A Dubbo-based crane and rigging company expanded to take on international work this year in the face of the global coronavirus pandemic.
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Summit Cranes' growth included putting on a "a lot more jobs" in the Dubbo region, as well as transporting people from as far away as Tasmania to a project in Papua New Guinea, director Joshua Shields reports.
In that time it also processed about 1000 COVID-19 tests and wrote an app to track the location of its workforce to prevent the spread of virus, he said.
The approach of Summit Cranes impressed the independent panel judging a special honour at the Salute to Dubbo Business awards, held to recognise resilience and achievement.
The firm was awarded Business Who Met the Challenges of 2020 with Diversification and Innovation in the large business category.
The same award in the small business field was bestowed on SJ Shooter Real Estate, at a cocktail event hosted by Dubbo Chamber of Commerce on Friday night.
Summit Cranes lists the Western Cancer Centre at Dubbo Hospital and the Burrendong Deep Water Access Project among its local jobs, and it is one of the main suppliers for the Cadia Mine and Lake Cowal Mine, Mr Shields reports.
The director said the company had recently finished working on a Newcrest project at Lihir Island, and was continuing to think big.
"We're starting a branch in Port Moresby to future-proof more works over there..." he said.
The business has a casual labour pool of 400 people, which it planns to grow to about 1000 people in the next six months, Mr Shields says.
SJ Shooter Real Estate licensee and director Samuel Shooter said it was "super exciting" to receive the award.
"We've been blessed to win a few things this year, but nothing means more than when you're looking at a local award and an industry award for the whole of business," he said.
"So it was great to be recognised, and also a great recognition of our team, who have not only adapted with us and been very nimble in the changes we've had to make, but have come up with a lot of the really good ideas we've since implemented and we'll continue to do so post COVID."
Managing director Laura Shooter said on July 1 their team "effectively doubled", to total nine full-time and two part-time employees.
"We grew, it was particularly focused on our rent roll, we went through an acquisition so we acquired another rent roll, so we had four new staff start on the one day..." Mrs Shooter said.