Silent Achiever
Solving water use dilemmas
What began as a PhD study at the University of Adelaide in 1990 in making the best use of water, is now a world-leading planning and management business.
Ground-breaking research by student Laurie Murphy, supervised by Professors Angus Simpson and Graeme Dandy, was the catalyst for Optimatics starting in 1995.
The company since has become a world leader in the range of innovative and customized water industry solutions.
Chief executive Tim Anderson said it had emerged at exactly the right time and was achieving at least 20 per cent compound growth each year with employee numbers growing by 50 per cent over the past two years.
Mr Anderson said its success was tied to its ability to help solve the massive range of water conservation and management issues.
It has completed 150 optimization studies in Australia, the U.S., Canada, Britain and New Zealand. Mr Anderson said the university's core knowledge was behind the company's initial success. Its continuing association with the university gave it an edge.
Professors Simpson and Dandy own the business, with irrigation systems and water resources consultant John Gransbury, business development manager Peter Radcliffe and U.S. partner Jeff Frey. "We've greatly changed our business from purely consulting to customized software and training as well," Mr Anderson said. "We've also licensed our core software, genetic algorithm, a mathematical formula which is at the core of what we do. The next area we're looking at is to provide solutions through the internet."
Much of its work is with water utilities and irrigation authorities in optimizing water systems.
The Advertiser, Saturday July 17, 2007
