DCI Around the World: Australia & New Zealand - Going "Down Under" the Ground since 1990

New Zealand and Australia were early adopters of HDD methods. In turn, DCI products have been present in that part of the world since the early 90s, initially just being sold through a domestic dealer. To help service that first wave of equipment, DCI ramped up its presence through the decade with a dedicated repair operation. Midway through the 2000s however, the market demanded more, so in 2005, long-time US-based DCI employee Mark Gallucci moved to Australia to expand the operation.

“For a while, it was just me and the office manager, Sandy Hodge. We were doing everything from repairs to start-ups to managing and shipping equipment in Australia and New Zealand,” says Gallucci.

With the market continuing to grow but Gallucci’s time on the Gold Coast of Australia coming to an end, it was imperative DCI brought on a local HDD expert to take over. Chris Dowd, a New Zealand veteran of the HDD industry who had spent time working in Europe and China, shadowed Gallucci for a time in Australia and eventually took over fully in 2008.

Since then, Dowd has found the Australian and New Zealand market to be, “Consistent with peaks being tied to green-lighted broadband projects. When those moments happen, rates trend up for drillers.”

Even with a positive market outlook with HDD being a valued part of Australian and New Zealand’s construction industries, there are challenges. Although Australia's population is substantially less than the United States, the square mileage of territory is nearly equal, so servicing Australian DCI customers in the lesser populated parts of the country can be a challenge. To help maintain the level of customer service that DCI users have come to expect, Warren Sandom was brought on to focus specifically on Australia’s southern states that include Syndey and Melbourne in 2012.

This ongoing dedication by Dowd, Sandom, and Hodge (still with DCI!) to the region’s customer base has been rewarded with a willingness to adopt new products including DCI’s native cloud platform DDM, iGPS locator hoods for highly accurate bore logging, and the time and money saving TeraTrak R1 bore planning tool.

“The future is bright,” Says Dowd. “HDD is an accepted method of construction, and right now we are seeing an increase in rates for the operators. This can have a flow-on effect...contractors making more money...spending more money on updating equipment and everything that comes with that. Whether it’s onsite training for a specific contractor or classroom training for multiple companies, there are always requests for us to support, and we pride ourselves on the service and support offered.”