NCI commenced metal decorating with the first metal decorating oven to be built in Australia under licence from the US based Wagner coupled to a Wagner coating machine .
The oven was constructed by Alan Pitman and Jack de Chene in 1958 and was followed by a second oven in 1959.
A Crabtree “Marquess” lithographic printing press, was installed at North Fitzroy in November 1959 and carried a “Royal” brass plate, noting the fact that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh saw it in action on a visit to the Crabtree factory during the previous year.
