Every part we make is machined at our Smithfield workshop in Sydney. This page is about the other half of the job: how we quote, manage and deliver work for customers in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, regional New South Wales and everywhere else we freight to.
When a customer can walk into the workshop, an ambiguous drawing gets resolved in five minutes at the machine. When they are in Perth, that same ambiguity becomes a week of email or, worse, a wrong part. So we front load the questions. On the first pass through your drawing we come back with everything we are unsure about at once: which tolerances are genuinely critical, which datum the part should be picked up from, whether a called up finish applies to every face or only the working ones, and whether a called up material grade is a requirement or an assumption inherited from an old drawing.
Send whatever you have and we will work with it. Native CAD, STEP or IGES models, PDF or DWG drawings, or a photograph and a hand marked sketch are all workable starting points. Where you have a model but no drawing, tell us which features are functional, because a model alone records geometry without telling us what has to be held and what is nominal.
You get the quote in writing with the interpretation we have used stated in it. That matters more at distance than locally, because it gives you something to disagree with before any metal is cut, rather than a number with silent assumptions behind it.
A machined part that arrives marked is a reject, however well it was made. Packing is specified as part of the job rather than left to whoever is closest to the bench at dispatch. Finished faces and critical bores are protected individually, parts are separated so they cannot rub against each other in transit, threads and spigots are capped or sleeved, and heavier items are secured so the load cannot shift and load a feature that was never meant to carry weight.
Consignments are labelled and itemised so your goods inwards can check the delivery against the purchase order without unwrapping everything. Where a batch is inspected before dispatch, the report travels with the consignment as well as by email, so the paperwork does not arrive separately from the parts.
On lead time, treat manufacture and transit as two separate numbers. Our standard lead time is 2 to 3 weeks on planned work, measured to dispatch, with simpler turned or laser cut items often faster and complex machined or welded assemblies longer. Transit time then sits on top of that: as a general guide air freight runs about one to two days and sea freight about four to six. Freight is not included in the price unless the quote says so, consignments we book are insured, and we can deliver direct to a mine site, an installer or another third party rather than only to your own address. Asking us for a dispatch date and adding your own carrier's transit gives you a schedule you can rely on, and if a delivery date is genuinely fixed, tell us the date at enquiry stage rather than at order stage.
Local customers manage risk by dropping in. Interstate customers manage it with evidence, so we generate the evidence deliberately. A first article is machined, measured against the drawing and reported for your written approval before the rest of the batch is committed, which turns a possible batch of wrong parts into one part and a conversation.
Through the run you get progress at the points where progress means something: material received and identified, first off inspected, batch complete, packed and ready for collection. Photographs accompany the milestones that are worth seeing. If something needs a decision, such as a feature that cannot be held as drawn or material that has come in on a different size, we raise it while the job is still on the machine rather than presenting it as a finished fact.
Repeat work then gets easier, not harder. Work holding, tooling and the inspection method are recorded against the part number, so a reorder next year is the same setup rather than a fresh interpretation of the same drawing by someone new. For customers who reorder predictably, it is worth agreeing an inspection regime up front, whether that is first off every batch, periodic sampling or full inspection on nominated features.
McIver Engineering has manufactured in Sydney since 1947 and is Australian owned and operated. For customers weighing us against an overseas supplier, the honest advantages are time zone and language, drawings and materials that stay onshore and traceable, a person who answers the phone about your specific job, and the ability to buy one part rather than a container of them. Revisions are also cheap here. Changing a dimension between batches is a conversation, not a new tooling cycle.
Offshore is genuinely better for some work, and we would rather tell you that than quote something we are not the right supplier for. High volume, stable design, low complexity and a lead time you can plan around all point overseas. That is exactly what our sister business Global Supply Network does, handling managed overseas sourcing and offshore production for the same customers, so a mixed bill of materials can sit under one relationship instead of two unrelated suppliers.
In practice many customers use both, having the difficult, low volume and urgent items machined here while the simple high volume items come in from offshore. Because both businesses are part of the same group, that split does not mean managing two conversations.
There is one workshop and it is in Smithfield, New South Wales. We have no interstate office, no depot and no agent, and we would rather say so plainly than imply a national footprint we do not have. Every part on every order is machined, inspected and packed by the same team.
For the machines, materials, axes and tolerance capability behind that, see our CNC machining page, which is where the technical detail of the process lives. Our quality and certification page covers inspection, traceability and first article inspection, which is the part interstate customers usually read first.
Yes. All machining happens at our Smithfield workshop in Sydney and finished parts are freighted to you, wherever you are in Australia. Quoting, drawing review and progress updates are handled remotely by email and phone, so nothing about the job requires you to be local.
No. McIver Engineering operates from one workshop in Smithfield, New South Wales, and we are deliberately clear about that rather than implying a national footprint. Having a single site is part of why quality and traceability stay consistent, because every part is made by the same team on the same floor.
Freight is time added after manufacture, so quote it as a separate line in your own planning rather than assuming it sits inside our lead time. Ask us to confirm the dispatch date rather than the delivery date, then add your carrier's transit time to that.
Freight is not included in our prices unless the quote says otherwise, so treat it as a separate cost in your own planning. Australian customers are welcome to nominate their own carrier and account and we will pack, label and book the consignment for collection. We cannot ship on a customer account overseas, because on international movements we are the importer of record.
Machined parts move by air where time matters and by sea where cost matters. As a general guide, air is roughly one to two days and sea is roughly four to six days, and we confirm the expected transit with the booking rather than leaving you to guess.
Yes. We carry insurance, so consignments we book are covered in transit. If your own policy or your carrier account is being used instead, tell us at order stage so responsibility for the goods in transit is clear on paper before they leave us.
Yes. We deliver direct to mine sites, workshops, installers and other third parties rather than only to your own address. Send the delivery address, site access requirements and any receiving hours or documentation the site needs with your order.
We work through photographs, dimensional reports and first article inspection rather than a site visit. A first part can be machined, measured, reported and photographed for your written approval before the balance of a batch is cut, which is the remote equivalent of standing at the machine.
Sometimes, and we will say so rather than lose your time. High volume, low complexity parts with a long lead time often suit offshore supply, and our sister company Global Supply Network handles that sourcing. Low volume, tight tolerance, urgent or drawing sensitive work is usually better made here.
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