When a friend showed Alvin Rowland a modular steel clamp he’d brought back from the UK, it was an ‘aha’ moment.

Having spent several years managing a steel bending and cutting business, Alvin saw enormous potential in something that would allow metal components to be bolted together to form larger structures.

However, a campaign to interest potential customers – fabricators, builders and architects – in buying the clamps proved unsuccessful. Undeterred, Alvin lit upon the idea of using them to produce handrails and balustrades that could be produced and shipped in modular form and assembled in situ.

The business he set up to do that was Moddex. Founded on a shoestring in 2008 in Maryborough, three hours north of Brisbane, it’s now the country’s leading manufacturer of barrier systems for infrastructure and commercial construction projects.

Everything in the Moddex range, from disability handrails to bikeway barriers and ramp solutions, is supplied as a series of components, with simple assembly instructions. Moddex systems can be adapted or extended with additional components or cut to size by installers onsite.

Rails for a single ramp or set of stairs might come in at around $10,000 while a major project could run to $5 million.

Moddex has completed dozens of these larger-scale projects for schools, railway stations, shopping centres and public and sporting facilities all over Australasia.

Increasing focus on public safety has helped fuel demand, according to Moddex chief financial officer Evan Gilbert.

“Handrail balustrading, for example, needs to comply with strict standards and using Moddex gives greater consistency of outcome,” Evan says. “Customers can have absolute confidence in the product. Whereas if you order something bespoke that’s going to be fabricated onsite, the quality can be variable.”

The cost savings are compelling too. Not having to obtain hot work permits, use specialist trades and implement stringent fire and safety precautions makes Moddex systems much quicker and cheaper to install than traditional alternatives.

The business does more than merely ship product from its factories in Maryborough, Melbourne, Perth and Christchurch. In 2020, it established a technical support team to help architects incorporate Moddex systems into their early designs and gain greater certainty around costings.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to use our products,” Evan says.

Offering this value-added service has seen sales soar. Turnover has doubled since 2021, as has the size of the workforce. Moddex hopes to double its turnover again by 2027 and is amping up production capacity. This year [2025] will see the bulk of the business’ 140-strong team move into a newly constructed facility in Maryborough.

Boom times aren’t just good for Alvin and his fellow shareholders. In 2022, Moddex introduced a profit-sharing scheme that can boost workers’ wages by thousands of dollars a year.

NAB Business banking executive Wide Bay and Fraser Coast Peter Petersen says the company is an innovative business and an exemplary local employer.

“They’re at the heart of Maryborough’s manufacturing hub,” he says. “Our local team is proud to support them as they continue to move ahead in leaps and bounds.”