CJD celebrates 50 years

National construction equipment and truck distribution heavyweight, CJD Equipment, is racking up its 50th year of operations in 2024, giving the business pause to reflect on five decades of perseverance and service that have seen it truly flourish.

Originally founded by Ron Rafferty and Rob Jowett in Guildford, Western Australia, the early CJD team of 28 passionate staff has grown to encompass nearly 600 people today, dotted across the country over 23 locations.

Rafferty and Jowett first met at Chamberlain Industries, a Welshpool-based organisation specialising in tractors and farm equipment, where they both worked in the sales team. Then, in 1974, the pair seized upon an opportunity to become the WA dealer for Chamberlain John Deere construction equipment, and CJD was off and running.

“The business today revolves around people and product,” says CJD Equipment. “That’s why it’s important to have not only the best people but to also represent quality, world-class products.”

Today CJD Equipment represents Volvo Construction Equipment and SDLG Construction Equipment nationally. It is the West Australian, Northern Territory and Tasmanian dealer for Kenworth and DAF trucks, as well as being the Isuzu trucks dealer for the Northern Territory.

“Relationships are the backbone of any business,” says Mr Rafferty, and that theme flows throughout the company, whether it’s serving customers or working with suppliers. Many of those relationships are longstanding. For example, CJD’s partnership with Volvo Construction Equipment goes back 32 years, while its relationship with PACCAR Australia (the company behind Kenworth and DAF) extends back an incredible 40 years.

“The length of these relationships means we are not only in a position to talk the talk, but we can really walk the walk when it comes to sales, service and support of the products we represent,” says Mr Rafferty.

Mr Jowett agrees that CJD Equipment is only as good as the sum of its people, and he says he’s very proud of the fact that CJD now has a number of third-generation families working for the business.

In 2001 Alan Barnett joined the CJD family in a Commercial and Marketing role, but it didn’t take him long before he progressed to the role of Managing Director. Together with Ron and Rob, the trio have steered CJD through an enviable phase of growth, as well as spearheading a rapid national expansion following CJD’s appointment as national distributor for Volvo Construction Equipment.

“We are a growing business, we will always want to be a growing business, and at our core we are a sales business,” says Alan.

“In order to keep growing, we must keep selling, and for this to happen we must deliver the best products, the best customer experiences, and the best quality back-up and support possible to each and every one of our customers, all of the time.”

It’s no mean feat for a company to grow so much yet retain a personal approach but, in this respect, CJD lives its mantra of ‘big enough to trust, small enough to care’.

“I’m incredibly proud of the 50-year milestone that we are celebrating and I look forward to watching the business continue to go from strength to strength in the many years to come,” says Alan.