ACO 25th Anniversary

ACO Pty Ltd is celebrating 25 years of manufacturing in Australia – 15 of those years from its facility in Emu Plains.

The company was founded by the Alhmann family in 1994. Originally working from a small leased facility in Northmead its staff of less than 30 produced polymer concrete Polycrete© drainage channels and cable pits.

In 2004 the company bought its current 32,000sqm site in Emu Plains and hasn’t looked back.

With room to expand and diversify, ACO now manufacture a wide range of Polycrete© products, plastic cable pits as well as an array of mild and stainless steel products for the building and construction industry. It also assembles large plastic cable pits, iron multipart and decorative edge access covers.

Following the recent acquisition of the assets of a Goulburn company that produces concrete cable pits, ACO now employs 160 people – 100 at its Emu Plains facility.

And, from Emu Plains headquarters, the third generation of the Ahlmann family manage what has become a global group of companies.

Its products, which recently earned the right to bear the Australian Made logo, are exported to New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Oceania, South East Asia, Indochina and to the United States from its manufacturing facility in Emu Plains.

Domestically, the company has stock and distribution centres in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and stock located in Darwin and Townsville and sales people across the country, including in Tasmania and the ACT, as well as in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

The company recently supplied many products for the South West Rail Link and will also supply drainage, cable management and access cover products for the aerotropolis.

Given ACO has supplied infrastructure products within airport precincts across the country, including at Sydney International Airport, the construction of Western Sydney International Airport could signal further opportunity for the locally based company.

ACO Managing Director David Eisenhuth describes ACO as a “family owned business continuing to expand its manufacturing capabilities to produce more products in Australia.”