Campbellfield company Tontine is celebrating its 60th year of Australian manufacturing, making it one of the last businesses to continue local production.
The iconic Australian brand moved to its Campbellfield factory eight years ago to boost its output of pillows and quilts.
It makes about four million pillows and about 750,000 quilts each year.
The company employs 120 people at its factory, warehouse and sales centre, many of whom are migrants.
General manager Ian Shannon said about 40 per cent of Tontine’s employees had worked for the company for more than 15 years.
Among them, is admin worker Gwen Nguyen, who started at Tontine in 1991.
Ms Nguyen began working at Tontine four years after moving to Australia, on the assembly line.
Now, she works in payroll and helps look after the company’s contractor database.
She said she is proud to have worked for a company that has remained local after so long.
Mr Shannon said Tontine continues to manufacture in Australia because it has a great team and has invested in the latest technology.
“Tontine has been an interesting business because it’s innovative,” he said.
He acknowledged that the loss of many manufacturers will impact locally.
“[The manufacturing industry] is hard to replace. Manufacturing provides opportunities for many people, including migrants.
“When manufacturing starts to die, you lose a big employment pool.”
