Business features

The timing was perfect when the Barro Group purchased the Bacchus Marsh-based concrete roof tile manufacturing company Alice Roof Tiles in 1997.

“Alice Roof Tiles is the biggest concrete roof tile manufacturing business in the western region of Melbourne,” said Paul Knauer, Alice Roof Tiles’ General Manager. “And we’ve really been able to take advantage of the phenomenal new building growth in the Werribee and Caroline Springs areas.

“This is no doubt the reason why the Barro family bought the company. They would have been aware of building developments in the west. It was a strategic decision on their behalf.

“Our competitors in the concrete roof tile manufacturing business are based in the eastern region of Melbourne,” Paul explained. “Logistically, we have an advantage in the western region. We are centrally and conveniently located to also reach Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong.”

The Barro Group was established by Italian-born David Barro in 1946, and has since expanded into an integrated resources, manufacturing and distribution organisation. While David continues in the business as Executive Chairman, his son, Raymond Barro is the Managing Director. Other family members also work in the business.

“Our core business is concrete and quarries” said Rhonda Barro, the Barro Group’s Executive Director. “The group continues to grow and diversify with concrete plants and quarries throughout Victoria and Queensland.

“We have Barro Builders’ Supplies which sells steel reinforcing, bags of cement, tools and other builders’ and concreters’ requirements. Concrete precast panels are produced in Dandenong by the group’s Australian Precast division.”

The company also supplies premixed concrete, quarry materials and concrete roof tiles, operates fully-equipped workshops to service plant and equipment, and supplies and services tyres for trucks and earthmoving equipment.

The Barro Group operates three businesses in Bacchus Marsh – Pronto Mixed Concrete, Mountain View Quarries and Alice Roof Tiles. The company has operated the quarry since the 1970s, purchased the concrete plant in 1992 and then Alice Roof Tiles in 1997.

“The Barro Group is a vertically integrated company,” Rhonda explained. “For example, the quarry supplies sand to the concrete plant, as well as Alice Roof Tiles.”

Backed by this vertically integrated approach, other complementary business units and the family-run attitude of the Barro Group, Alice Roof Tiles is able to compete with the biggest players in concrete roof tile manufacturing.

“A bonus for us is customer service,” Paul Knauer explained. “I play a hands-on role, as does all our staff. If there is a customer problem, you ring me. We are able to respond to an issue quickly.”

Paul was promoted within the Barro Group to the role of Alice Roof Tiles General Manager at the end of 2005. “I started out as a sales rep in concrete,” said the former Monier roof tiling apprentice. “And then I was State Sales Manager for concrete, and then General Manager for Alice Roof Tiles.”

Four original employees, employed when Alice Roof Tiles was originally established by Oupan Resources in 1992, are still with the company. The four “key members” – from despatch, sales, transport and production - have been with the company for 10-12 years.

The Barro Group implemented a number of changes following the purchase of Alice Roof Tiles, such as the introduction of new Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) measures, as well as new and more efficient equipment.

“Alice used to hand stack tiles on pallets,” Paul said. “An auto-packing machine was introduced, which greatly reduced OH&S manual handling issues, and cut costs substantially.

“A roof estimating computer software program called Roof Magician was developed by a company called Applicad (a software developer) based on Alice Roof Tiles. It is now the most widely used estimating system in the world.”

Alice Roof Tiles sells mainly to domestic and commercial markets in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW). In 2005, the company established an office in Mt Druitt (NSW) to better service Alice Roof Tiles’ growing NSW market.

In 2006, the growing and “tightly run” business launched two new tile products to complement the existing popular ‘Stuart’ and ‘Olga’ ranges. The two new fashionable flat tile products are called ‘Bacchus’ and ‘Marsh’.

“Stuart is still our highest seller,” Paul said. “The big sales differentiation is colour. We do a multicolour ridgecap (a continuous wood or metal strip fitted over the roof peak to keep water out) with the multicolour tile, which no-one else does. Everyone else produces the ridgecap in the same colour as the tile.”

“We also support the hardwood timber industry. We make our battons (roof trim) from hardwood off-cuts, while our competitors mainly use their own sawmills.”

Alice Roof Tiles aims to continue to develop the business through initiatives such as extending the multimillion dollar factory to support a modified auto-packer, while retaining the independent approach through the employment of local people and the use of local services.