Find out what these exporters have to say about the benefits of subscribing to ProjectLink.

     Downer Engineering

     Fitzroy Engineering Group Ltd

     McKenzie & Ridley Ltd

     Hendl & Murray Engineering Ltd

     Ecoglo

     

"ProjectLink would be of significant interest to any New Zealand company exporting products or services to the Pacific - it’s a very good early warning about projects that are coming up."

Dick Moore, Pacific Operations Manager, Downer Engineering

ProjectLink has helped Downer Engineering win about $25 million worth of design, engineering and construction business throughout the Pacific in the past year.

Pacific Operations Manager Dick Moore says Downer Engineering started subscribing to ProjectLink about three years ago. He says the timing coincided with the large construction company getting serious about setting up a permanent location in the Pacific, part of a strategy to grow its business and counter a downturn in major civil engineering work in New Zealand.

"We wanted to make sure that we were up-to-date with everything that was coming up in the Pacific. We use several means of ascertaining what the development potential is in various countries, and ProjectLink is one of those. We don’t want to miss any opportunities.

"ProjectLink has been very useful, pointing out developments that we might have otherwise overlooked. It covers all the areas we’re interested in, like tourism, civil engineering, bridge works, roading and airfields, water treatment plants, waste, pipe lines, wharves.

"There’s also a lot of rumours in the Pacific and we balance those rumours against what New Zealand Trade & Enterprise has heard via ProjectLink."

Mr Moore says Downer Engineering finds the ProjectLink information accurate and up-to-date.

"A lot of the projects we are interested in are drawn out over the long term and they get regularly updated on ProjectLink. We track them through until we get to a stage where the project’s going to proceed then we get in touch with the principals.

"ProjectLink would be of significant interest to any New Zealand company exporting products or services to the Pacific - it’s a very good early warning about projects that are coming up."

With one office in Fiji and plans to set up offices in other countries in the Pacific Rim, Mr Moore says Downer Engineering finds ProjectLink good value for money. He says the company will continue subscribing to ProjectLink to monitor export opportunities throughout the Pacific.

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"ProjectLink provides intelligence and opportunities - then we work hard to follow up those leads. It's certainly a wonderful tool and I fully endorse it."

- Greg Mischefski, Fitzroy Engineering Group Ltd

A heavy engineering company that has survived a prolonged downturn in its industry, Fitzroy Engineering Group Ltd was one of the original subscribers to ProjectLink, using the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise service to help it break into the Australian market.

Based in New Plymouth, Fitzroy manufactures heavy fabrication for use primarily in the energy resource industry. The majority of its business is large, one-off contracts. Last year the company exported $13 million worth of products, with Australia being its priority offshore market.

Greg Mischefski says Fitzroy was looking at entering the Australian market when ProjectLink was introduced in the mid-1990s.

"We decided to subscribe because we thought it could be a useful tool. And it was. It's been very, very useful over the years, giving us an indication of what's happening in Australia and leads for us to follow up. Even when those leads don't result in work, the contacts we make through ProjectLink can produce opportunities down the track that we would never have heard of otherwise."

Mr Mischefski is now based fulltime in Australia to develop relationships with potential clients on a one-to-one basis. But he continues to subscribe to ProjectLink.

"I use it to keep in touch with opportunities that I may be aware of or not - Australia's a big market. It often complements what I'm doing."

He says the fact that Fitzroy continues to subscribe to ProjectLink shows the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise service is value for money.

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"We wanted to have a better chance of competing with the Australians on their home ground - the only way to get that opportunity was to join ProjectLink."

- G. Ridley, Director, McKenzie & Ridley Ltd

An important part of McKenzie & Ridley Ltd's business is manufacturing, selling and servicing boilers under licence for a Canadian company.

The Edgecumbe company started subscribing to ProjectLink several years ago when it decided to "get active" about exporting its boilers, says director G. Ridley.

"We wanted to explore what opportunities there were for our boilers in Australia," he says.

"And we wanted to have a better chance of competing with the Australians on their home ground - the only way to get that opportunity was to join ProjectLink.

"It keeps us in touch with Australia and it's helped us win business. Over the years we've done a lot of big projects."

Ridley & McKenzie now exports millions of dollars worth of boilers to Australia a year.

The company logs on to ProjectLink up to six times a day to see what opportunities have been posted. Prospective jobs are then passed to appropriate people in the company for follow up.

"I've found that ProjectLink has got better over the years. We've now got our spies out there too. It complements what we do ourselves."

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"It was like having someone on the ground in Australia - at the end of the day, ProjectLink helped us win contracts."

- Ron Hendl, Director, Hendl & Murray Engineering Ltd

Hendl & Murray, an export-focused stainless steel fabrication company, signed up to ProjectLink from 'day one' to help it identify opportunities in the Australian market.

Director Ron Hendl says his Hamilton company had been working to develop the Australia market.

"We'd been battling away knocking on doors and we'd made some inroads, but we saw ProjectLink as being able to flag up a lot more opportunities than we could do ourselves - and it did," says Mr Hendl

"It took over the monitoring role. It was like having someone on the ground in Australia and at the end of the day it helped us win contracts.

"Nationwide, we managed to score quite a few jobs for our silos throughout Australia, flagged up by ProjectLink."

Mr Hendl says ProjectLink is an ideal tool for New Zealand companies breaking into the Australian market and to identify on-going opportunities.

"Without a doubt, it's a good investment of your money."

Hendl & Murray has now taken the ProjectLink concept a step further: Along with several other New Zealand export companies it's formed the Stainless Steel Alliance. The Alliance contracts New Zealand Trade & Enterprise to qualify ProjectLink leads to another level, specifically to meet the needs of the member companies.

"Those smaller projects generate good money for ecoglo. We’ve got some very good results from ProjectLink."

Paul Sapsford, Sales Director, ecoglo

ProjectLink provides Christchurch company ecoglo with leads for numerous small but profitable projects throughout Australia.

The Christchurch company makes innovative passive path finding systems – aisle lighting for everything from arenas and stadiums to theatres and schools.

Sales Director Paul Sapsford says ecoglo’s been subscribing to ProjectLink for two years and has had a very good return on its investment.

“We know where the big projects are happening. We use ProjectLink to find out about the smaller projects - opportunities that unless you’re on the ground you’re not going to hear about.”

Mr Sapsford says on average, ecoglo gets two leads a month out of ProjectLink which it follows up on.

“We’ve had some good business out of ProjectLink – move theatres, school developments.

“Those smaller projects generate good money for ecoglo. We’ve got some very good results from ProjectLink.”