AT just 26, Luke Dawson has invented a safety product that promises to revolutionise maintenance practices across many industries.
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Even more impressively, the East Maitland-raised entrepreneur has a suite of other products in the pipeline.
"It's a big opportunity but if all goes to plan we'll be all over the world,' he says.
Mr Dawson's journey to innovator began when he landed a heavy plant mechanic apprenticeship with WesTrac, the nation's leading Caterpillar dealer, after school.
He worked across the company before eventually becoming a field service technician, diagnosing and rebuilding machinery such as bulldozers, dump trucks and graders.
After six years he started his own company, Quality Plant Services, in 2017, and quickly came up with a prototype for his invention, the Safe-Gauge.
The wireless monitoring device is used to safely test multiple hydraulic pressures on mobile plant machinery while allowing workers to stay clear from the "line of fire" of potential injury. This includes being crushed by machinery or a potentially fatal fluid injection, when hydraulic oils or fluids are accidentally released at high pressure.
Mr Dawson was motivated to develop the deceptively simple product from his personal experience of testing the hydraulics of machinery in potentially dangerous situations and wishing there was a safer way to do it.
"It's dangerous holding test hoses and being close to moving parts ... I haven't been injured personally but there were a few close calls and I've heard of many being injured from it," he said.
The wireless Safe-Gauge functions by using parts which plug in to various parts of the machine, allowing testing from a safe distance.
Mr Dawson says there is no rival product to Safe-Gauge, for which he has submitted a worldwide patent.
"It's quite crazy, it would have been ideal for me when I was on the tools to use most days and now it's available," he says.
Mr Dawson worked on a prototype for the Safe-Gauge with an electronic engineer in his spare time for about 18 months before he received assistance at The Melt.
In three months he was able to test the prototype and fully commercialise it - with the help of The Melt's chief engineer Clint Brewan - to meet Australian and global compliance guidelines.
He received $150,000 in funding to do so, along with vital mentoring support.
"I had support in all aspects of the business, really. The Melt has specialists in different areas, we got programming and support and engineering support and legal assistance," he said.
Mr Dawson is now based at Dashworks, within The Melt at Hillsborough Road, and is working on future products.
"There will be a Safe-Gauge product range that will all be related and they will all be focused around the live testing of mobile plant machinery," he said.
"It's such a good feeling but it's been nerve-wracking at times."
Acknowledging that he's done his family and friends proud, the son of a boilermaker credits one person in particular for his innovative streak.
"My mother has got a bit of entrepreneurial spirit, she's a marriage celebrant with her own business and set the standards for all of us, six kids," he says.
The Safe-Gauge costs about $7500 for a kit that reads four different pressures from 0 to 600 bars.
It hit the market in July and has already had sales in Brazil and the United States.
"Our biggest demand is coming from West Australia, where there have been the most related injuries, and also in NSW and Queensland," Mr Dawson said.
He has just employed a sales manager and his dream is to have the Safe-Gauge in place as an industry standard for any form of pressure testing, replacing all hydraulic gauges with his wireless system.
"We are aiming to get to it, all over the world an not just in mining but all industries that work with hydraulics - mining, marines construction, even in defence," he says. "It is very exciting."
Safe-Gauge is one of five startups who have received investment from The Melt, and one of three from the Hunter.
The other two are ag-tech startup Hone, which allows farmers to bypass traditional ag testing via a hand-held device that provides an instant chemical analysis of crops, and Orata, which builds thermal heating and cooling systems for buildings, allowing owners to slash their bills and reduce carbon emissions.
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Penelope Green
Business, news and feature reporter.
Business, news and feature reporter.
