The busiest bees in the brushware industry

Since its inception in 1987, Busy Bee Brushware has been at the forefront of Australia’s brushware industry. Once the creators of handcrafted artificial tree branches for Myer and David Jones Christmas displays, Busy Bee Brushware has since expanded their manufacturing operations to specialise in the production of industrial, retail and custom brushware.

While Busy Bee Brushware still loves the challenge of going back to the ‘old days’ to create original wire hand-drawn brushes, the implementation of new techniques and automatic machines has allowed them to increase their manufacturing capacity.

Founded by Maurice Frier, Maurice’s son and current Managing Director, Chris Frier, joined the business in 1995 working his way up from selling factory brooms door-to-door to become the ‘brains trust’ of the company.

Chris and Maurice in the workshop. Photo take in 1998. 

“Brush making can be considered a specialised art form. We initially operated with manual processes. It used to take a team of four around a week to manufacture a batch of 50 Flue Brush Heads. Now, with our state of the art twist in wire brush machine, who we affectionately call “Curly”, it takes only one staff member to make 50 Flue Brush heads in an hour,” said Chris.

“Being a small manufacturing company, we remain agile and flexible. We can provide fast customised solutions using innovative technology to deliver quality Australian-made products.

We are a proud second-generation business with a team of highly skilled specialist Brush Makers. We are passionate about innovation and continually support our workers to upskill. Recently we supported two of our employees to attain their Forklift Licence, and another achieved their electrical ‘Test and Tag’ accreditation. All of our team are also trained in Cert II First Aid to promote safety in the workplace and the wider community.”

Busy Bee Foreman, Neil, in the workshop creating a Hand Drawn Wire Brush. 

Busy Bee Brushware is proud to display the Australian Made logo on a number of its retail products, including its ROCK OFF® Towing Brush Strip, Garage Door Seals, Gutter Brush, Boot Cleaners, Flue Cleaning Brush Kits and Magnetic Lead stands.

“Australia produces some of the best products in the world, and the Australian Made logo helps to highlight this to consumers. A lot of customers have found us through the Australian Made website. The campaign gives us access to a more extensive customer base of consumers and businesses than we normally would have access to. They are also passionate Australian-made supporters,” said Chris.

“We have also found that customers who have located us through the Australian Made Campaign are more likely to provide ongoing word of mouth referrals too, which are a huge part of our business.”

Located in Dandenong, Victoria, Busy Bee Brushware has seen increased interest in its products from Australia’s booming caravanning and off-road communities.

“A lot of customers call us after seeing our ROCK OFF® Towing Brush Strip on a fellow adventurers vehicle in the far reaches of the outback. Everyone says ‘ring Busy Bee’, which is excellent for us.

Our ROCK OFF® Towing Brush Strip helps protect caravans, campervans, boats, trailers and 4WD vehicles from undercarriage stone chip damage and bounce-back. Mounted to the back of vehicles it acts as a rock and stone suppressant, deflecting them back to the road surface.”

Busy Bee Brushware's ROCK OFF® Towing Brush Strip.

Underpinned by a third-party accreditation system, the Australian Made logo is Australia's most trusted, recognised and widely used country of origin symbol.

“We love what we do and want to continue to build a business where we can employ local people and support the Australian economy. Australian-made products mean that jobs stay in Australia, and we keep more of our experienced people and intellectual property in Australia.  Growing and maintaining employment for future generations.”

You can learn more about Busy Bee Brushware at www.busybee.com.au.