In today’s volatile business environment, resilience against supply chain disruptions is key. Disruptors include shifting trade policies and tariffs, geopolitical events, increasing business costs, labour shortages and production bottlenecks. Having a robust supply chain strategy is essential.
For the team at Bonfiglioli Australia and New Zealand, investment in a strong local presence is foundational to the company’s supply chain strategy. It’s also an important element in the company’s approach to its customers.
According to MD, Martin Broglia, it’s by investing in on-the-ground engineering support, assembly and after-sales service that the company has reduced reliance on distant supply chains while strengthening its ability to respond swiftly to customer needs. “Supply chain resilience is not just about parts on shelves - it’s about people on the ground. We have strengthened our field engineering presence, expanded operational capacity and grown the sales and service teams”.
A focus on local assembly
Bonfiglioli is a worldwide designer, manufacturer and distributor of a complete range of gearmotors, drive systems, planetary gearboxes and inverters, which satisfy the most challenging and demanding needs in industrial automation, mobile machinery and renewable energy. Established in 1956, Bonfiglioli operates worldwide with 23 branches, 18 production facilities, a network of 550 distributors and around 4 700 employees.
Locally, Bonfiglioli employs around 60 staff and operates a major assembly facility and head office in Glendenning, NSW, with additional regional offices in Western Australia (Perth), Victoria (Melbourne) and Queensland (Brisbane). In New Zealand, Bonfiglioli has a dedicated assembly and warehouse facility in Mangere, Auckland, serving the local market with in-country assembly, service, and distribution. The company also has a fully-fledged engineering department to assist in custom design and engineering for combination drives and special applications. Together, these sites provide customers across Australia and New Zealand with local engineering expertise, assembly and responsive support.
More than 90% of Bonfiglioli’s orders in Australia and New Zealand are assembled locally, with less than 10% arriving as fully built units from Italy. Core components are sourced from Bonfiglioli’s global plants in Italy and Vietnam, but value is added closer to the customer - through local assembly and service.
To underpin this commitment, the company has increased its local stockholding. It maintains approximately $8 million in stock in Australia and a further $3 million in New Zealand. This strategic stockholding ensures not only rapid delivery of new units but also the ability to respond immediately to repair and maintenance needs.
In addition, the company invested $700,000 to expand its Sydney production facility. This included acquiring a fully automated HD machine from Italy, installing a new spray paint booth and adding a 6.3-tonne bridge crane. Together, these upgrades have streamlined the build process and doubled gearbox output, ensuring faster delivery and greater capacity to support Australian customers. “This expanded local production capability gives Australian manufacturers faster access to specialised Bonfiglioli drive solutions when and where they are needed most, reiterates Martin.
In New Zealand, the team has relocated to a larger site in Auckland, featuring a 1,200 m² shop floor dedicated to warehouse, assembly and after-sales operations, supported by a modern 180 m² office space. This investment provides the foundation for growth while enhancing responsiveness and service quality.
Embracing tech innovations
At the same time, Bonfiglioli has reimagined the way it manages its supply chain. “The introduction of automatic vision systems, seamlessly integrated with its SAP platform, has created a digital thread from warehouse to customer. Every package is photographed before dispatch, creating instant transparency, streamlining communication and elevating quality control throughout the delivery process. The result is a more efficient supply chain, easing pressure on warehouse teams while giving customers the confidence that their solutions will arrive on time and exactly as promised,” says Martin.
These initiatives reflect Bonfiglioli’s broader global vision: to stay close to customers, deliver excellence on the ground, and build self-sufficiency in products, skills and supply chain capability across Australia and New Zealand. “A number of customers have enjoyed further expansion and an increase in exports to overseas markets because of their collaboration and working relationship with Bonfiglioli, which has seen us assist them in breaking into markets through the connections of the global Bonfiglioli network,” says Martin.
“Bonfiglioli isn’t just a supplier of manufacturing equipment; we partner with industries to deliver the cutting-edge technologies, support and expertise that will empower them to operate more efficiently, chase innovation and compete in a dynamic global market,” he concludes.
