Harrison Manufacturing is three quarters of a century old and the lessons of its history are still relevant today
In the 75 years since HMC was founded, it is now Australia’s largest independent grease-maker. But the company is much more than grease.
Harrison Manufacturing Company is celebrating its 75th anniversary, having been established in July 1949 by Ken Harrison son of Arthur Harrison, founder of the Harrison Group. Arthur had built the chemical supplies business A.S Harrison into an important supplier of additives to Australian industry responded to the Australian Government’s call to make crucial industrial components in Australia in the aftermath of World War II’s constricted supply chains.
One of those crucial components was factice, an additive used in the manufacture of vehicle tyres which stopped the liquid rubber sticking to the ‘rolls’ equipment used to shape tyres.
Ken Harrison found a way to make this additive, with a gas ring and some experimentation using sulphur and oil as key components and consequently was offered a government contract and some land at Wollstonecraft in Sydney to further develop this product. This innovative mindset continues within Harrison Manufacturing to this day.
The Growth of HMC
The outlook of HMC’s inventive founder, Ken Harrison, shaped the culture of the business for the next seven decades. Ken Harrison’s approach was to address industry challenges as they arose, and meet those challenges with new products. It was a customer focused ethos of innovation and over the years yielded a slew of products.
One of the main products, in addition to factice – which HMC supplied to Dunlop and Olympic – was the development of tanner’s bate in the 1950s. This was the enzyme mix that tanneries used to keep hide (animal sourced leather) pliant so it could be worked it into a product and was a key element of Australia’s leather industry.
Over the next thirty years HMC innovated additive products for many different industries, some as diverse as food (Vegemite extract), construction (additives for plasterboard manufacturing), agriculture (sheep dip), as well as a powerful adhesive for the emerging fashion of linoleum (lino) flooring tiles.
However, the biggest product development at HMC was the emergence of Harrison as a maker of grease in the mid-1950s, a development which grew out of HMC’s work with extracting a green dye from pitch (petroleum derivative). The growth of HMC as a grease business expanded quickly with a growing economy that needed industrial lubricants for the transport, agriculture and heavy machinery sectors.
To accommodate the expansion, HMC bought a site at Brookvale in Sydney’s Northern Beaches in 1963. Along with the growing demand for its grease HMC also branched into hydrolysed proteins – an amino acid and peptides powder – for the food and supplements industries.
Australia’s Largest Independent Grease-Maker
In the 75 years since Ken Harrison started the business, HMC is now Australia’s largest independent grease manufacturer and is still driven by the founding values on providing customer solutions.
HMC continues to provide solutions that matter for our customers with our current focus being on high-quality products that deliver value in use for the Australian mining, construction, transportation, agriculture and marine/shipping industries.
While the business has grown to 70 employees, with operations in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, some things have not changed in 75 years. HMC is still privately owned by the Harrison family, of which the fourth generation is actively engaged in the running of the business. It continues to operate on-site labs at its Brookvale facility where products can be refined and tailored for specific clients, giving Australian industry a sovereign capability in high quality grease, lubricant and additive solutions.
Solutions That Matter
These technologies would be recognised by the industrial chemists who worked at HMC in the 1950s. For instance, some of the process requirements for producing quality greases then, has similarities to how they are made now. This history and understanding of how products are made puts Harrison Manufacturing at the forefront when it comes to developing new solutions, particularly in carbon neutral, bio-based and bio-degradable technologies that industries are moving towards.
This emergence of sustainable and eco-friendly lubrication requirements has a particular set of challenges, challenges we are committed to meet as we transition towards net-zero as a company. Because of this commitment, we are investing heavily in our research and development team which are currently developing products using alternate thickener technologies to reduce dependence on lithium and are researching heavily into non-petroleum based products all to advance our offering to our customers so they can meet their future sustainability targets.
Lessons learned throughout our history and our continued investment in R&D will allow us to deliver solutions that matter that will deliver real value in use to our customers well into the future.
The People Are The Company & The Company Is The People
Harrison Manufacturing Company has weathered the ups and downs of Australian manufacturing in its three-quarters of a century; from ‘reconstruction’ immediately after World War II, to the Golden Years of the 1960s when manufacturing reached one-third of the Australia economy, and through to today where manufacturing comprises just 6% of Australian GDP (and largely focuses on value-add, high-margin precision and IP-driven manufactures).
Now, as then, staying successful in a small market relies on high-quality people who can service the varied and specific demands of customers, while understanding the need to constantly improve and innovate. Seventy-five years ago, a typical factory team member would have been trained in one or two skills and might have performed one job description for a decade or more. Now, we manage the development and skills-acquisition of every employee, giving them the opportunity to develop into the person they want to be, with the skills they need. This makes for a happier employee but also cultivates the entrepreneurial outlook in our company that was there at its inception in 1949.
To stay relevant to our customers, we have set a target of 5% of gross revenue reinvested into R&D to be achieved before 2030. This goal will drive us higher up the manufacturing value chain, while making us an indispensable part of Australia’s decarbonisation and environment-friendly effort. It will help solidify Australia’s sovereign manufacturing capability while generating export income.
A Family Business
It has been an interesting ride for Harrison Manufacturing, but some things do not change, like our commitment to safety, innovation, quality and integrity. HMC grew out of a challenge from the government, and an industrial need in a growing economy. However the focus has always been on solving problems for customers and helping them meet their challenges. Harrison Manufacturing is shaped by its rich history and distinguished by its vision, purpose and core values.
Australia in 2024 exists in a dynamic web of global supply chains, technology breakthroughs and pioneering sectors such as renewables, critical minerals, defence, quantum computing and biotech. We gain strength from the successes of our history, and we are now building for the opportunities of the future.
