Adam Furphy
Adam Furphy is the Managing Director and Chairman of J. Furphy & Sons and is a leader in the Shepparton business community.
Adam holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from RMIT and returned to the family’s business in 1997 after a short stint with a national power engineering consulting firm Burns & Roe Worley in Melbourne. He became Managing Director in July 1998 and Chairman in March 2002. Adam is the great, great grandson of the company’s founder John Furphy who started the business in 1864.
“J. Furphy & Sons has its base in Shepparton in Victoria in the heart of Australia’s food processing industry and is one of Australia’s most diverse metals manufacturing groups,” said Adam.
At its core the company is a metal fabricator of tanks and vessels from stainless and mild steel as well as a wide range of contract and project engineering products. Augmenting this are laser cutting and sheet metal folding services, a steel sheet distribution business and four galvanizing plants in regional Victoria and NSW.
“We employ approximately 180 people across our four sites and we were the winner of the Family Business of the Year Award in 2000.” J. Furphy & Sons was an inaugural inductee into the Victorian Manufacturers Hall of Fame in 2003.
Significantly J. Furphy & Sons runs a large apprenticeship program to provide skilled staff for its operations. Some 28 apprentices are employed at any onetime in the business and this is an area of considerable effort and importance to the business.
“It is imperative that we encourage businesses to invest in Shepparton, making it economically viable in the long term,” said Adam.
Adam is married to Jeannie and has two daughters, Harriet who is three and Isabel, nine months old and believes Shepparton also offers a great family environment.
“I invite you to visit Shepparton for the day, the weekend or maybe a little longer. Shepparton is the place to live, work and invest.”
Apart from his work Adam is the Chairman of the Goulburn Valley Group of Engineers Australia which is the member organization for professional engineers in Australia. Adam is also the Chairman of the SheppARTon Festival which will celebrate its 10th year in March 2006.
