A FAMILY THAT BUILT AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST INDEPENDENT READYMIX BUSINESS.
WHERE IT STARTS
XCEM founder Jesse Rafidi grew up in concrete. His father founded Hy-Tec Concrete and built it into the largest independent readymix concrete supply business in Australia, before selling it to Adelaide Brighton.
The idea for ALPHAFLOOR came while Jesse was studying at MIT Sloan on a full scholarship funded by the Central Bank of Malaysia. The goal was simple to say and hard to do: a panel with all the benefits of real precast concrete, light enough to handle by hand, at the price point of fibre cement and AAC.
CONCRETE IS IN
OUR BLOOD.
THE XCEM STORY
Two generations of Australian concrete. Ten years of development. One invention: ALPHAFLOOR.
FIFTEEN MIXES A DAY. FIVE MONTHS.
ONE $20 OVEN.
THE EXPERIMENT
The first ALPHAFLOOR mixes were not made in a lab. They were made in the family apartment in Malaysia: fifteen trial mixes a day, for at least five months straight, mixed with kitchen utensils and cured in a twenty dollar electric home oven, while Jesse's wife and kids lived around the experiment.
Thousands of batches, until one was right.
FROM A PILOT PLANT TO SYDNEY'S SKYLINE
Back in Australia, Jesse built a pilot plant, and the first project supplied from that pilot line was not a small one: Opera Residences at Circular Quay by Richard Crooks Constructions, a landmark on Sydney Harbour. XCEM went on to supply some of Sydney's tallest buildings, including One Sydney Harbour at Barangaroo by Lendlease, Australia's tier one builder, delivered a one of a kind facade for the Charlie Parker in Harris Park, and supplied the major reconstruction of the Oran Park shopping village.
OPERA RESIDENCES
CIRCULAR QUAY
ONE SYDNEY HARBOUR
BARANGAROO
THE CHARLIE PARKER
HARRIS PARK
ORAN PARK VILLAGE
RECONSTRUCTION
BACKED. BUILT. GROUND FLAT.
THE PLANT TODAY
Backing followed from one of Australia's leading private equity investors, funding the plant we run today in the Southern Highlands, NSW.
Ten years and more than $9 million later, that plant runs a re-engineered forming process, a new curing regime and a one of a kind precision concrete grinding line. Every panel is ground flat before dispatch, with thickness variation consistently under 1.5mm, panel to panel. And no, we do not publish photos of the line.
While others import commodity board, XCEM invents and manufactures in Australia, backed by a management team with over 70 years of combined experience in the construction industry.
2
GENERATIONS OF AUSTRALIAN CONCRETE
$9M+
INVESTED IN AUSTRALIAN PLANT
10YRS
OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
<1.5MM
THICKNESS VARIATION, PANEL TO PANEL
"CONCRETE HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN THE BLOOD. ALPHAFLOOR IS WHAT WE DID WITH IT."
JESSE RAFIDI, FOUNDER
STOCKED BY THE MERCHANTS BUILDERS ALREADY TRUST
Every panel is manufactured at our plant in the Southern Highlands, NSW and delivered through trade outlets across Australia.
