Hayes International Rotorua general manager Nick Looijen, director Wayne Kennedy, HR manager Marion Clarricoats and operations manager John Hornfeck. Photo / Supplied
More than 1500 machines exported to 85 countries in 56 years.
That is Hayes International Rotorua's claim to fame since going global.
Its story comes as businesses become more exposed to international markets after Covid-19 caused many move to online trading.
Hayes International Rotorua general manager Nick Looijen said Hayes Engineering was established in the city by Tom Hayes in 1960.
"Initially, the company manufactured flagon washers, conveyors and sawmilling equipment while also dabbling in fork hoists and parking meter straighteners.
"The motto was: 'We make anything'."
Looijen said when Hayes was asked to make a corrugated iron machine with no previous experience, he took on the task.
"Fifty-six years later Hayes International has exported 1575 machines to 85 countries around the world."
Originally in Karaka St, Hayes Engineering moved to the old Hume Concrete site in Riri St about 1990 and now has 90 staff working in the family-owned Rotorua branch.
Looijen said the American-owned company now has manufacturing businesses in the United States, China, Australia, Italy, and Spain, and sales offices in England, South America, Russia and Turkey.
"We have got a well-established client base that's been with us for a long time in these countries.
"We are all proud to be a Rotorua business that is exporting around the world.
"Just being able to have that global footprint makes us all proud to be a part of this company."
But closed borders and Covid-19 had made it challenging to hire staff, he said.
"Rotorua has a large manufacturing base ... everyone is competing for everyone else.
"We are trying to play the long game and bring on more apprentices because we just can't get staff and we have been busier than ever."
The pandemic had also made it tricky for the company's travelling salespeople and technicians.
"Of course we have had 18 months of not being able to do that.
"We have got equipment that's sitting in Barbados. It's been there for a year and a half and it's unable to be installed."
Then there was parts supply and pricing increases, he said.
"Lead times for parts have gone out tremendously and shipping logistics is seriously affecting our ability to send our equipment around the world.
"It seems to be everywhere you look you have got a roadblock to growth."
But Looijen said the five-year plan was to be able to grow the business by 25 per cent, which he was confident the company would be able to achieve in the future.
"But all the other restrictions are not allowing us to capitalise on that opportunity right now."
Looijen said since the pandemic they have been busier than ever.
"We went through the first lockdown thinking we have to adjust our budget for the year and it was all doom and gloom.
"But it quietened off in the first three months and bang - we started getting record sales months and it continued.
"In December last year, we sold $8.5 million of equipment."
Viv Conway and Jo Cummins' business started in the living room and now it is going global.
Their female-focused sex toy brand Girls Get Off has grown from a conversation over distanced drinks on the driveway during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, to selling overseas.
Viv Conway said it was her business partner Jo Cummins' idea to start Girls Get Off after realising a "massive trend" in conversations around women's pleasure in general.
"As women, we like to have a nice experience and be marketed to.
"It's not like choosing a movie right? You don't necessarily know what you like.
"So we decided to make all the choice out of it and create something that is as normal as buying skincare."
When they launched the business online in March last year, Conway and Cummins set themselves some goals.
"They were pretty ambitious," Conway said. "We have been able to hit most of them which has been pretty exciting."
One of those goals included moving out of Cummins' house.
"She didn't have a lounge room for like four years," Conway said.
"You've always got to reach for the stars. But being realistic at the same time."
Conway said sales have since increased and have grown their "community" to more than 60,000 followers on Instagram and more than 20,000 Facebook group members.
"We initially started trying to get sponsors from Aussie, US and then we thought: 'Let's just dominate New Zealand first, create as many touch points as we can in our target audience and then branch out'.
"So even though we did spread ourselves thin for a second there, we brought it back in and focused on the New Zealand market. Now we are starting to broaden to overseas."
Conway said a little more than 10 per cent of sales was coming from overseas, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia without yet marketing to overseas.
"So our plans to launch into Aussie when we got new toys has been brought forward just because it's time to go to a different market now.
"It is so exciting. It comes back to our overall mission to normalise female pleasure. The more we can get people chatting about that from any corner of the world is great for us."
Their goal for the next five years was to be well established in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
"We also want to be ranged in big wholesalers that align with Girls Get Off."
Conway said being able to build the brand solidly in New Zealand first has set them up with the right foundation to launch properly overseas.
"It has just given us the good street cred to go out and approach the podcast guest, chat to agents, or be taken seriously by influencers and so on."
Manuka Performance co-founder and chief executive Tristan Vine's plans to go global started last year.
His Whakatane-based nutrition company focuses on the Middle East and North American region as well as Australia, the United Kingdom and some select Asian countries.
"Partnering with the right distribution and channel partners is key for us," Vine said.
"For example, we are selling on Amazon in the USA, allowing consumers to easily purchase products, meaning we can drive marketing activity, partnerships and expand into focused bricks and mortar channels, then onto regional and national supply chain."
Vine said he met his co-founder while working on a consulting and entrepreneurial project when he moved back to Whakatane five years ago.
"He already has a successful manuka honey processing facility here. We clicked straight away and put some thought into using manuka honey as a value-added ingredient in the nutraceutical space.
"Some quick market research led us toward sports energy and within just three months we had our first formulation and products to market for consumer testing.
"That was just over two years ago and we have been hustling ever since."
The pair began focusing on the global sports energy market with an all-natural, innovative, science-backed product for athletes.
"Ticking these boxes we are now leveraging this into the massive global health and wellness market."
The pair have expanded their product range, working with Callaghan Innovation to develop new science-backed formulations in line with athlete needs and trends.
"E-commerce is our No.1 Kiwi channel and we are growing resellers and stockists around the country.
"We officially sponsor Tennis New Zealand, Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Netball and the Wellington Saints Basketball among plenty of other amazing Kiwi and International athletes."
Partnering with national sporting bodies has been a business highlight, he said.
"It shows trust and validation for us.
"We also had products used by athletes in the Australian Open ... We also managed to get products into the New Zealand team at the Olympics – no easy feat."
Some of the biggest challenges when dealing with a global market involved "not being the boots on the ground".
"A lot of effort goes into market analysis, regulations for each country, labelling requirements, freight costs and just finding the right people in market to help."
Omicron and Covid-19 was a "double-edged sword", he said.
"It killed all the Kiwi sports events we were looking to leverage, however, through it we sponsored a bunch of online/virtual events, and we took the time to focus on channel partners here in New Zealand and overseas.
"If anything, Covid has increased consumer awareness for natural, healthy products and has built on the already global trends in healthy food and beverage, nutraceuticals and Kiwi-made, healthy manuka honey-based products. It's almost the perfect storm."
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