World wants Taranaki-made products
A New Plymouth manufacturer says being based in Taranaki is not a disadvantage for regional exporters wanting to reach international markets.
Howard Wright Ltd chief executive Bruce Moller said a move to a bigger centre, such as Auckland, would not necessarily bring more benefits to the company.
The medical sector manufacturer designs and builds innovative hydraulic hospital beds and stretchers from its factory in Bell Block, north of New Plymouth.
Howard Wright is one of about 100 businesses based in Taranaki selling and distributing locally made product to 76 overseas markets.
A survey by regional economic development group, Venture Taranaki, shows locally based manufacturers, like Howard Wright, make up 24 per cent of all exports from the region, followed by food and beverage (18 per cent), energy/engineering, and professional services and retail (14 per cent), agricultural and horticultural (13 per cent), education (10 per cent) and digital (7 per cent).
Moller said Howard Wright had direct sales teams in Australia, its biggest market, and the United Kingdom to be close to its clients. It also had distributors of the company’s specialised products based in Belgium, for the European market, as well as in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The company recently established a local distributor, with a dedicated website, in Russia after four years of negotiations.
It had progressively moved into higher value products, such as stretchers, to maximise returns, Moller said.
Exporting brought a range of challenges, such as time factors involved in transportation, and language differences, but having a sales team close to the market allowed the company to feel the market’s ‘‘pulse’’ better, he said.
‘‘The bed business is very competitive and harder when you are away from the main markets, and the margins for hospital beds are smaller.
‘‘We have a really skilled staff in our Bell Block factory, and we would have higher overheads operating from Auckland.’’
Before the container terminal at Port Taranaki was closed the company shipped product from New Plymouth. It now filled empty containers and trucked them by road to Auckland and Tauranga ports, he said.
‘‘It’s not a significantly bigger cost than shipping out of New Plymouth and lot depends on getting a competitive international shipping rate.
Moller said Venture Taranaki played a valuable role in helping local exporters exchange knowledge with each other to avoid any ‘‘bad experiences’’.
‘‘It’s good to hear from companies who have the scars from past experiences and can offer advice to younger companies,’’ he said.
Venture Taranaki senior business advisor Zara Ryan said the agency’s analysis of Taranaki exporters gave a better understanding of where locally produced exports were going to, and where there was growth.
The agency found Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom were the three most profitable destinations for local exporters while Australia, the United States and China were the top three destinations.
Up to 47 per cent of Taranaki companies used Port of Auckland for exporting product, and 36 per cent used Port Tauranga, while only six per cent exported through Port Taranaki mainly due to the closure of the container terminal at Westgate.
Venture Taranaki had launched an ‘Export Taranaki’ programme from the results and would work with exporters to help address the challenges and opportunities identified in the study, she said.
The focus would be on networking, skills development and training, one-on-one mentoring, and making export information easily accessible.
Ryan said the study, available to all exporters, would be repeated each year to pick up trends and opportunities which can benefit local businesses.