CANADIAN parts giant Multimatic has continued its expansion in Australia – and its hiring of world-class engineers from Holden and Ford as the local manufacturing industry winds down – with the appointment of Brad Dunstan as head of its newly created Asia-Pacific Engineering Operations, based in Melbourne.

A former engineering manager at Holden Special Vehicles, Mr Dunstan brings to the position 35 years’ experience in automotive engineering and technology development. He joins a formidable team that includes former Ford Performance Vehicles (Prodrive/Tickford) chief engineer Winfried Beilharz – his one-time arch-rival in the Aussie motor vehicle market – as well as former Diver Consolidated Industries CEO and Federation of Australian Product Manufacturers (FAPM) president Jim Griffin.

One of Holden’s leading chassis engineers Mike Barber also recently joined Multimatic as senior vehicle dynamics engineer, taking almost two decades’ experience with him – including a two-year stint at GM’s Advanced Development Centre in the US – to work on Multimatic’s patented DSSV (dynamic suspensions spool valve) shock absorber for customer applications.

“We have been very fortunate to attract such a ‘dream team’ of industry leaders from the Australian automotive business,” said Multimatic’s vice-president of engineering, Larry Holt.

“Their breadth of experience in the design, engineering and manufacturing of complete vehicles is rarely found elsewhere in the world, and having them together in our operations is a real coup.”

Mr Dunstan’s appointment is a big score for Multimatic’s new engineering group, which was set up to deliver “full service engineering support to the Australian and Asian markets”.

He most recently served as CEO of the Victorian Centre of Advanced Materials Manufacturing (VCAMM) – a not-for-profit company he helped set up early last decade – and was instrumental in establishing the carbon-fibre research facility Carbon Nexus at Deakin University in Geelong.

In recent years, Mr Dunstan also also served on the Victorian Manufacturing Council, the Victorian government’s Small Business Advisory Council (where he led the Manufacturing Working Group), and the federal government’s Future Manufacturing Industry Innovation Council, among others.

He was chief engineer at HSV from 1991 to 2002, having moved to the performance-car firm after six years as a test engineer for GM Holden. Prior to that, he spent six years as an armament officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Mr Holt said Mr Dunstan’s appointment was a “key addition to our global engineering team, and will enable Multimatic to strengthen its existing manufacturing operations in the region and in particular further develop its engineering and automotive business in China”.

“I have known Brad for over 15 years and admired the great work he did at HSV, and enjoyed our collaborations on landmark vehicles such as the HRT 427 concept car as well as the projects we did with VCAMM in developing new carbon-fibre composite manufacturing processes,” Mr Holt said.

“I am confident that with his automotive engineering skills, manufacturing background and composite materials knowledge he will soon be playing a key part in not only expanding the business aspirations of Multimatic across the Asia-Pacific region, but also in our global operations.”

Mr Dunstan said he was a “long-time admirer” of Multimatic and was delighted to sign on “when the opportunity presented itself”.

“Having worked closely with the company for over 15 years, I know first-hand that the facilities, technical capabilities and level of personnel are truly world-class,” he said.

“The range of projects undertaken from bespoke small-volume prototypes to industrial-scale mass production are truly impressive.

“I feel that it is going to be a challenging and rewarding experience to build a new team in Australia to support Multimatic’s Asia-Pacific operations and to bring the values of such a forward thinking, progressive company to the region.

“My job will be to blend the existing world-class engineering capabilities and technologies of Multimatic with the innovative, can-do attitude of the Australian industry.”

By Terry Martin