Page 34 - Climate Control News Magazine May 2019

Cost of Doing Nothing
Keep promises and keep it simple
THE COST OF doing nothing in both Australia and New Zealand is life changing, according to ebm-papst managing director A/NZ, Simon Bradwell.
While the Australian market has expanded over many years, which is largely due to net mi- gration, Bradwell said moving forward has been challenging because local manufacturing has ei- ther closed down or moved offshore.
Over this period he said a high Australian dol- lar has seen net imports increase and local man- ufacturing become less competitive.
“In order to compete we have to do some- thing different. This is why the first agenda item for all our leadership team meetings is: what do we do well and what can we do to im- prove?” Bradwell said.
“This is born from our need to always move forward to ensure that we meet our customers’ expectations.
“This is difficult as the market is always turbu- lent and competitive and therefore the expecta- tions of the market and hence our customers drive us to continually climb the ladder of im- provement.”
So what sets ebm-papst apart from the rest of the market?
“Our people set us apart. We have always strived to be people that people want to do business with both professionally and per- sonally,” he said.
“In order to do this we have to know what we are doing and then act with integrity. Acting with integrity to us means keeping our promises, just like our parents taught us.
“However, we cannot keep our promises all the time because life is unpredictable so when this happens its important to still strive to do your best.
“ACTING WITH INTEGRITY TO US MEANS KEEPING OUR PROMISES, JUST LIKE OUR PARENTS TAUGHT US.”
– SIMON BRADWELL
“I’m sorry we were unable to achieve X, but we can do Y.”
Bradwell said its best to be straight forward and to always keep it simple.
In today's changing market, he said busi- ness leaders have to be open to not knowing the answers.
“I believe command and control does not work for the emerging generations and trust is need- ed,” Bradwell said.
“Trust is there to ensure colleagues can be cre-
ative and take responsibility but trust also has to be there so everyone knows that if things go wrong, which they do, that everything will be okay and put right.
“We truly only learn from making mistakes and it is okay for us to do that.
“Good leaders allow their colleagues to make mistakes and let everyone contribute to finding a solution. It allows everyone to learn and do bet- ter next time.”
Bradwell said there has been significant change since the 2008 economic downturn.
“It was former Prime Minister, John How- ard, who introduced the push for energy effi- ciency and market transformation,” he said.
“Government lease agreements, NABERS, Green Star and increasing electricity costs have all contributed to a new way of thinking.
“This new way of thinking has allowed engi- neers to be creative and make products and sys- tems to meet this new opportunity.
“New National Construction Codes for 2019 are pushing these boundaries further and it is incumbent upon us to make sure we create a sustainable industry and community for us all to live in.”
Bradwell said ebm-papst ANZ has gone through major changes over the last decade.
“Firstly, we have tripled in business size. This has been driven by the local team who are all qualified professionals – engineers, operations,
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