I have been in manufacturing marketing for over 20 years working with small businesses helping them get their unique message to the world. I wanted to find out what makes local manufacturers tick. So I decided to have a chat with Dennis Eliopoulos the owner of a manufacturing company called Indrotech. He runs a factory in Hallam and the more I talked to him I found he has a rather unique way of looking at things. For example, he hates bragging about what he does yet he understands a lot about how marketing works. For a marketer that is difficult for me as I have always advocated shout it out loud to let people know what you do. The more I delved into his business philosophy the more I became impressed with his approach. So here we go:
How do you promote Indrotech without telling people about what you do?
If you asked me to talk / brag about something unique about Indrotech, because that’s what you want to do, I wouldn’t state the obvious.
But there is something unique within these four walls here. What is it?
The unique component of what we do (with us for fans in-house) is investing in equipment that will give a better result. I believe that’s playing it smart. And that’s something you do want to be proud of. Because you’re investing in an established company, right? You’re reinvesting the money that you receive from your customers.
So we’re reinvesting that money into better equipment. We’re investing in hydraulic tooling, foot presses, press breaks and rollers to make it a lot more efficient. A lot nicer, therefore better-produced products.
Something that’s folded nicely rather than welded. When you make something you want it done right. For example, we purchased a roller. Rolled steel is better than welded. When you need to have a 90-degree angle, you should fold it in 90 degrees. And it looks better, prettier.
When it comes to balancing we spent a good sum of money to upgrade our software on our balancing machines. The industrial balancing machine always has upgraded software. That’s not cheap! The software comes from Germany, it allows us to achieve that G 2.5 or better on every component that we balance. Whether it’s the fans that we make in-house, fans that come from outside electric motor rotors, compressor blowers or a little test rotor from the Monash University. We can do something as small as 300g up to three tonnes. So that software is upgraded to get a better result. That’s why we reinvest within the company to achieve that.
What will you invest in next?
It’s all about efficiency. We always strive to get a better turnaround time for our customers and produce a better product. We’re not too sure what the next step will be. But we’re going to reinvest probably in the next weak spot. It could be the paint booth.
Paint booth?
You may think a paint booth so what? But I know the paint booth is one of the most important things. It’s all to do with the finishing of the product. If you haven’t painted it properly it will get dust from the air or if there is crap on it, it won’t perform as well and you look like shit. As a business you expect the customers to pay thousands of dollars for a pile of garbage? No. So you get a better finish. It looks professional, professionally finished.
What can you do in your factory?
When it comes to fans not only do we air flow and attribute design. Then select the fan type, design and manufacture all under one roof, but we can paint and do all the machining for our shafts. We do specialised machining for our fans. Like hot shaft seals for hot applications and motor shaft extensions. And just a simple shaft for a fan that’s all done in-house as well. We have a milling machine and two lathes. And we use it a lot. Not only for the fan work but for the drive shaft work as well. We have machinists, fitters, turners. We also have boilermakers, we can spray paint, pretty much anything related.
What makes a good business relationship?
It’s about trust. What we do is complicated and I make it my job to understand fully what our customers want to achieve. A potential customer will decide whether they want to use Indrotech as their fan supplier by trusting us. It’s also the knowledge that we have. Here’s a story, a potential customer rang me not so long ago. I said to him I know about Fans, trust me. He said, “I don’t trust a Hellenes. When they put that Trojan horse into the city and then they slaughtered everybody. I don’t trust a Hellenes, but you gotta respect them for smarts”. We had a good laugh about that. As we talked I explained to him what we needed to do to solve his problem. As I imparted the information I could feel that I was winning his trust. He could have gone elsewhere but he gave us a go. Now he keeps coming back as he now trusts me, and he likes me.
How do you market that trust element Indrotech has?
How do we get this out? It’s hard because our industry does not like people bragging about themselves. We do what we do well I suppose. And I love it. It’s true you need to get your message out there, call it subtle bragging, I think we are similar in that way. So it’s a subtle approach.
It’s actions. Our customers pay us for what we do, I look at this as them investing in our business. So when our customers see that we’re investing their money to make a better product for them, they see that as a commitment to them. I’m not taking their money and buying a boat or yacht or anything for me so I could have a more enjoyable life. I’m investing their money back into Indrotech so they can have a better product. That’s why I’m not a rich man!
Local Manufacturing should always be first!
The more I talked to Dennis the more I understood why he has become so successful in what he does. It is that care and dedication that resonates throughout his personality. Honesty and trust mixed with so much knowledge and understanding of how things work and how his business helps solve the problems his customers have. I listened to him on the phone to a customer while I was there and I could see years of experience and know-how fall into place. There was a sense of “well I trust you Dennis you always get it right” coming down the line.
This is why local manufacturing must always be supported in Australia. If we can harness the experience and dedication that we have in our own backyard, Australia will not need to rely on international factors that affect the larger parts of our economy. It’s when I talk to people like Dennis Eliopoulous from Indrotech I get the feeling that our manufacturing is in a good place.
More interviews to come.
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