Lone Star Marine Anchors’ growth from an importer of marine products to a manufacturer of advanced anchoring systems has been supported by a focus on local production, integrated supply chains and selected component partnerships.
Established 15 years ago, Lone Star Marine now supplies customers across Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
The company has developed a recognised position in the marine industry as a prominent supplier of anchoring systems, particularly through its drum-style anchor winches.
A significant milestone in the company’s development was the decision to bring production in-house in Southeast Melbourne. That move gave Lone Star Marine greater control over machining, assembly and quality assurance, while also allowing it to build a network of local suppliers.
Among those suppliers is Bonfiglioli, a global provider of gearboxes and drive solutions.
Bonfiglioli components are used across a range of Lone Star Marine applications, including the company’s drum-style anchor winches.
“Bonfiglioli’s focus on consistently delivering high-quality products and engineering capability, aligns to Lone Star Marine’s philosophy of investing in the best components available,” says Malki Ary, Managing Director of Lone Star Marine. “Bonfiglioli take pride in their products and approach engineering with care and precision, which is critical given the complexity of our systems”.
Lone Star Marine has developed drum-style anchor winches for use in demanding marine environments, where load management, reliability and corrosion resistance are important considerations.
“Drum-style winches are simpler, faster and generally more reliable. They offer improved performance, reduced maintenance and a longer lifespan,” says Malki. “Our systems incorporate high-grade stainless steel, IP68-rated DC motors, and a twin-bearing system. Extensive lab testing has demonstrated superior strength and durability compared to alternative solutions”.
For these systems, Bonfiglioli supplies its VF/W worm gear drives, with customised bronze and stainless-steel output bores suited to corrosive marine conditions. According to Amit Shukla, Bonfiglioli Sales Manager: VIC/TA/SA, the drives provide the torque density, speed selection range and load resistance required for drum winch applications.
“These drives are designed to deliver reliable load management and a long service life, with low maintenance requirements”.
The compact right-angle design of the VF/W drive also makes it suited to installations where space is limited, while its mounting configurations and motor interface options provide flexibility across different applications.
Malki said the relationship with Bonfiglioli had also been important from a service and support perspective.
“In the field, they’re excellent – in the last 11 years since using Bonfiglioli, we’ve not had issues with their products. Over more than a decade of working together, they’ve demonstrated responsive, effective service and strong after-sales support. With a global footprint spanning 80 countries and a distribution centre in the USA, they’re well positioned to support our operations and customers worldwide”.
He said the priority was to minimise downtime, particularly for commercial operators, with Bonfiglioli’s distribution network supporting repairs and parts replacement.
Looking ahead, Lone Star Marine is continuing to expand its Australian manufacturing capability, having recently acquired a third manufacturing facility and an additional 400m2 of production space. The company has also created a lab for manufacturing electrical components, PCBs and motor controllers in Australia.
“Moving forward, we’ll be able to create custom speed control, operating systems and firmware for a variety of motor control implementations,” adds Malki.
“We’re proud of our partnership with Lone Star Marine and will continue to support them with solutions that add value to their business and their customers’ operations,” concludes Amit.
About Bonfiglioli
Bonfiglioli is a worldwide designer, manufacturer, and distributor of a complete range of gearmotors, drive systems, planetary gearboxes and inverters, which satisfy the most challenging and demanding needs in industrial automation, mobile machinery and renewable energy. The Group serves more industries and applications than any other drive manufacturer and is a market leader in many sectors; our three business units – Discrete Manufacturing & Process Industries, Mechatronic & Motion Systems and Mobility & Wind Industries – embody all the expertise and experience acquired over the years in the respective industries. Established in 1956, Bonfiglioli operates worldwide with 23 branches, 18 production facilities, a network of 550 distributors and about 4.700 employees. Excellence, innovation and sustainability are the drivers behind our growth as a company and team and represent the guarantee of the product and service quality we offer our clients. More information available at: https://www.bonfiglioli.com/australia/en
