Radical Solutions Delivered:
From a backyard shed to a multi-million purpose built laboratory, the story of Radical Torque Solutions is fascinating reading.
The business was started 10 years ago by Simon and Janine Timms, and is now the leading supplier of torque tools and equipment in Australia and South East Asia.
For the first three years, Radical Torque Solutions was heavily focused on the RAD range for the big end of the market – mining, oil and gas industries. Now Radical Torque also has its own range of non-competing manual torque tools and manual torque calibration equipment for smaller industries.
“We went from working in my garage for a year, to Hindmarsh for three years, to St Mary’s for five years, and we’re now at Tonsley, where we’ve built the Mecca of Torque,” Simon said.
The purpose build facility includes ‘The Lab’ – a torque calibration laboratory that is capable of calibrating up to 100,000 foot pounds of torque. “There’s nothing in the Southern Hemisphere that can do what we do here,” Simon said. “We know the high end mining and gas guys have to send their equipment back to the States or Europe for calibration and these guys want everything instantly. We’re talking about 150kg pieces of metal that people are sending from one side of the world to the other. Think about the time and the cost alone!
“I knew that if we could set the lab up right here, we could grab all of that South East Asian business. Our partners from within the Southern Hemisphere are going to send all of their equipment here, and we’ll get transducers from Singapore and Thailand.”
RTS pride themselves on team skills and values. “All members of the team drive change and push to give the best possible customer experience.” Simon said.
“We focus on the customer pain points – what their biggest issues are. That’s different to a lot of our competitors who just have a catalogue of products. But if the product existed, the customer wouldn’t have the problem. So we look for product gaps and fill them – hence the solutions part of our name.”
The growth has been rapid. As well as their head office in SA, the company has an office in NSW, a sales person in WA and a sales person will soon be appointed in Queensland. “We also have a similar facility to this in Thailand, with a full lab for engineering and calibration work. And Indonesia and Vietnam are next,” Simon said.
A few years ago, Simon and Janine also opened Radical Torque Tool Hire, a separate business. “We saw a need for specialised hire tools, and that business has been steadily building,” Simon said.
MGI Adelaide director Rob Lanzilli has been guiding the financial operations of Radical Torque since the beginning. “We’ve been meeting every month for 10 years,” Rob said. “Dealing with these guys has been a real highlight for me. They have come here and, through perseverance and good old-fashioned hard work, grown a business successfully and steadily. To see what they’ve been able to achieve over 10 years is pretty special.
“And these guys are far from finishing their story. There’s a lot to come from Radical Torque.”
While most of the monthly business meetings happen around the Radical Torque boardroom table, Simon and Rob share an annual fishing charter to “talk business” too.
“We enjoy each other’s company. We get the work done, but what I really enjoy is getting to know them and what they want out of life,” Rob said.
“Collaboration leads to great results. The monthly meetings allow us to see opportunities and capitalise on them, to make this business even better.”