The company's top-selling product Loadrite is a hand-held device that calculates the weight of the worlds' heaviest loads - concrete, timber, and steel. What started with one man in a shed has become a global company with an appetite for world domination.

By 2005, Actronic Technologies was exporting to over twenty countries and was well established in the United States. The company was growing at 20 percent a year, and having expanded into its own marketing and distribution, planned to triple in size. To meet the aggressive growth targets, fresh approaches were sought. The Design 360 assessment did just that.

The chance to reflect and review was revelatory, says Chief Technology Officer Paul Corder. "We didn't know we had any issues before going into the programme."

The Design 360 team and Actronic investigated its products, brands, internal communications and culture. From the findings, three design integration plans were put in place.

Focus on usability

 The first plan was to act on what the process had identified as the most important facet of their products in the eyes of their customers - usability. It was decided that usability must be made central to the design of all products and services. 

"We really highlight the usability of our offering," says Corder. "From product design to distribution and technical support, we keep the customer's needs front of mind." Usability is not restricted to making gear easy to use.  "We make user-friendly equipment, but to get real value for the customer, you have to design a product that makes the person become more efficient at what they do." 

Communication and a design led culture

Action point two focused on demystifying internal communications, and fostering a design-led culture across the company. As a result key engineering personnel took part in the Design 360 assessment. Plus a new intranet site has been launched to unite the company and its international offices.

"It's a cultural shift," says Corder. "We are trying to bring as much of the organisation along for the ride, and focus on design usability whenever we do anything - whether it's a product, a service, or designing an order form."

Re-branding to bring clarity

The final plan examined the way the company portrayed itself. They found an identity crisis, and confusion among customers and staff about which brand - Actronic or Loadrite - did what. Design company Studio Alexander, delivered a re-branding strategy to bring clarity.

As a result of identity development, Actronic Technologies has a cohesive brand story, consistent communications, and a well-defined brand strategy that distinguishes the corporate brand from its product.    

"Initially we were a NZ manufacturing company, but after buying back the rights to distribute Loadrite, we now position ourselves as a global company with and an international business brand," says Corder.  

Providing design-led solutions

Actronic Technologies is stronger for its investment in the Better By Design 360 assessment. It retains leadership of the US market and has new offices in Europe and China. Closer to home, Loadrite was used in the construction of Sydney's massive harbour tunnels. Though it's hard to improve on a product where payback is just two weeks, the company is dedicated to providing even better design-led solutions to customers at the coal face.

Actronic Technologies designs and manufactures state-of-the-art loading productivity solutions for difficult or tough environments such as quarries, mines and forestry. Its Loadrite product range is considered a global leader, and allows heavy machinery such as wheel loaders and excavators to measure and weigh their loads as they work. Its other key product, Logrite, brings huge productivity gains to the log harvesting industry by assisting foresters to maximise the yield from each tree by selecting optimal log sizes, onsite, anywhere.

Actronic Technologies is based in Auckland with offices in the Australia, USA, China and Holland and its products are exported to over 50 countries.