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Auckland company successfully penetrating global markets

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Penetrating global markets is proving highly successful for Auckland company

Auckland, September 17 Teknatool, an Auckland-based company with its origins in manufacturing wood-turning machinery, had always seen expansion into the US market as the way to obtain a larger, global slice of their business.

All the talk of a current financial downturn and expansion challenges has not deterred them from maximizing on the global opportunities available. They realized that if they were to see expansion over the next few years, they would have to look at other developing areas of technology. After considerable research and technological development a market opportunity was found in the new breed of energy-efficient electric motors (DVR).

Due to the global financial downturn, it became apparent that a small company would be able to take advantage of the availability of specialized electronic and engineering skills, discounted rates for premises and the availability of good labour in the United States. This has allowed the company to establish a full US facility, serving North America and Canada.

With this in mind, Roger Latimer, Chairman of Teknatool, plus key US staff were able to meet with the New Zealand Trade Commissioner Vicky Whitlock, and her team in Washington, who provided helpful support in establishing the Regional Office in Florida and ensuring a programme of sustained market growth.

Previously available only to large investors, this assistance to Teknatool is a benefit that has allowed them to establish a foothold in the strong US market-place and grow the business.

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These benefits supported the current international initiatives and strong presence Teknatool has in many countries which achieves an ongoing high profile for the company, their products and the awareness that New Zealand has the ability to produce cutting-edge innovations by forward thinking companies.
 
Part of the core strategy was the investment into the research and development of the innovative DVR Motor, developed by the Teknatool R&D team in New Zealand, with the assistance of Callaghan Innovation.

The DVR Motor is a totally new breed of “intelligent” electric motors that thinks for itself and allows the attached machinery to function in its most effective and productive manner, often with built-in safety features that are not available in traditional motors.

Designed in such a way that it lends itself to a multitude of applications, the DVR motor has a versatility that makes it a technological leader in its field.

Their recent presence at AWFS (Association of Woodworking and Furniture Suppliers) in Las Vegas saw the DVR powered machinery become the ‘must-see’ exhibit in the show and a huge success all round. This resulted in enquiries from many major companies and manufacturers.

Bringing this innovation to a global market has caused a huge amount of interest from a broad spectrum of manufacturers. So much so, that a regional office has been set up in Florida to manage the US requirements and a new European regional office is planned for early 2014.

When Roger Latimer was asked how he attributed Teknatool’s success he replied, “By involving NZTE, we have been able to open doors that previously would not have been accessible to a small NZ company. This is undoubtedly gave us the breakthrough we were looking for and has provided Teknatool with some very positive enquiries from major, worldwide brands stealing a march on the competition and placing us in the enviable position of market leader.”

There are undoubted benefits from these associations and the company is now on-track to show strong financial growth bringing with it the expansion that is in turn providing additional jobs in New Zealand as they build research and development resources.

Nathan Stantiall, Teknatool’s General Manager NZ and Head of R&D, remarked, “The ability to engage in additional research and development, and focus on the DVR technology, proves that we are being taken seriously by some of the big global names. My aim now, is to support the expansion in to the US and develop our new European Offices. What was a single product, is now becoming a versatile Product Range.”

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Robert Folkerth, President of Shopsmith USA (left) and Peter Baker, Global CEO of Teknatool International (right) examine the first DVR motors shipped to Shopsmith manufacturing.

ENDS

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