Manufacturing Ascent
Local development
Stairs lights designed and manufactured by Miles Nelson
(Click to enlarge)
Surviving against the surge of cheap imports has been a challenge, says the company's managing director Brenton Lee. Lee's grandfather founded the company. The key to continuing the tradition, Lee believes, will be innovation. Constant movement on the product front. Continuous development of products nobody else has thought to make. In a word: ideas.
"Developing something different is the only way a New Zealand manufacturer has any chance of survival. Anyone can go to China, source a product and put it on their shelf back in New Zealand - we need to be developing and establishing our own products."
The company recently launched a staircase handrail bracket; both here and in Australia. There's nothing new in that, but what differentiates the "Lumos" bracket from the welter of other brackets on the market is that it comes with a built-in LED lamp. Concealing lights in the railing brackets removes the need for low level stairwell lights and, because the lamps can be wired to run on battery supply during a power failure, they can serve as emergency lighting.
"We wanted a radical product that would provide enhanced benefits. For building developers, the two-in-one product cuts down on installation and labour costs as it is pre-wired. For homeowners, the LED system is very efficient and costs virtually nothing to run."
The target market is private homes and commercial buildings, such as rest homes. Lee hopes the bracket will sell well here and offshore. Feedback from the architects and designers the company consulted during product development had been positive, but Lee cautions it will take some months for the new staircase system to take off because it needs to be included in the design stage of a building project rather than being added as a finishing touch.
