WSBC is proud to share an article featuring QuickStep from our WSBC Gold Member Bankstown City Council after connecting them with The Daily Telegraph. WSBC has endeavoured to connect a number of manufacturing organisations to our Platinum Media Partner resulting in numerous nominations for Champions of the West and promotion for our Western Sydney businesses.

Article published in the Daily Telegraph by Bruce McDougall.

Nominated in the Innovation and Manufacturing category of The Telegraph’s Champions of the West awards program, sponsored by AGL, Quickstep Technology has grown rapidly since landing a long-term agreement with US aerospace giant Northrop Grumman to supply Joint Strike Fighter components.

In just 18 months this Western Sydney company has put Bankstown on the world aviation map, providing state-of-the-art components for the likes of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The advanced composites firm, which relocated to Bankstown from Western Australia in 2012, is also supplying highly specialised wing flaps for C130J Hercules military transport aircraft.

The company is also at the centre of cutting-edge developments in the global automotive industry.

Chief executive Philippe Odouard said the operation that started with 30 staff in a small Perth factory now employed 120 and was expected to grow to 150 by the end of the year.

“We found very good premises at Bankstown that could do the job undefined and there is more support in Sydney for maintaining our facilities and for servicing.

“We manufacture carbon fibre parts for the Joint Strike Fighter and export them to the US for Northrop Grumman,” he said.

Mr Odouard said Quickstep was “ramping up” its work at the speed necessary to handle the volume of work.

The Bankstown facility has won lavish praise from Northrop Grumman, indicating its skilled workforce and resources offered the opportunity for yet more large-scale aerospace manufacturing contracts.

“It’s the most advanced technology for carbon fibre in the world. The US was looking for people who could do that work,” Mr Odouard said.

Quickstep expects work on the Joint Strike Fighter will generate up to $700 million over 20 years and the C130J Hercules aircraft $75m to $100m over five years.

More than 3000 F-35s will be produced by 2036 making it the biggest aircraft production outside the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.

The advanced composites produced by Quickstep are high strength fibres such as carbon fibre embedded with performance resins.

These materials are used extensively in the aerospace and defence industries and increasingly in high performance and electric-powered cars.

Quickstep hopes to start shipping equipment to major global customers soon to make parts for superlight cars.