Celebrating 70 Years of Innovative Motion Devices and Systems

Originally known as Anthony Bearings, our story began all the way back in 1951 when Sil Anthony first opened an engineering workshop on Bell Street in Preston, Melbourne. Inside of this simple corrugated iron shed, we designed, manufactured and supplied custom-made injection mouldings, components and bearings for windows, doors and other applications, fuelled by the talents and skills of European post-war migration.

Sil Anthony himself developed our signature innovative process, which resulted in our rapid growth throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s. Through producing short-run, custom bearings that were ideal for use in industrial conveyor rollers, large sliding doors and windows, we quickly established a name for ourselves and were able to survive, evolve and prosper during challenging conditions.

As Australia prospered throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, we experienced a time of growth. There was a growing demand for bearings, and in response, our internal capabilities expanded to meet the demands of our growing and loyal customer base.

However, the 90’s would bring a mixture of deregulation, globalisation and recession, forcing many of our loyal customers to close their doors. This was when we, like many other Australian manufacturers struggling at the time, were faced with the ultimate challenge: evolve or die.

Possessing the innovative spirit of Sil Anthony, it would be his son Phil Anthony who would make the difficult decision of refocusing our operations to adapt to the needs of the changing environment. As managing director, Phil followed in his father’s footsteps and guided our company into the new millennium.

By evolving from Anthony Bearings into Anthony Innovations, as we are now known as, we stepped back from creating bearings for industrial applications and instead had more of a focus on manufacturing rollers for windows and sliding doors.

This innovative change in direction led to us broadening our knowledge base and investing more into local Australian design and engineering skills for developing more innovative materials and advanced products. It also led us to establish close relationships within overseas manufacturing and developing a more competitive supply chain.

It was at this time that we also looked overseas in search of new markets for our products in Europe and North America, while also supporting our existing domestic markets with our new, superior product range for the windows and doors industry.

By the time 2007 rolled around, we were ready to innovate again by turning our attention towards maintaining the overseas supply chain while also bringing more of the control in-house. To achieve this, we set up and established our highly mechanised and advanced manufacturing facility located in Changzhou, China.

This significant achievement enabled us to have much more influence over control measures, while also being able to do more in terms of protecting our customers’ intellectual property as well as our own.

Despite all of the challenges that have emerged throughout the decades, we have successfully managed to become an established multinational company throughout Australia, Asia and North America, cementing ourselves as a leading manufacturer and supplier of sliding door and window hardware.

As we head towards a bright and successful future, the leadership mantle has been passed down to Drew and Ben Anthony, the third generation that embodies the innovative spirit of their grandfather, Sil Anthony. Our Australian success story embraces the future with open arms, committed to growth through innovation for many years to come.