Methven’s luxury turnaround wins Design In Business Award 2008
Luxury shower and tapware manufacturer, Methven Limited, is the major winner of the Design in Business Award 2008, organised by the Designers Institute of New Zealand in association with Better by Design.
The Design in Business Awards, which were presented in Auckland last night (Thursday, September 18), recognise and celebrate New Zealand companies who have strategically used design to achieve commercial success and business growth.
Methven’s recent rapid growth and international success is an inspiring turnaround story. Until ten years ago, the company, which began in Dunedin in 1886, was a traditional tap and bathroom valving products company. However, in 1998 the company decided to change its strategy to concentrate on research and development with the aim of setting up a world class business with New Zealand as its design and engineering hub.
The company, still with headquarters in New Zealand but also bases in Australia and the UK, is now a world leading designer of luxurious proprietary water and energy efficient showerware, tapware, and valving products.
Design strategist and award judge David Walker , said he and fellow judges (Derek Lockwood, Worldwide Director of Design, Saatchi & Saatchi and Nevil Gibson , editor in chief of National Business Review) were looking for a company where design was built into the structure of the business and “infused in every outcome, act and operation.”
The judges said that as well as a track record of growth and exports, Methven was impressive in its communication skills, its brand story and the quality and sophistication of its products. So were many other entrants, but there were extra dimensions which set Methven apart.
Said Walker : “Firstly, Methven has a commitment to research and development as the platform for good design and success. Many companies do have good design, coherent stories and respectable business success. Fewer have a strong commitment to research and development.
“Secondly, Methven has a commitment to sustainable targets. This is especially crucial in products that rely on water supply. True, there are some gestures by NZ companies towards sustainability, but they are often superficial. Here (with Methven) we have the real thing”.
While Methven had already developed core strategies in 1998 for long-term growth, the turning point came in 2005, after the company underwent a Better by Design audit, now called the Design 360 programme.
The design audit recommended that if Methven was to grow its business and product offerings it needed a global design head to lead the way; a stronger brand; and more marketing expertise to launch the company’s products into the highly competitive global marketplace. Methven soon appointed a Design Director, Kent Sneddon – the company now has a design team of 25, compared with two in 1992.
The Methven team then worked to identify gaps so they could develop products for specific markets and set up a “wet lab” so that all products could be tested from a human perspective.
This research led to the development of Satinjet shower technology in 2004, with its water saving capabilities (it uses less than half the water of a conventional showerhead) which made it ideal for the Australian market, where it is now the leading shower brand. Since 2006, the company has developed Maia, the world’s first beauty shower with a Vitamin B filter to eliminate chlorine; the Kiri showerhead, an ultra low flow shower aimed at the hotel market; Kiri tapware, an up-market range to compete with Italian and German manufacturers; the Tahi, a high end Satinjet shower system; and infusions, therapeutic and aromatic formulae delivered through the shower system.
These proprietary technologies have led to Methven winning a number of design awards (including a GOOD DESIGN award for product distinction awarded by Chicago’s Athenaeum Museum in 2005).
Forty per cent of the company’s sales are now offshore and last year the company completed acquisition of UK tapware firm, Deva. In its financial year until March 2008, Methven reported an after tax profit of $9.8 million, up 37 per cent from 2007. Since it listed on the NZX in 2004 the company has had an unbroken record of profit growth.