Wridgways

Wridgways

Industry	Removalists
Founded	Melbourne, Australia (1892 (1892))
Founders	Ernest Wridgway
Headquarters	Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Tasmania, Darwin, Perth, Canberra, Karratha, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Townsville, Hobart , Australia
Area served	Australia Wide
Number of employees	470 (2012)
Website	wridgways.com.au

Wridgways is a removalist company based in Australia. Founded in 1892, Wridgways specialises in household and commercial furniture, fittings and equipment relocations. The company has 30 offices and approximately 470 employees in Australia.

The company has a 2.0 star rating on productreviews.com.au, one of the worst in the industry.

In September 2010, Wridgways went from being a public traded company to private limited company and agreed a $2.80-a-share cash offer (plus 11c final div) from Hong Kong-based Santa Fe. Wridgways management had acknowledged the limited local growth prospects in a close to saturated Australian market. The sale was made possible after an Australian court approved the sale after winning 75% of the shareholders support.

The evolution from humble beginnings to a global relocation organisation:  1892 – Ernest Wridgway purchased a furniture horse and van in Camberwell which became involved in local and country removals. And so began Wridgways.

 1914 –Ernest’s son Bert began driving two horses. In this time first interstate removal completed by road. Melbourne to Brisbane. This took 6 weeks to return.

 1918 - First to pioneer overland Melbourne to Perth by truck

 1926 – Continuing its pioneering spirit, Wridgways started the first known instance of sub-contracting in the transport industry when Bert Wridgway sub-contracted to his father.

 1927 - The first international shipment took place, utilising a lift van and shipped on a door-to-door basis. This first occurred from Melbourne to San Francisco, USA.

 1928 – Bert registered his own company known as Wridgways Bros and purchased a property in Auburn, Melbourne.

 1934 - The first multi-storey furniture storage facility was built in Auburn, Melbourne.

 1950 - Pioneered overland transport by truck to Darwin

 1961 – While the world was embracing free love, Wridgways was the first public company formed in Australia engaged solely in furniture removals.

 1962 - The first palletised containers used for storage were introduced. These innovative storage packs invented by Wridgways were called ‘homepacks’ and that practice was adopted on a global scale.

 1966 - The first removalists in the world to move furniture using containers.

 1972 – Wridgways Received a takeover bid from Ansett Transport Industries Limited which was accepted, Wridgways The Removalists then became known as Ansett Wridgways http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansett

 1984 - First to use Rail / 20’ container system across Australia.

 1994 - Sold in 1994 to TNT Australia Limited and so the growth continued

 1997 - TNT Australia Limited agreed to a Management Buy Out (by key management and Venture Capital Firm Catalyst) led by Des Stickland

 1999 - First and only moving company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange

 2001 – Due to customers complaining about their creased clothing Wridgways responded and invented the now globally acclaimed and used Port-A-Robe carton.

 2005 – First removalist to innovate the plasma carton for the protective packaging and safe transportation of your large screen TVs.

 2010 – Wridgways becomes part of the most prestigious and formidable relocation company in the world, The Santa Fe Group.

 2015 – Going from strength to strength under the professional and powerful leadership of Santa Fe Wridgways new CEO Andrew Simpson.

Awards

Accreditations •FIDI FAIM Plus •ISO9001 Quality Management •ISO14001 Environmental Management •OHSAS18001 Health & Safety management •ISO27001 Data Security

Awards

2014, 2013, 2011 FEM EMMA (Expatriate Management and Mobility Award) International Relocation Company of the Year

2014 FEM EMMA Destination Service Provider of the Year

2014 FEM EMMA Best Vendor Partnerships of the Year – Santa Fe and Coca-Cola (APAC), Santa Fe and AgustaWestland (EMEA)

2013 ACQ Global Award for International Relocation Service Provider of the Year

2013, 2012 FEM EMMA for International Moving Company of the Year

2012 FEM EMMA for Thought Leadership – Survey of the Year

2012 Re:locate - Relocation Service Provider of the Year Award

In April 25, 2012, Wridgways won the APAC Transportation Service Award at the first annual Worldwide Partner Network Awards luncheon held by TheMIGroup. All finalists had to receive a minimum score of 90% in surveys measuring the satisfaction of both clients and TheMIGroup’s internal employees. TheMIGroup further explained: “The Awards are a celebration and recognition of the achievements and outstanding service delivery excellence of our Preferred Partners during the past year.”