Factory opens as Escea sets world gas-fire market alight

Dunedin gas-fire maker Escea is firing on all cylinders, having just opened a new $4 million factory.

While many businesses have spent the last year focusing on riding out the recession and praying for an economic upswing, Escea has opened up a new factory to cope with growing international demand.

"We've been growing at a frightening rate that we can barely keep up with," marketing manager Mark Cowden said. "Every year it's 1000 per cent growth, 500 per cent growth, 200 per cent growth, so it has been really good for us that (in the recession) we didn't go backwards but we did plateau out. "That was good for us because it gave us time to build this new factory; during that time we opened up into the US and British market and we have had a bit of breathing space, but at the moment the figures are starting to ramp up and it looks like there is an acceleration happening again."

Escea was founded seven years ago by managing director Nigel Bamford and partners Garth Milmine and Alan McGregor. Its rise has been meteoric: after two years of planning and design, the company started making its first fires early in 2005. Four years on, it exports to Australia, Canada, US, and Britain, has a staff of between 40 and 50 depending on seasonal demand, and has just had its new Green Island factory opened by deputy Prime Minister Bill English.

Cowden credits Escea's rise to two factors: a worldwide movement away from traditional logfires to more convenient, controllable and clean alternatives, and the firm starting with a fresh template in the design of its fires. "We did a lot of research and development into getting it [fires] right. When we first brought it out, firstly, it had considerably higher output than virtually anything else on the market at the time, and secondly, more importantly, it looked good. At the end of the day, you've got to look at this thing every single day, and that is one of our key drivers, to keep them looking stylish."

Another key to Escea's success is that from day one the firm regarded the world rather than the nation as its marketplace. That means it has not been limited by the vagaries of one market place, and has been able to successfully capitalise on the almost immediate international interest in its products.

Conscious of its distance from the bulk of its customers, Escea has also been careful to ensure its overseas customers have ready access to after-sale service. Cowden said knowing those networks were in place had been a factor in deciding which countries to export to.

"We have a very switched on distributor in Australia for example and they handle that for us. We've had their technical people across, we train them and they go back so there is technical support in that country." Fairfax

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