78 | Key clients important in competitive industry Hennessy Electrical can provide bespoke machining builds for industry, but also concentrates on the servicing and maintenance of existing production-line electrical plant. CONTRACTING Hennessy Electrical Solutions T T Sue Russell “I also make sure I look after some of our key clients, who we have grown strong professional working relationships with through the years. These businesses are very important to us as this is a competitive industry we operate in.” Braden Rassell has been with Hamilton-based Hennessy since 2000, when he joined the industrial electrical service industry after completing an NZCE Qualification at Wintec. In 2006, he bought in as a shareholder and a decade later, in 2016, he became its managing director. Since his time in that leadership role began, the company has gone through a period of growth, with today, employing 50-plus staff, more than doubling its size in the process. “We took over another smaller industrial electrical company and merged their clients with us in 2018. This was a positive strategic move and has helped secure our current position within the market,” Braden explains. Diversifying somewhat to also now include a separate switchboard manufacturing company just made sense. This business is called Industrial Switchboards Limited, known as ISL and was established in 2021. A move to new premises at Earthmover Crescent, on the other side of the railway line from where the company is currently located in Te Rapa, is scheduled to happen in the not too distant future. “We’re really looking forward to this move, as it will afford us much more work space, and car-parking for our service vehicles,” Braden says. Asked whether plans ahead are to move toward servicing other sectors, Braden says they intend to remain focussed on the industrial and manufacturing industries, though there’s a clear intention to grow the customer base over time. Hennessy Electrical can provide bespoke machining builds for industry, but also concentrates on the servicing and maintenance of existing production-line electrical plant. “We undertake a lot of work in the primary sector and have evolved a really positive history in the region.” Braden says they are always on the look-out for suitable candidates and currently have a number of apprentices. Given so much of the work is focussed in the industrial space, Braden says an important responsibility is to ensure staff understand how important site-induction processes are on each site, something electricians working in the residential and commercial zones don’t necessarily have to experience or get exposure to in such an involved way. Braden works alongside his general manager and management team on scoping, pricing and managing jobs, allocating staff to specific sites. By nature, some of their projects are long-term. “I also make sure I look after some of our key clients, who we have grown strong professional working relationships with through the years. These businesses are very important to us as this is a competitive industry we operate in.” A current project Hennessy is undertaking is working with Metecno (a united industries company), which is setting up a production facility in Te Rapa to assemble roofing/wall panels, which have a layer of PIR insulation built into them. It is then sheeted on either side with roofing material. This can be manufactured to any length, colour etc. as part of the process, and will improve the thermal characteristics of new-build industrial buildings going forward. The move into new premises is two-staged, with ISL moving first in early 2025, followed by the main Hennessy building during 2025 and the team shifting in early 2026. Braden says as far as people skills are concerned, he is interested in employing people that are self-motivated and have a good inquisitive nature. “In this industry, wanting to problem- solve and understand what the situation is, or what the best solution is, is a really important aptitude to possess. People who are interested in engineering principles and are practical in nature are what we are after.”
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