| 9 Global demand for TrackGrip products Venture Taranaki: Carac Group REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T T Richard Loader Heather McDonald, John Burling, Yvonne Burling, and Sonia Kiser. Carac Group’s push over the last 18 months now sees TrackGrip sold by 20 retailers through one hundred stores across 20 US states. The last eighteen months have been a breathtaking journey for Eltham-based engineering manufacturer Carac Group, establishing several contract manufacturing facilities in America, along with dedicated warehouses and distribution centres for its world-famous TrackGrip product. Designed and developed by Carac Group in 2010, the TrackGrip range of patented products significantly improve traction, stability and safety on excavators, providing exceptional sideways protection and have been distributed all over the world. Carac Group’s push over the last 18 months now sees TrackGrip sold by twenty retailers through one hundred stores across twenty states throughout America, with a significant upward growth trajectory. “We are being approached daily worldwide by major machinery suppliers and supply chains for our TrackGrip products,” says Carac Group CEO Sonia Kiser, whose parents John and Yvonne Burling founded the innovative business over three decades ago. “We are also working with a team from Gold Rush, a reality programme on Discovery Channel that focuses on gold mining, often in very remote areas and difficult terrains. “They are really big advocates of Carac and want to showcase our TrackGrip products on Discovery Channel. That would be a huge marketing opportunity on its own for us. There would be no better marketing opportunity in the world than this.” No man or business is an island, and Sonia emphasises that Carac Group’s success in the American market has been the result of many players and strong, supportive teamwork. “We contracted international sales experts Apagie to do the market research and validation into America, to enable entry into that very huge and important market. We also worked alongside accounting and business performance specialists Velocite; New Zealand Trade and Enterprise; and Taranaki Chamber of Commerce. “They have all helped with everything from strategy to market research, to funding, to sales. So there has been a team of people and businesses helping us get to where we have got over the last eighteen months. It has been a huge eighteen months with myself having had four trips to the US this year to help set this all up.” The foundation of Carac Group was based on John Burling’s design, development and parts, including our own core products, and products that we contract manufacture for customers worldwide. The automation and state of the art machinery makes us one of the most productive and efficient operations throughout the world. “We do everything in-house and provide an end-to end service to our customers no matter where in the world they may be. We’re quite unique with what we can do here. There have been some jobs in the past where we have been the only ones in the world who could do this.” Sonia also attributes the company’s success to family involvement, the Taranaki team, and says supporting the local community is a core value. “We’re quite unique with what we can do here. There have been some jobs in the past where we have been the only ones in the world who could do this.” patent of a new trailer coupling that was easy to use and stronger than anything else on the market. Since that auspicious beginning, Carac Group’s star has continued to shine, evolving as an innovative end-to-end engineering/manufacturing business with a respected reputation for innovation on the international stage. The award winning Taranaki business has eight state of the art engineering facilities that lead the world with high precision cutting-edge machinery, producing products that are commercialised and marketed globally. Working alongside customers worldwide in research, development, design, and innovation, Carac manufactures quality solutions and products for the automotive, agricultural, construction, oil and gas, marine, engineering and utility industries around the world. “We manufacture over 4500 products and
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