Aero Healthcare has experienced rapid growth in recent years, both locally in Australia and across the globe. This growth has led to us developing a world-class Innovation, Manufacturing & Distribution Centre. This facility will be uniquely located at the Airport Business Park in the regional city of Armidale; the city where Aero Healthcare was first founded roughly 20 years ago. Our vision is that this new facility will attract world-class talent and technologies to this regional city.
The Northern Tablelands MP, Adam Marshall visited Aero Healthcare to show his support of this project, as well as delivering a $400,000 grant on behalf of the NSW State Government to contribute to the $10 million development.
Recently we interviewed our Operations Manager, Murray Scott about the new facility and what this means for the future of Aero Healthcare.
1. What is the history behind this project?
Aero Healthcare has experienced rapid growth both in the Australian market and across the globe. This commitment to growth led to the expansion of our operations and facilities into Europe and North America just over ten years ago. As a result of this expansion, Aero Healthcare, a company founded in regional Australia, ended up playing a crucial role in the global pandemic response, most notably bringing mass PPE manufacturing back onto the American mainland. More recently our European division has been providing crucial life-saving medical devices to Ukraine. However, it is unlikely that any of this would be possible without the ongoing skills and resources that our Australian branch brings to the Global entity. And it is through both the recognition that Armidale has played in achieving our Global success as well as Aero’s ongoing desire to leverage the unique competitive advantages that the city has to offer, that we are undertaking this expansion.
2. What will this project/initiative mean for the future of Aero and the local community?
This new, regionally based Innovation, Manufacturing & Distribution Centre, will provide a critical role in achieving our ongoing quest to be the accepted global leader in the first aid and consumer wound care sectors. While Aero Healthcare operates from multiple locations with offices spread across the entirety of Australia, and now the world, Armidale has come to be recognised as a crucial nexus for both distribution and talent acquisition. This new distribution facility will be placed strategically halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, providing CBD access to both major cities in a little over an hour. The immediate airport access also provides quick and easy access to staff based in either our Sydney or Brisbane-based offices, while expediating our distribution across the eastern seaboard. What’s more, our post-pandemic world has seen a growing shift of highly skilled talent moving to regional locations for the opportunity to achieve an improved work-life balance. This facility recognises this growing cultural change both in our choice of its location and its amenities. Fitted out with a GYM, staff wellness centres and recreation facilities, Aero’s commitment is to make our employees’ lives better; in line with our broader mission to Make Healthcare Better.
3. How many people are involved with your organisation/how many people will benefit from this project?
Currently, our Armidale-based facility is limited in space, but this new facility will nearly triple the available office space, triple the production space, and double our warehousing area, providing significant possibilities for future expansion.
4. What is the time frame for project delivery and are you using local contractors?
We’re undertaking our construction in 2022 with plans for completion in 2023. At Aero Healthcare we understand the economic impact that using local contractors can have on a regional community, and as a result, it is our goal to source contractors locally, or at least regionally, wherever possible.
