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INDUSTRY in FOCUS
HIRE AND RENTAL NEWS • AUGUST 2015
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Q: How long have you been in the
hire industry?
A: I was born into hire being a part of
the Kennard’s family, but I have always
enjoyed designing and inventing products
and have focused my working life around
that since leaving uni (where Rory studied
mechanical engineering).
Q: What do you love/hate about the
hire industry?
A: I love products are being utilised as
much as they can be; that the industry
gets the maximum use out of them and
reuses equipment over and over. That
approach is good for the world.
But I have a love/hate relationship with
the way equipment is treated by the
end user. Certainly that has made me
a better designer and our products are
designed better as a result. If a product
or equipment can withstand the hire
industry, then you know it is well designed
and robust. I love the culture of the hire
industry. It is a successful business culture
and the industry is filled with genuine
and happy people who love to share and
network.
Q: What is Makinex doing now it
wasn’t doing 10 years ago?
A: Makinex has been around for 11 years
now. I have been designing products
since 2004 (previously operating under
the WorkSmart Equipment corporate
brand), but it is only in the past 3-4 years
we have ramped our operations and
begun exporting to international markets,
including in the US and Europe.
We are now focused on selling more
innovative products as well - both here in
Australia and also into overseas markets.
Definitely we have a clear vision of where
we’re going and what we stand for and
that is in making inefficiencies extinct;
that’s what our company name Makinex
means. Any product we buy or sell has to
make the job faster, better and smarter.
Q: Where is the company focusing its
energies for the future?
Our goal is to get 20 products in 20
countries in the next 10 years. We will
be focusing on the higher technology
area, in making technology smarter. I am
interested in mixing robotics with the
construction industry and am thinking
about that a lot right now.
I see the hire industry as having a lot
of scope for bringing new technology
to end user markets because it hires/
reutilises the equipment, maximising its
output and their return on investment.
These days more consumer end products
and equipment are available from big
trade warehouses like Bunnings for far
P
ERSON
of
I
NTEREST
- Rory Kennard
The 2014 winner of Best New Product at the Hire Industry Excellence Awards –
Makinex’s Managing Director Rory Kennard gives us an insight to what is driving
him and Makinex forward and the challenges facing the hire market today.