Worthy Parts started in 2014 when founder Michael Worthington could not believe the amount of waste which was happening in the mining sector. He came up with an idea to recoup some money from leftover or redundant parts which accumulate in workshop stores all over the industry.
Launching a mining equipment e-commerce website has led the Kalgoorlie Boulder business to take an active role in the global sales market. Michael and Jaymi Worthington are now proud to bring up 10 years in business in 2024.
“I started those first days at my kitchen table. Before I could get myself immersed in this new venture, Jaymi held me accountable to my idea by creating a business plan to ensure my idea was not just a quick-fire way to offload parts and hit a dead end” Mr Worthington said.
The qualified tradesman who was leading a workshop team at a mining equipment service repairer in the Goldfields, could not believe the amount of waste happening in the sector. He wanted to create an option for businesses to re-sell their inventory with confidence. This process also leads to less environmental impact, with many parts getting another life and not being sent to the scrap heap.
The business credits its success by establishing itself as a vendor to many of the major mining companies and contractors, allowing products to be offered to a wider audience, by falling in line with industry trading terms.
From the initial start of Worthy Parts, the business has flourished with the business creating off shoot divisions and now holding a parent company – Worthy Group.
“Over the years I could see whoever is buying or selling products, generally need a service to accompany the transaction. We have always used our directory of service providers, however when COVID occurred in 2020 we were forced to adapt our business to include internal services to assist. An opportunity to acquire a well-known local service provider (Boyes EQS) presented itself and occurred in March 2022. This addition allowed us to increase our workshop capabilities and service offering to our global clientele. To compliment the growth of our asset disposal contracts and sales turnover, a logistics division has also been created, Worthy Freight. This division assists our team to overcome logistics hurdles from day to day operations.”
A major highlight across the 10 years in business has been the Mining Legends project. Taking a Caterpillar R2900G Underground Loader requiring a mid life rebuild, undertaking the rebuild with donated parts and services and then selling the loader to donate the finds to charity. This project resulted in nearly $1 million being donated to the Goldfields Esperance Community Trust, Miners Promise and many charities benefitting from the massive project.
Although 10 years has arrived quite quickly, the whole of group approach is only in its infancy. With the solutions focused Worthington, concentrating on ensuring clients have a range of options with Worthy Group to provide services to maintain maximum productivity and minimal touch points for clients.