Evangelists win US converts

By GEORGINA BOND

Fearless marketing has opened big doors for Auckland company Emech Control.

With strong recommendations for its technical valve from New Zealand's biggest meat processing and tanning plants, chief executive Marcel van Dijck and sales and marketing manager David Parkinson set out across the United States in March to door-knock big processing plants.

They returned with $400,000 in potential orders, including from industry giant Tyson, which now specifies the valve for its 165 plants nationwide.

For the eight-strong team at Emech, business is moving quickly. One of Parkinson's favourite sayings sums up their thinking: "It's not for the big to eat the small, but the fast to eat the slow."

The company produces an innovative precision valve that instantly mixes hot and cold water to a preset temperature - and maintains it regardless of fluctuations in inlet pressure.

The simple design involves what is thought to be the world's first industrial ceramic disc valve, closed-loop control electric actuator and patented in-valve sensor.

Van Dijck and Parkinson say the product is revolutionising flow control for food manufacturers and meat processors, who operate within tight parameters for water temperature.

Worldwide, this is strictly regulated, with on-site inspectors halting work if the right temperatures are not maintained.

Traditionally, meeting the criteria required large amounts of energy, water, labour and wastage.

Parkinson says Emech valves improve the control and consistency of temperature and flow, providing savings in energy, water, maintenance and downtime costs.

The valve evolved from a common domestic bathroom complaint - founding engineers Peter Jeromson and Brad Houghton devised an electronic mixing valve to combat the sudden pressure and temperature changes suffered by shower-users when another tap is turned on in the house.

The technology was patented and, in late 1998, an alliance was formed with international shower company American Standard.

Within a year of branching into commercial applications in 2001, Emech had sold valves to 60 per cent of New Zealand's meat processing plants and 70 per cent of tanneries.

Sales grew 400 per cent last year, largely the result of some serious groundwork by Parkinson and also by van Dijck, who joined the company late last year.

On their American roadshow, they travelled almost 6000km in two weeks, visiting 30 packhouses.

Head office in central Auckland, where the valves are assembled, is a long way from the American market, where Emech is competing against some of the largest valve companies in the world.

"We had to look, feel, touch as good as them," says van Dijck.

Emech "Americanised" its brochures and packaging style, and adopted a dotcom website and a US freephone number.

He said fronting up on the doorstep was the key to penetrating the American market.

This type of boldness has characterised the company's marketing strategy, which centres on identifying industries where the valve could add value and pursuing them aggressively.

Parkinson says the company has taken its knowledge of New Zealand's brewing, meat processing and tannery industry, and is replicating it worldwide.

Orders are coming quickly - more than 50 overseas installations have been made in the last year.

Emech has customers in Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Australia and the United States.

As a result of company representatives attending the World Brewing Congress in San Diego in July, the three largest brewers in North America have requested trials in their test facilities.

"We know we have a solution for the entire industry on a global basis," van Dijck says.

Customer advocacy is also a big part of their strategy.

"We're focused to get the key players in our key market segments. Then there's cross-fertilisation as they recommend to other players," he says.

So far in the US, every customer has recommended the valve to other plants.

Van Dijck and Parkinson say this sort of customer verification gives them a real buzz.

Future plans include broadening distribution channels in the US and tapping into new markets in Europe, Australia and Brazil.

Van Dijck says there are also plans to broaden applications in the food industry. He knows the opportunities are huge.

"We're out there evangelising our product. We're taking it globally and we're winning."