Katalin Csikasz, TechPro Plus

www.techproplus.co.nz

Is your company working on becoming an industry market leader or would you like to have a competitive edge with the product you supply?

TechPro Plus, an Auckland based company could potentially help you with this. Specialising in engineering solutions from product design to manufacturing; we are experts at finding innovative and unique solutions to industry challenges which can increase your chances of becoming a market leader in your industry.

TechPro Plus has been involved in many projects of this nature over the years with two specific projects being of particular significance. The first project involved providing the industry with a reliable in-ground corrosion control solution; with the second using innovative, outside the box design features resulting in a reduction in the installation cost and complexity of telecommunication columns.

In the first project the solution was specified by local and government authorities as a preferred solution, giving the manufacturing company a competitive edge.

With the second project, the, innovative design solutions were accepted as the standard industry design and were subsequently used by all telecommunication companies in their major rollouts. This created an industrial design market leader position for the manufacturer and as a bonus provided significant project savings and faster installation for the telecommunication industry. You can read about the second project in more detail in the next edition.

Reliable in ground corrosion solution:
In-ground corrosion is a major industry issue in New Zealand due to our soil, which is either volcanic or has corrosive volcanic traces. This can make in-ground asset protection extremely tricky from a durability point of view as the corrosion could compromise the structural integrity of the item. With no field proven practice available for this application in New Zealand, an industry need for an engineering solution to solve this challenge was recognised and became the catalyst of a major research and development project.

As the Principal Engineer of TechPro Plus I played a pivotal role in this project. We all know, the best way to avoid corrosion is to avoid placing anything in a corrosive environment. Unfortunately in this case, this approach was not practical. The next most effective way to minimise corrosion is to incorporate corrosion prevention into the design, followed by periodic inspections.

The aim was to develop or find a field proven, innovative and cost effective corrosion resistance/ prevention solution for the Industry, which would not only provide the company undertaking the research with a competitive edge and an excellent reputation but ultimately recognition as an industry market leader.

After an extensive world-wide search of available products and applications and thorough New Zealand testing of a number of proposed solutions; what was recommended was an application solution which was a huge success. The final Solution is now specified by local councils and government authorities as their preferred option for corrosion protection.

The company has a competitive market advantage, due to this product application and is perceived as the market leader of in-ground corrosion protection for their industry.

Has your company invested money, time and R&D resources into becoming a market leader? Or do you want to stay ahead of the competition or had an idea which the industry could benefit from?

To take it further consider how your business could benefit from using the following model:

• Identify Industry needs, challenges as well as customer and installer challenges.
• Consider and brainstorm possible solutions, speak to industry associations and/or an industry expert.
• Test the market. Build a theoretical model which will assist you to predict how the market will behave. Is your solution a winner or not viable?
• Protect your solution. If possible, patent, trademark, copyright and most importantly reach confidentiality with all parties involved. You don’t want your competition to find out about your secret project.
• Develop your solution – do your own R&D, employ a company to do it for you or import a suitable product or product application. There are various Government Research and Development Grants available to New Zealand companies.
• Market it
• Lobby
• Reap the benefits. Celebrate, enjoy the recognition and acknowledge the people involved and do it again….

Tech Pro Plus could provide a complete solution from start to finish or manage part of the process; including leading or liaising with your research and development team, with the aim of providing you with a market leading product, solution, or application. We would love to partner with you in exploring opportunities and ways for your company to become a market leader of your industry. www.techproplus.co.nz
Part Two in the next edition – read about how to become an industrial design market leader by using the outside the box, innovative thinking.