Oliver
| A Proud Tradition - founded 1887 |  |
A PROUD TRADITION - FOUNDED 1887
Oliver Footwear, now a fourth generation Australian owned family company, owes its origins to gold mining in the Victorian provincial city of Ballarat.
Our founder James Oliver a bootmaker by trade, came to the goldfields of Ballarat, then amongst the richest alluvial and underground mining fields in the world, in the mid 1800's.
His quest for the elusive nuggets was unsuccessful, so he returned to the trade of bootmaking which he had learned in the U.K.
Established as the business of Oliver & Stevens, the new venture commenced producing boots for miners and farmers in 1887.
Throughout our long history, Oliver Footwear has remained in the control of the Oliver family, with Andrew Oliver, a fourth generation descendant of our founder, James Oliver, currently Managing Director of the company.
The same entrepreneurial streak which marked the establishment of Oliver Footwear in 1887 continues today.
Oliver Footwear retains its commitment to footwear manufacturing in Ballarat, Australia, operating from a modern manufacturing plant supported by a dedicated team of employees.
Innovation in product research and development to address the needs and demands of tough workplace safety environments is a central part of our company philosophy.
Innovation in manufacturing technology and business systems is reflected in more than $7 million in new capital investments made by the company in the last five years.
Oliver Footwear today is Australia's largest producer of industrial and safety footwear and a company committed to operating at world's best practices in all dimensions.
OLIVER INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Oliver Footwear has pioneered significant improvements to safety and industrial footwear in Australia over many years.
Release of THE BOOT range
In the early 1990's Oliver Footwear released THE BOOT range of safety footwear to the Australian market. Affording new standards of comfort and safety protection, THE BOOT offered the unique Oliver wider profile design.
Development of NATUREform Wide Profile Safety Toe Caps.
Manufactured from high quality carbon steel and heat treated for maximum impact protection, the NATUREform toe cap shape is scientifically shaped for comfort and protection.
The Oliver NATUREform cap is shaped to the correct size and shape to ensure that toes remain comfortable for the duration of a working day.
GRIPthane Soling Developments
THE BOOT range was followed by the Oliver GRIPthane range of dual density polyurethane footwear, offering additional features and significant wearer benefits over traditional products. The GRIPthane polyurethane soling design was complemented by the introduction of further innovative product improvements -
Introduction of POWERflex Impact Absorption System
POWERflex employs the unique cell structure of PORON 4000 which offers exceptional energy absorption and resiliency. This development has assisted in reducing the incidence of heel strike whilst the cushioning effect helps eliminate foot, leg and lower back fatigue, particularly for workers who spend many hours a day on their feet.
High Tech SOFTtrac Dual Density Rubber Soling
These innovations were then followed by the introduction of SOFTtrac dual density rubber soling technology.
With the successful commissioning of our new MAIN Group dual density nitrile rubber moulding machine the resulting SOFTtrac range utilises two layers of expanded rubber cells - a high density outer sole to handle the toughest workplace environments and a softer density rubber mid-sole, which cushions the impacts and provides unmatched comfort.
The release of the Oliver SOFTtrac range of safety footwear continues the Oliver reputation for innovation and leadership.
These innovations reflected the Oliver commitment to investment in new manufacturing technology and capacity.
OLIVER'S COMMITMENT TO MANUFACTURING INNOVATION
The business philosophy of Oliver Footwear reflects a commitment to continuous improvement in manufacturing technology, addressed by our substantial ongoing program of capital investment and industry leadership.
In the past five years, new capital investment of $7 million has been made from internal company resources.
The milestones include
The installation of a new 30 station DESMA, German Polyurethane injection moulding machine, complementing our original 24 station moulder, leading to the release of the Oliver GRIPthane range of safety and recreational footwear.
The commissioning in late 1999 of our new MAIN Group Dual Density Nitrile Rubber moulding machine for our Oliver SOFTtrac range of safety footwear. Only the second installation of this leading edge technology in the world, our new Oliver SOFTtrac range reflects significant product features and customer benefits in safety footwear which offers increased comfort, extra-durability and attractive styling.
Complementing these major capital investment items has been the incorporation of significant robotic process applications and streamlining of our materials management and production flows to enhance our customer response times.
A Just in Time manufacturing strategy, common to the automotive industry, in conjunction with our Quick Response Manufacturing techniques are key platforms in the Oliver Continuous Incremental Improvement Program to ensure we continue to perform at or equal to World's Best Practices
Complementing our manufacturing and process improvement investments, has been the addition of expanded warehousing capacity to further enhance customer service. A new internal computer system has been installed providing the business management systems which will support our continued growth.
Oliver Footwear believes electronic commerce and information technology will be critical to the future of our customer relationships and our existing platform is being rapidly expanded to enhance our electronic commerce capabilities.
All Oliver Footwear is manufactured to Australia Standard AS/NZS 2210.3 while individual footwear products are continuously benchmarked against other recognised international industry and performance tests.
Oliver Footwear is an Accredited Quality Endorsed Company to the Australian and International Quality Standard ISO 9002.
SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS FOR DEMANDING ENVIRONMENTS
Oliver offers specific footwear solutions for the most demanding industrial workplace environments, which usually imposes exceptional performance and protective requirements.
Mining, smelting, metal casting, firefighting services and the glass making and petrochemical industries are typical applications where Oliver can offer a safety footwear solution.
Some examples of innovative solutions for demanding work environment are:
Solutions to the most extreme Firefighters requirements.
Oliver is a major supplier of specialty protective footwear to State and Regional Fire Fighting Services around Australia.
SOFTtrac Firefighters boots incorporate many new and innovative features including fire retardant and water resistant leathers, quick release zippers for easy entry and release, high tech dual density rubber soling which resists heat cutting, abrasion, oils and acids.
All of these features combine to meet the challenge of a very demanding work environment.
Addressing the needs of the Smelter Industry.
Aluminium smelting is one of the most extreme working environments. Oliver has developed footwear specifically designed to survive the most demanding Pot Room dip tests. These tests require the boot to be dipped into the hot metal at 960 degrees Celsius for at least 3 seconds without allowing the metal to penetrate the boot. The Oliver boots surpass these stringent tests to offer a complete safety solution to the smelter industry.
And many more..........
Other innovations include Glass industry footwear with tougher abrasion resistant soling and STEELflex stainless steel mid-soles to protect the wearer against puncture wounds. Oliver also produces underground mining boots; antistatic and conductive footwear for the automotive, electronic and power industries, to name a few!
Oliver SOFTtrac specialty safety footwear products are widely used by leading Australian industries, companies and services and are achieving growing international acceptance and export sales.
If your application has a requirement for specialty safety footwear, Oliver Footwear has the solution.
