NEPEAN Conveyors NSW general manager Bill Munday shared how the company began as a small business and the reasons why it’s continuing to thrive four decades later.
Around 77 per cent of small businesses make it to their first anniversary, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Less than half make it to four years. Making it to 40 is a rare event, which is why NEPEAN Conveyors celebrated the milestone in 2025.
The privately owned company began as a small business known as NEPEAN Engineering founded in Narellan, New South Wales, in 1974 by David Fuller.
Fuller approached Peter Gilbert in 1985, and together they started NEPEAN Mining. From 1985 to 1992, NEPEAN Mining was focused primarily on general mining equipment.
NEPEAN Conveyors NSW general manager Bill Munday said that back then, the company did not really specialise in conveyors. It wasn’t until the early 90’s that the decision was made to change the name of the business to NEPEAN Conveyors and switch its focus to conveyor systems.
“When you’re working on just general mining equipment, there’s a lot of competition,” Munday said.
“At the time, there wasn’t a lot of competition in the conveyor space. So it was a better opportunity, one that I’m so glad we took.”
Since those early days, NEPEAN has grown into a substantial international company with operations on six continents, annual turnover in excess of A$1b, and employing more than 2000 people globally. NEPEAN comprises some of the world’s best-known brands in bulk materials handling such as PROK, ALPINE, GURTEC, ROXON, NEPEAN Power and NEPEAN Conveyors.
NEPEAN Conveyors specialises in the design, in-house manufacture, installation, and servicing of overland, underground, and surface belt conveyor systems and bulk materials handling projects.
Munday said that when he first started at NEPEAN Conveyors 38 years ago, there was only half a dozen people working on site.
“It was a very small facility, maybe only a 600m2 or 700m2 factory working on general mining equipment,” he said.
In the early 1990’s, the company also opened operations in Queensland and South Africa.
“We stayed at this facility until about 2012, and by that point we had outgrown the site completely. We found a bigger facility in Wollongong, and it has grown from there” commented Munday with reference to the New South Wales, Australian based operation where it all started in 1985.
The move to Wollongong was a significant turning point for NEPEAN Conveyors.
“It certainly allowed us to expand the business. We went from $35 million a year in NSW, to a $120 million plus per year business,” Munday said.
At the foundation of everything good at NEPEAN Conveyors is its employees. From senior management to production staff, many been at the company for 20 to 25 years, which Munday said is the core reason why NEPEAN Conveyors can celebrate achievements such as its 40-year anniversary.
“I get a lot of pleasure out of the fact that many of the senior people here are people we have promoted though the years working at the company,” Munday said.
“Like myself, I started as a tradie on the workshop floor and worked my way up to general manager, and I’ve been the general manager of NEPEAN Conveyors NSW for nearly 20 years.”
Munday said the chance for NEPEAN Conveyors to establish itself as the leading provider for materials handling in Australia has been a major highlight for the business.
“Taking on the multi-national companies, it’s certainly been very pleasing to consistently take market share off these players to the point where we’ve either forced them out of the market or we’ve acquired them.
Around 150 people turned up to celebrate and pay tribute to the company’s long-lasting legacy, built upon hard work and an open-book policy.
“We run the business how we see fit,” Munday said.
“We have guidelines, but there’s no micro-managing. If we have an issue, we’re open with one another and we solve it quickly. We don’t operate in a corporate structure; there’s no red tape.”
Moving forward, the plan remains the same: Continue to grow and get better. NEPEAN Belting is another example of this continuous growth. Expanding its regional footprint, NEPEAN Belting will operate in two strategic locations, in Mackay, Queensland, and in Kelso, NSW.
“NEPEAN Belting just closes the loop,” Munday said.
“We still have a huge appetite for growth. Whether it’s expanding into new markets, bringing new products and services into existing markets, we will tackle anything. As one of our core values: We pride ourselves in being local and useful. For us, it is all about making our customers successful – always.”