SAGE Automation doubles Tonsley manufacturing capacity, targets AUD$500 million turnover

In November 2025, SAGE Automation doubled its manufacturing capacity at the Tonsley Innovation District with the opening of a new 2200m² facility.

The new Advanced Manufacturing Centre, which will grow to have around 100 employees, features 450m² of office space and 1750m² of dedicated advanced manufacturing capabilities immediately next door to the existing SAGE building under the roof of the MAB.

When the company first moved to Tonsley in 2017, it had annual turnover of $72 million and around 270 staff globally. In 2025 those numbers have now risen to $250 million and 800 staff across Australia and internationally.

SAGE Automation Managing Director Adrian Fahey says the new facility at Tonsley is part of building toward the company’s growth objective of half a billion dollars in revenue.

Adrian Fahey: 

Firstly, Tonsley is a fantastic place to do business. It gives us great access to the skills that we need to grow something like an Advanced Manufacturing Centre. We’ve got TAFE right on our doorstep and Flinders University alongside us. Secondly, putting our second advanced manufacturing centre right next door to the first delivers the efficiencies we need to be competitive on the global market.

What will you produce from your new Advanced Manufacturing Centre?

Adrian Fahey: 

What we’re doing here is integrating control systems, and those systems control pretty much every part of life across industries like transport, water and defence. For example, we’ve just completed the control systems for the Heysen Tunnels, and we hope to be building control systems for the new Torrens to Darling upgrade. We’re building wastewater control systems for national companies here at Tonsley Innovation District. We’re building panels for SAAB that get integrated into warships. So it’s a whole host of applications that use our technology nationally and around the world.

You took a long time in the planning phase before commencing construction. What advantages do you think it will deliver for SAGE?

Adrian Fahey: 

It allows us to vertically integrate so that we’re delivering a program that we are designing and building at the same time. It gives us a speed to market that our competitors don’t have. We’re in control of our supply chain. We’re not relying on a third party again, meaning we can really guarantee that delivery period, which is incredibly important to our customers. It also enables us to control the quality of the work that we do because we’re able to manage it ourselves, which is something you can’t necessarily do at the same level with a third party. Essentially, it means we can be competitive anywhere in the world.

How will this facility be a springboard for your growth?

Adrian Fahey: 

We’re looking to push our business to revenues of half a billion dollars. To achieve that, we need capability and the ability to expand quickly. This new facility helps provides that for us. We’ve also relocated our National Operations Centre into this new space as well, which is important for us to be able to provide 24/7 support for some of the most critical infrastructure projects around the country.

You talk about the international competitiveness of your operations at Tonsley. How have you achieved that?

Adrian Fahey: 

The way we achieve that is we’re heavily automated, not only in terms of our manufacturing here at Tonsley Innovation District but also in the design process as well. So this makes us very competitive. And being in South Australia gives us access to very high skills meaning we’re able to deliver a high quality capability to anywhere around the globe. With this level of automation and expertise, we can compete anywhere in the world.

How important has the relationship between industry, government and education at Tonsley Innovation District been to the growth of SAGE?

Adrian Fahey: 

It’s super important. Having access to both engineering and electrical trades capability by having TAFE and the Flinders University on our doorstep is incredibly important. We take graduates from Flinders, and our own apprentices attend TAFE. And don’t underestimate the power of those that walk past our facility, get excited by what they can see we’re doing and want to speak to us about working here. We partner with quite a number of the companies and there’s a really strong spirit of collaboration between the people at Tonsley. We also get a lot from the government, particularly in terms of the support and recognition of what we do, which is fantastic for us as well.

It’s been a few months since SAGE was acquired by US consulting and engineering firm Tetra Tech. What has that investment brought?

Adrian Fahey:

It’s hard to express just how great the opportunity is for us. We’re already working on projects that we wouldn’t have been aware of as SAGE here in Australia. For example, we are currently bidding a very large transport project for an airport in California. And that’s been achieved even before we’ve fully tapped into Tetra Tech’s capabilities and locations all over the world. So it’s going to be a huge opportunity for us to continue to grow our business in South Australia and Australia to support those opportunities globally.

 How do you think South Australia is viewed globally in terms of our advanced manufacturing abilities?

Adrian Fahey: 

I’m fortunate enough to travel the world and I think we’ve always been well regarded. One of the things worth considering when we are compared with larger countries, let’s say America where their population is so much larger, is they’re often making one product for billions of people. Here most of our manufacturing facilities need to be advanced because we have to make more variants of products. It’s just not a market big enough to satisfy one product line. So I think we we’ve always been quite innovative, and I think we will continue that trajectory and move ahead very quickly.