| 17 Richard Loader Pacific Helmets ‘one of the top five brands’ The F20 fire helmet in field trials. Whanganui: Pacific Helmets NZ REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT The genesis for highly successful and innovative Kiwi businesses is often a great need brought about by the dire circumstances of the day, and Whanganui based Pacific Helmets is no exception to the rule. For those of us old enough to remember, the oil shocks of the 1970s resulted in Carless Days, where each vehicle was assigned a specific day of the week when it could not be driven. That gave rise to an upsurge in motorcycle sales, and at the time David Bennett was working for Suzuki New Zealand as an accountant. “We could buy all the motorcycles we could import from Japan, but because of import controls and licensing, helmets could not be imported. So, in 1979 Suzuki New Zealand built a helmet factory to meet the demand.” When Suzuki New Zealand was sold in ’82, David and his wife Marion took the opportunity to buy the helmet factory and commence their journey. “In 1984 we won the tender for the New Zealand Fire Service to design and build structural firefighting helmets and we still have that contract. “By the time the stock market crashed in ’87 we had ceased making motorcycle helmets and started looking around the world for other opportunities. “With the help of the New Zealand Trade Office in London, we began to supply the London Fire Brigade with structural helmets. “In the helmet world, I would rank Pacific Helmets as one of the top five brands. We probably make 5%, maybe 10%, of the world’s helmets in the classification of helmets we manufacture.” www.ultralonfoam.com 0800 114 222 | sales@ultralon.co.nz HIGHQUALITY PE AND EVA FOAM MANUFACTURER Proud suppliers to Pacific Helmets NZ The Tasman Tannning Company Ltd Heads Road, PO Box 217, Wanganui 03 349 0595 www.tasmanleathers.co.nz We had some business developing in Australia, but it was when we exhibited at a Trade Show in Germany in 1994 that we found distributors from all sorts of countries interested in our helmets. “We’ve now sold a helmet of one kind or another in about ninety countries. Most years, we’re selling to about 40-45 countries.” From its Australian warehouse, Pacific Helmets delivers helmets throughout Australia every single week of the year except around Christmas. “That’s a very big market because every Australian emergency service buys one or another of our helmets,” says David. “ “We’re the only factory doing what we do in the Southern Hemisphere. “In the helmet world, I would rank Pacific Helmets as one of the top five brands. We probably make 5%, maybe 10%, of the world’s helmets in the classification of helmets we manufacture.” Today, Pacific Helmet’s product range includes firefighting helmets of all types, rescue helmets, paramedic helmets, some paramilitary such as security helmets, and some helmets for farm bike riders. “There are over 100 different shell shapes across the helmet range, but in our finished part numbers there are over 10,000 different finished items, because every helmet of every variation has its own part number. “That level of customisation is part of the secret to our business. We customise to what the end-user wants to the finest degree.” For the last three years the company has been working with another New Zealand company to develop a helmet for people working on high tension powerlines, where there can be 40,000 volts, and subject to an arc flash explosion. “There’s no other helmet designed and made for those purposes in the Southern Hemisphere,” explains David. “Our vision, for all of our products, is to provide a safety product to people, fit for whatever environment they’re having to work in. “The helmet is a vital part of the process by which we protect individuals in all sorts of situations. Bush firefighters get branches fall on them, and structural firefighters get caught in a situation where a fire explodes. “I cannot recall a single instance where anybody has died from an accident while correctly wearing one of our helmets. “That’s the proud part of our vision — that our helmets will protect people in whatever situation they come into.” Perhaps, if it were not for that oil shock and carless days, Pacific Helmets may not have been part of New Zealand’s brand success story. Sometimes, adversity is a wonderful motivator for visionary people.
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