JFD Australia, an established partner of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), has unveiled its new advanced manufacturing and production facility at Beresfield, NSW.
The state-of-the-art centre, in the Hunter region north of Newcastle was officially opened by Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery the Hon Pat Conroy MP and the Federal Member for Paterson Ms Meryl Swanson MP.
JFD Australia’s Managing Director, Ms Cathy Falkiner said the company had simply outgrown its previous site also in the Hunter region at Warners Bay and needed a larger premises to manufacture and export its underwater life support systems.
"From this Beresfield facility, we are producing, maintaining and exporting recompression chambers to navies around the world,” said Ms Falkiner.
“The nature of this manufacturing is exacting and precise as the equipment we are providing may be used to save lives which means it is critical that we have a space that is fit for purpose."
JFD Australia is the largest provider of recompression chambers to the RAN, the US Navy and the Royal Thai Navy.
From its base in the Hunter region, the company has exported 137 recompression chambers to the US Navy and seven in the past 18 months alone with a value of $10 million (the approximate total export value of this is $67 million).
"We are a proud member of Australia’s defence industry, creating local jobs, engaging with local supply chains and supporting local manufacturing,” said Ms Falkiner.
“Our mission every day is to keep Australia’s and the world’s defence force personnel safe underwater."