Founded by Mike Koster in 1972 under the original name of Pipeline Welding Contractors, Jaws has grown to become the go-to supplier to the world’s biggest names in mining and construction. Still a family-run business, Jaws proudly continues the original company legacy of integrity, expertise and excellence.
The story so far
Established in 1972 as Pipeline Welding Contractors under Mike and Barry Koster, the company originally focused on pipeline welding for various gas pipeline projects on the eastern coast of Australia. With a start-up capital of just $800, PWC grew to a team of 30 staff members within five years. The business steadily became more involved in general engineering focussing mainly on repair work for the earthmoving industry
In the 1980s, PWC began moving into the bucket and attachment market servicing both Construction and Mining under its sub-brand, JAWS. After gaining great notoriety and popularity in the marketplace, buckets soon became a mainstay of PWC, so much so that the company rebranded itself as JAWS Buckets & Attachments.
In 1998 due to its market popularity and industry recognition JAWS Buckets achieved ISO 9001 certification for design and manufacturing.
In 1999, Jaws transitioned its operating system, fusing all business operations into one system. Having that change take place helped the company take its offering to a wider audience world wide along with capturing the market place domestically during the mining boom that gripped Australia in the early 2000’s.
During the 2000’s due to increased popularity and demand by the market place Jaws added a number of complementary products to its portfolio, including tyre handlers, high production coal dozer blades, water tank modules, service modules, truck bodies, mining buckets, face shovels and a vast array of Construction and Mining class equipment.
In 2011 the JAWS group purchased a 50% share in BARD ENGINEERING, the two had already worked together previously to deliver world class products to the domestic and overseas market, so the purchase made perfect sense.
In 2016 the JAWS group completed a 100% take-over of BARD ENGINEERING, allowing both entities to provide a streamlined product offering to a much more diverse audience.
That same year Jaws expanded its reach to Perth, Mackay and the Hunter Valley domestically to support their ever growing customer base.
Despite the challenges of competing with products made cheaply from abroad, and a tough global pandemic Jaws continued to represent a brand that does not sacrifice quality, Australian jobs or a customer’s productivity.