The Austin family has run a foundry in Timaru for 93 years. Ken Austin, grandson of the founder, says that the business has faced increasing headwinds since the Covid-19 pandemic, so he decided the time had come to shut up shop. To thank his customers and staff – and to celebrate nearly a century of producing castings of all types on the same site – he decided to throw a party.
More than 100 guests gathered to watch the family’s 96-year-old patriarch, Bob Austin, pour the last batch of molten iron into a sand mould. In his speech, Ken said how much he appreciated his loyal staff. He also mentioned how much he enjoyed working with farmers, and added that he had never had a bad debt from a farmer.
Headwinds
There were various reasons the foundry faced increasing difficulties, some predictable, some unexpected. Several essential supplies had become difficult to source. For example, Austins melted scrap iron, largely from wrecked vehicles, for its moulds. However, most engines are now made from aluminium rather than cast iron. The coke that fuelled the company’s furnaces was imported from China; it doubled in price from one shipment to the next.
There are, of course, other ways to melt cast-iron scrap. Austins could have installed an electric furnace, but that might have cost $2M. The buildings that housed the foundry were 100 years old, mostly made of corrugated iron, and arguably at the end of their lives. Rebuilding would be another major expense.
Perhaps most importantly, Ken’s phone had stopped ringing.
Changing times
Farmers were the customers of the company’s main product, agricultural rollers, but they stopped buying. The way Ken tells it, the average farmer barely makes a profit these days; the only money that farmers make is capital gains on their land – and that only when they sell. He paints a picture of farmers who can hardly keep their children in shoes, let
