury, it’s as simple as that,” he says.
“We work with the end user to design the pouch or vest, whatever it is to solve a problem, not just to look good.
“Having actually been in the military ourselves we can add that lived experience to offer suggestions as well.”
Carving out a niche identity as a brand making bespoke military and law enforcement gear also caught the eye of the makers of the Netflix action thriller Interceptor, which featured Spanish actor and model Elsa Pataky, who wore a tailor made protection vest while playing US Army Captain JJ Collins.
In a business success story to be proud of, Krieger Industries has gone from strength to strength after also securing a Queensland State Government grant earlier this year which allowed them to gain globally recognised certification needed to apply and be competitive for defence contracts.
Krieger Industries was one of 13 Townsville based small-to-medium sized businesses to be awarded as part of Queensland’s $1.5 million Defence and Aerospace Industry Development Fund.
While acknowledging the grant has helped, Mr Locke said all levels of government need to do more to grow local manufacturing if Australia was going to meet its own demand.
“The price point is the hardest thing to educate people on.
“When people are buying our product they’re paying for the entire process from initial fit for purpose design, local manufacturing and its supply chain.
“That includes fair wages and paying our staff superannuation, so we can’t compete with Chinese manufacturing prices for example where none of this applies and it’s just mass production.
“It really does make it hard and it includes government contracts as well when the price point is already set and they won’t budge on that so we’ve had to drop items because we wouldn’t even break even.”
Government at all levels has indicated ongoing investment for Australian made products and building reliable defence supply chains by making them domestic.
With geopolitical focus having shifted to the Indo-Pacific region, Northern Australia is particularly well placed to grow local industry.
Identifying the opportunity to grow economic outcomes, the Queensland Government in 2018 released a Defence Industries 10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan in response to strategic and capability priorities identified in the Australian Government’s 2016 Defence White Paper (DWP).
This was in addition to the development of Defence Jobs Queensland, which included the establishment of advisory boards of senior defence and industry personnel, and the commitment of $10 million to defence supply chain logistics hubs.
In an Australian first for local government, Townsville City Council also holds a position for a Defence Engagement Officer which is currently held by Colonel (Retd) David Burke.
Under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the new federal government has indicated it would implement a new strategy aiming at “maximising local content, leveraging the defence capability investment pipeline to develop sovereign industrial and research capabilities, and build-up the skills and expertise of the Australian workforce.”
Image credit: Krieger Industries
