US manufacturer, Schramm Inc. and Australian engineering services company, Airdrill have strengthened their relationship by renewing and expanding the Australian Dealership Agreement. The agreement allows Airdrill to continue assembling Schramm drill rigs and manufacture Schramm components under license. The agreement also expands Airdrill's territory to include Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Guinea. The agreement was signed following the successful assembly and commissioning of the Schramm T685WS Rotadrill for McKay Drilling in mid 2003.

Greg Wear, Marketing Manager for Airdrill, says that "Schramm want to ensure that anything carrying the Schramm logo meets the Schramm quality, so it was particularly pleasing to renew the agreement after commissioning Mark McKay's rig last year." Airdrill has since received a further two orders for Schramm T685WS machines. Both of these machines will be assembled in Airdrill's Perth workshop. Greg Wear reports "In each case, we looked at the viability of assembling the Schramm's in the USA, but with large V- packs to be mounted directly to right hand drive trucks, it was more cost effective to assemble directly onto local trucks." One of the new T685WS orders came from Grimwood Davies. This will increase the Grimwood Davies fleet of Schramm 685 reverse circulation drills to six.

The machine will be set up with 850HP MTU engine, Sullair 1350/350 - 1150/500 variable output compressor and a 90,000lb pullback mast.Tim Goyder, Managing Director for Grimwood Davies said "we elected to stick with the Schramm 685's because they have proven themselves to be the toughest and most reliable machine for the big end exploration drilling." Greg Wear believes that the Grimwood Davies order shows that the renewed Schramm / Airdrill agreement can provide customization without diminishing the integrity of the Schramm products. "Grimwood Davies were very specific in how they wanted the machine set up. With the Dealer agreement we can bring in standardized Schramm components and then, within reason, modify the layout and integrate local requests to suit the customer." Prior to placing the order, Andrew Ridge, Workshop Manager for Grimwood Davies, worked closely with the Airdrill design team to produced 3D models in "Solid Works" to make sure the Grimwood Davies preferred rod racks, rod handlers, cyclones and OH&S requirements could be successfully integrated with the Schramm kit components on the MAN truck. The third Schramm T685WS to be ordered was a repeat order for Mark McKay.

Mark has had a long association with the Schramm product and was also very specific in how he wants the machine set up. Although the last three Schramm rigs sold will be assembled in Perth, Greg Wear believes that there will be plenty of opportunity for importing complete rigs from the USA. The current US exchange rate and Schramm's focus on standardization has created some real bargains for standard products.

As a measure of confidence in the Australian Drilling market, Airdrill has placed a speculation order for a Schramm T450WS rotadrill. This is a versatile midsize drill that can be set up locally to suit either exploration or waterwell drilling. The rig will be available in the second quarter of 2004.