Faces Of Australian Manufacturing.

Introducing Richard Hart, our incredible Residential Wool Product Manager. Starting at the business 33 years ago, Richard began in the Tufting Department as a labourer, which led to a Textile Traineeship and eventually a three-year course to move into Shift Dying.

With his experience in Quality Control, Planning, Purchasing and Sales, he combines this expertise into his current role as Residential Wool Product Manager. As expected, no day in Richard’s job is the same. In an average week, he works with the Product Development team across Australia and New Zealand on not only upcoming products but also updating current carpets. With daily contact with departments like Sales, the Call Centre, Planning, Marketing, Samples and the Web Team, Richard’s support and wealth of knowledge is widely appreciated across the business.

Richard values local manufacturing for the huge growth it provides to regional towns like Geelong, and the support given back to the community, local schools, sporting groups and events.

When asked about the significance of wool as a carpet fibre, Richard speaks to the simple yet effective benefits that wool has to offer, keeping our homes warm in winter and cool in summer, and humidity control.

“What I love about wool is that it’s been around for hundreds of years “doing its thing” and we are still discovering more about its amazing qualities.” – Richard Hart, Residential Wool Product Manager

Craig Martin currently helps lead the Quality Assurance team and started with Godfrey Hirst 41 years ago. With a wealth of knowledge within the technical aspects of carpet manufacturing, Craig's focus is in ensuring our manufacturing standards are tested and well maintained. Within his role as the Quality Assurance Supervisor, Craig supports his team in reviewing quality reports, answering quality queries and inspecting yarn and carpet batches.

When Craig first started with Godfrey Hirst in 1982, he worked on spinning frames learning the processes within the spinning department. Craig then soon moved into the dye house undertaking a completely new role within the carpet manufacturing process. Craig’s next move was into the tufting department where he undertook a wide breadth of roles from driving a forklift to signing off machines.

During his time with Godfrey Hirst Craig has seen a lot of change within the business and the broader carpet manufacturing industry. Craig notes the biggest change he has seen is growth, ‘When I started with the company there was one site in South Geelong. With expansion, we now have plants in New Zealand, South and North Geelong, Breakwater and two Melbourne sites.’

Craig further speaks to the importance of the manufacturing sector and the range of industries that rely on us, including education, health, retail and hospitality, as well as the way in which keeping manufacturing in Geelong assists to boost the local economy.

Craig has worked for Godfrey Hirst for over 28 years, where he started as an operator within Godfrey Hirst’s dyehouse in 1994. Working various roles within the dyehouse for the 17 years that he remained there, Craig built extensive knowledge and expertise that is required for dye processing within the carpet manufacturing process. 

In 2011, the dyehouse at Godfrey Hirst was decommissioned and moved to continue operations by Godfrey Hirst. At this time, Craig then worked as an operator on the dryer at the finishing line within Godfrey Hirst’s local carpet manufacturing processes at the South Geelong plant. After just a few months, the perfect opportunity arose for Craig to utilise his skills within the Designer Jet® production team where he could implement his extensive dye knowledge and expertise when operating our custom Designer Jet® precision injection technology.

As part of this team, Craig operates the print head where dye is injected into the carpet greige to create an almost endless range of custom carpet capabilities. Craig also further utilises his dye expertise by mixing custom dyes for custom carpet requirements, as well as being a licensed forklift driver. Craig holds a range of expertise that are highly valued in this niche manufacturing process.