Mathe Industries

Our workshop is at Peenya 12, which is a busy part of the industrial estate. At Mathe Industries, the sound of machines is something you hear all day long. We have a few lathes and some cutting tools that stay running most of the time. The air smells like oil and metal shavings, which is just how it is in this line of work. We wear old clothes because they always end up getting stained with grease anyway. It’s not a place where you would want to wear a nice shirt. We take orders from other businesses and try to finish the parts as they ask. Some days the machines act up and we have to spend the whole morning fixing them instead of producing anything. It’s frustrating but that’s the reality of a small factory. We don’t have a big team, just a few guys who have been with us for a long time. We know each other’s habits and how we like to work. There’s a small sink in the back where we wash our hands, though the soap never really gets all the black off. We keep the doors open to let some air in, but it’s still quite hot. At the end of the shift, we wipe down the tools and cover the machines before heading out. It’s a basic operation but we get the job done. The roof is made of corrugated sheets, so when it rains, it gets very loud.