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Teknatool International manufactures electronic direct drive motors, and woodworking machinery for the consumer/home hobbyist market, under the NOVA brand. We are a truly global company, based in three countries, with sales and warehousing offices in the US, manufacturing facilities in China and the head office based in NZ.
We have been an award winning, leading innovator in our industry for over 30 years, and exporting for over 21 years. Currently we export to over 13 countries worldwide.
Teknatool International’s journey in China is both a story of our development in that market and China’s overall increasing development and sophistication.
We had developed a unique direct drive motor technology in the early 00’s and realized there was a huge potential market for this motor in China. This coupled with the understanding that in order to be a truly global company, we needed to have a strong manufacturing base offshore and closer to their end markets, led us to look for solutions.
From the outset, China was a focus – both for its huge domestic market for Teknatool’s proprietary new motor drives, but also for the advantages that it could bring to Teknatool’s traditional stationary power tool business. China had the ability to make product at good price structures, and had a strong and growing manufacturing infrastructure. These factors, coupled with the knowledge that NZ was negotiating with China on a free trade agreement, gave some certainty that NZ saw great long term potential and future in China.
China manufacturing represented opportunities to make product at good price structures. However it must not be viewed from the single perspective of a low cost labour environment. The core of our strategy was to harmonize the best elements of China with a sophisticated manufacturing system.
From the outset, the directors of the NZ Company wanted to grow the knowledge and skills in the China facility, so that it could eventually be independent of head office in NZ.
“We wanted to set up a Western based manufacturing facility, with the best of Western business, design and manufacturing practices in China – Teknatool China Manufacturing was planned from the beginning to be a highly efficient and highly organized production system, and longer term to develop the design and market know-how internally in China” comments Roger.
From the start, the province of Shandong was short listed as being famous for its manufacturing infrastructure, with many well known manufacturing companies based there, including Haier. This infrastructure was vitally important – not only a strong, well serviced port, but also many of the supporting services and companies that a manufacturing company needs, were already set up in clusters there.
After many visits this was narrowed down further to the city of Qingdao, and Teknatool International and its joint venture partner purchased a newly built manufacturing and office facility in 2005. The company Qingdao Teknatool Fortune Manufacturing Company was formed, with 51/49% shareholding between Teknatool International NZ and Fortune Extendables Inc.
Following the purchase of the 49% shareholding from Fortune Extendables, in late 2006, Qingdao Teknatool Manufacturing Company was formed, 100% owned by Teknatool International Ltd NZ- one of the first companies in our area to use automated computer controlled manufacturing and robots.
Over the years the Teknatool Companies have evolved. In 2011 the China manufacturing operation was acquired by another New Zealand public company.
Teknatool continue to have a strong presence in China through R&D, marketing and operations. In a tribute to the level of quality and manufacturing excellence that China has developed we now work with China companies for our manufacturing and sourcing such is the overall gains in China industrial and technical development.
We continue to make machinery in China sold both there and exported globally. We also manufacture sophisticated digital electronic motors that are used in our products and supplied into customer assembly lines in North America and other countries.
We have some of the staff from our original 2006 company still working for us in our Teknatool China companies and our journey in China has been a very positive experience.
Learn more about Teknatool here.