After a busy 2025 co-locating three Brisbane workshops, Sharpe® welcomed clients, industry peers and partners to our Brisbane facility for our Virginia Open Day on Friday, March 6. The showcasing day provided our valued Brisbane-based customers with a unique opportunity to step inside our operations and see advanced manufacturing in action.
The day began with a welcome and site induction before Barry Herring, Corporate Senior Vice President of INTEGRATED® Equipment, Inc. Barry delivered an insightful presentation on their product offering to drilling and workover rigs in the region, sharing valuable insights into how the industry is trending in the US.
We are grateful to all of our workshop employees who assisted in showcasing our CNC lathe equipment, pipe threading machines, stabilisers being weld-repaired and the bucking unit making up some completion tool assemblies. Visitors also watched 32″ Sharpe Latch Connectors being manufactured on the massive Mazak Integrex e-1850, our VTL undertaking machining repairs as part of an Integrated® annular 5-year recertification project. Our final machining showcasing opportunity was our brand new Mazak Integrex i450 robotic cell with automated loading, producing a batch of TorqStopper®s.
As guests moved through the workshops and warehouse, they were able to see the engineering detail behind the equipment up close. Our experienced operators provided explanations of the processes involved, giving visitors a deeper understanding of the expertise required in modern manufacturing.
Innovation was also on display throughout the tour, including the ‘lights-out’ functionality of our Integrex i450, 3D-printed models of downhole tools, premium threaded Vam(R) and JFE (R) accessories and coil tubing-related well control equipment, demonstrating how manufacturing continues to evolve through new technologies and smarter solutions.
The tour concluded in our QA & Final Release area, where guests observed thread gauging, inspection and final checks prior to dispatch — reinforcing that quality at Sharpe® is embedded at every stage of the process.
We extend a sincere thank you to everyone who helped make the day seamless, the customers who took time out of their busy days to visit and to those who stayed afterwards for the BBQ and networking session.
Sharpe® is proud to open its doors and showcase the capability, innovation and expertise behind advanced manufacturing right here in Brisbane.
