It’s never been a more challenging time for Australian manufacturing yet there is one area of the market that is experiencing impressive growth, and that’s the manufacture of evaporative coolers and gas ducted heaters.
One of these success stories is local air conditioning manufacturer Climate Technologies, which has been on a path of expansion since acquiring the Bradflo and Dadanco businesses.
Since the acquisition, Climate Technologies owner Ted Celi, said the focus has been on integrating the new businesses into the company’s operational structure.
By his own admission, this has been a time consuming exercise but finally, operations are now heading in the right direction.
Celi has a lot of faith in local manufacturing and is optimistic about Australia’s future.
He demonstrated his commitment to the local market just recently with the launch of a new state of the art facility in Brisbane.
The 3,500 square metre facility is being used to house millions of dollars in plant and equipment and is just the beginning of an aggressive investment program planned throughout 2014.
Celi’s vision is to “build a true HVAC, all-Australian enterprise with the best iconic Australian brand names such as Bonaire, Celair, Pyrox, Bradflo and Dadanco.”
His investment also includes people with Celi busy recruiting some of the most successful and experienced players in the industry.
The first of these appointments was Mike Francis, who has been appointed national sales and marketing manager.
Francis has a successful track record in similar roles with Mobil Oil, Origin Energy and Seeley International and his focus will be on the growth of the Bonaire brand, capitalising on the synergies offered by products in both the Bradflo and Dadanco businesses.
Another high profile appointment is Ian Firman, formerly of the Polyaire Group.
Firman has a long track record in the industry having spent more than a decade with Seeley International.
His role at Climate Technologies is to manage the commercial evaporative arm of the business overseeing sales in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Firman will also be heavily involved in product development.
Other recent appointments include Kent Davey and Andrew Riddle, enhancing the Victorian sales team.
Davey, formerly of Daikin, has also managed an air conditioning and heating dealership in Melbourne.
Another key focus of the Climate Technologies management team has been to implement programs to improve customer service levels and to be more accountable with the introduction of tough new KPI’s.
This has led to the establishment of a world class service and spare parts call centre.
It was established by merging Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth based service call centres into one Super Call Centre in Adelaide.
The call centre, which manages all spare parts and service nationally, has implemented new technology to reduce waiting times when logging service calls and making spare parts enquiries.
It officially opened in January and is being managed by new national service manager, Ian Winneke, formerly of Rheem.
The next step in the company’s expansion plans is to establish a Dealer Technical Support Department and the focus will be on excellence in customer support.
“With the new team and clear focus on improving customer service and support, the future for Climate Technologies looks bright,” Celi said.
“Our experienced teams have set ambitious goals that are already paying dividends including strong growth in evaporative cooling sales, a number of new customers and many old customers returning to the fold.”