Contract ices firm’s comeback
Before a Feilding manufacturer scored the coup of building the first of a more durable breed of mobile Antarctic habitat, it had to survive its own harsh years in the wilderness.
Fibreglass Developments earlier this month completed a two-month build of a caravan-like habitat, nicknamed the ‘‘big green box’’, designed to keep researchers safe and comfortable in 200kmh winds and freezing minus 60 degrees Celsius temperatures. Securing the contract from government research agency Antarctica NZ put the icecap on the company’s impressive comeback from the brink of collapse. The company struggled in the wake of the global financial crisis, losing two-thirds of its staff and going into voluntary receivership in 2012. For most businesses that is game over but the company clawed its way out over five years through diversification, client loyalty and sheer grit.
Owner Steve Bond said it felt great to have the company growing again, after it had been whittled down to a core of 24 staff. He had once employed 68.
On top of the Antarctica NZ job, which may lead to future work during a planned rebuild of Scott Base, an ongoing contract with Kiwirail refitting train-cars, has brought stability.
But Bond aims to keep Fibreglass Developments much leaner than before its receivership, to both ensure he is not caught out being so badly overcommitted again, and that his employees’ futures are secure.
‘‘Those were very hard, character-building years ... these guys have been with me through all of it and I want to do right by them like they have by me.’’
Manufacturing truck panels and campervans had been core to the business. When the transport industry slowed significantly after the 2008 global recession, he was forced to cut 27 jobs.
The company rebounded in 2010, diversifying into baths, roof vents and aircraft parts, only to suffer a near crippling blow the following year.
International rivals undercut Fibreglass Developments’ bids on 19 of the 22 scheduled contracts it was depending on. It was forced to enter voluntary receivership to buy time to recover but again at the cost of more jobs.
Bond said all the advice he was getting was to sell it all off and move on but he refused to let the 34-year-old company die without a fight. ‘‘We were determined to trade it out ... There are not many companies that manage that. But we did, and I am proud of that.’’
A few loyal clients stood by the company, as many others turned elsewhere expecting Fibreglass Developments to go broke.
‘‘Which of course we were, if nobody would hire us, it was becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy,’’ Bond said.
A lot of doors closed for the company but its reputation survived thanks to his staff’s loyalty and hard work, he said.
‘‘We cut right down to the bone, cast our net wider and did a lot of small jobs we would not have considered before.
‘‘We dug deep and clawed our way back out [of liquidation in 2017].
‘‘It has been a steady growth for us ever since.’’