Bitzer Australia has undergone significant change in the past two years including a restructure, a complete refocus and organisational improvements to reset the business for success.
In a speech delivered at Bitzer’s gala dinner during ARBS, the company’s managing director, Peter Gibson, said Bitzer has evolved and embraced enormous change.
“Bitzer today is not the same company that it was at the last ARBS exhibition just two years ago,” he said.
“Our renewed focus is our priority and I know from your feedback that it is working, that our performance has improved exponentially.
“Part of this renewed focus has involved resetting the clock on key relationships. We have a highly motivated team and our desire to be number one is second to none,” Gibson said.
“The journey has just commenced. In fact, going forward we want to expand our support to the market, to continue to be a technical leader and superior service provider. That means listening to the market and responding both technically and commercially.”
Prior to implementing these changes, Gibson said Bitzer had lost sight of its customers, its core market as well as its competencies and capabilities. He described the company as confused.
“We had lost our focus and it was time to refocus and get back to the core,” Gibson said. “Bitzer had a dominant position as the premier total systems supplier in Australia but we broke the business model. Our advantage was our leadership position for both compressors and heat exchangers.
“But as one component of the business model weakened we lost our competitive edge and lost our way.
“This is why it was critical for Bitzer Australia to refocus and to take our position back and that’s what we have been busy doing over the last two years.”
Gibson said the change began with “our people.”
“For many years Bitzer Australia was spoilt with the greatest in new and innovative market leading products from our parent company in Germany,” he said.
“To succeed, we needed highly motivated, technical and commercially capable people. Our customers demand best-in-class service with a high technical capability.
“To deliver on that promise we needed the right people, and that is how we secured our competitive advantage again.”
Management changes have included appointing Shannon Egan to the role of national sales manager while Rene Le Miere returned to Sydney as marketing manager.
Former sales engineer Daniel Stattmann now leads the NSW team as state manager and Chris Georgeson is in the role of South Australian state manager.
As part of the total rebuild of Western Australia last year, Clint Atkins was appointed state manager and is supported by new Bitzer employees - sales engineers, John O’Rielly and Alex Makerein.
The engineering manager for the heat exchange business is Edmund Tutty while Alan Xiao is the senior engineer overseeing compressor systems.
To further expand on the company’s promise to deliver the highest technical support in the market, David West has been appointed to the newly created position of electrical controls engineer. This position will support the development and rollout of Bitzer’s newest technology from Germany and in its locally designed and manufactured systems.
In addition to organisational changes, Bitzer Australia has strengthened its position as a local manufacturer.
Bitzer has been producing refrigeration systems in Australia for over 50 years.
“If you have been to our St Marys production facility in the past 18 months, you would have noticed significant change,” Gibson said.
“To be sustainable in manufacturing you must embrace change and have the ability to develop and supply products with a high level of value added content.
“We can customise products to meet local market requirements. What sets Bitzer Australia apart from the competition is our ability to support the specific needs of the Australian market.
“The high level of value added content we provide cannot be offered to specification by firms who produce offshore.”
Gibson said the best quality products in any market in the world must be built in world class production facilities.
“Our operations consistently produce products of the highest quality and reliability, every single time,” he said.
“Our production facilities employ process standardisation and we utilise just-in-time manufacturing. But just as important is our uncompromising and absolute commitment to quality.
“To achieve all of this requires significant investment in people and process including an investment in training, new talent acquisition, processes, plant and equipment and of course, product.”
Full coverage of the ARBS Exhibition 2014 appears in the July edition of Climate Control News magazine.