hager B&R – two market leaders in perfect synthesis
By Richard Mead.
This article appeared in Electrical Gems Issue 87, October – November 2008
Hager B&R, the amalgamation of Australia’s largest manufacturer of electrical enclosures with Europe’s leading global installation systems company, has become a dynamic player in the Australian electrical services marketplace. Design awards plus the launch of a new range of innovative products points to an exciting future for this progressive company.
The joint venture, accomplished in 1994, brought together two entrepreneurial family companies with significant histories of design innovation and manufacturing excellence. For 50 years, Hager has been developing products for the wiring accessories markets. Today, Hager is emerging as a global leader in providing complete solutions for electrical installations and offers enclosures, main switchgear, modular protection devices, cable management, wiring accessories and home automation systems.
B&R, a leading enclosures manufacturer with 50 years experience, offers a large range of standard and customised products and services to electrical contractors, electrical wholesalers, data contractors, switchboard builders, OEM’s, mine sites and large industrial clients. Together, the synergy of these two market leaders has created an Australian entity with a wealth of expertise and experience.
Growing Australia
Hager B&R operates 9 state offices and training centres across the country, providing extensive product and sales support and advanced technical training across both brands. The group’s combined manufacturing resources span continents in Europe, Australia and China, with production receiving the highest international standards certification. Product innovation is the mainstay of Hager B&R’s core business objectives, integrating the fast moving world of technology and data into exciting and efficient solutions for electrical systems management. These solutions are inspiring and empowering architects and designers around the world to construct more intuitive automation systems that meet the needs of the modern environment and exceed performance expectations.
“Our aim is to make installation more streamlined and infinitely simpler than traditional systems”
Mark Phillips, General Manager Sales and Marketing Communication, Hager B&R
Demand for Hager B&R products is rapidly growing across mining, industrial and residential markets. The Hager B&R Australian team of nearly 100 will expand throughout this decade to keep pace with the increase in demand.
“The key to Hager B&R’s success in the Australian market is equally shared between our people and the quality products we sell” comments Ben Kramer, CEO. “We have years of extraordinary expertise across management, technical and sales teams. This has enabled the group’s relatively rapid expansion and cemented our place in the Australian marketplace as a trusted partner with our distributor and contractor networks.
Our plans for the future will feature new service and training initiatives which will engage our customers even more with the recent advances in this ever changing, technologically driven market. Releases of new products are also high on our agenda, with exciting new wiring accessory collections arriving from Europe which will not only complement our existing ranges, but will significantly extend our offering into the specifier market,” said Kramer.
B&R Heritage & Innovation
B&R was founded by Dick Bridges in 1955, as a specialist fabricator of enclosures for domestic electrical metering equipment. The company has grown significantly, adding manufacturing facilities and incorporating state of the art design techniques to increase the range, availability, quality, and value of the product lines.
Today, under the direction of Ken Bridges, B&R has grown to be the largest manufacturer of domestic, commercial and industrial enclosures in Australia. Three divisions make up the organisation: B&R Industrial, B&R Domestic Commercial (DC) and B&R Data Systems.
B&R Industrial is responsible for the manufacture and supply of enclosures to the industrial and mining segments. B&R DC services the domestic and commercial segments through the joint venture company, Hager B&R. B&R Data Systems specialises in data centre infrastructure for the ICT market.
Together, these divisions share the strengths, resources and experience of the founding company to provide attentive customer service, innovative design and superior quality products at a competitive price.
B&R Scoops Awards
B&R has won the prestigious AEEMA Award for Global Excellence through Smart Manufacturing and the National Gold Award for Quality for a large business. Both national awards recognise B&R’s ongoing commitment to manufacturing at the highest standards.
B&R Innovation
B&R’s drive for excellence is reflected by its continued investment in the latest design and manufacturing technologies. The head office and world class $25 million manufacturing facility, which has been purpose built to suit B&R’s very specialised workflow, are located in Brisbane. Engineers and designers use the latest 3D computer design systems to develop both standard and customised enclosure solutions. Software calculates the design specifications, maps out the most efficient cutting pattern, and feeds the instructions to the automated inline bending and punching machine.
These machines take the process of selecting, bending and cutting steel onto a single production line, saving processing time, work in progress, space, and logistics costs. The end result is a product manufactured to tight tolerances and in a reliable, repeatable manner.
B&R also uses Quality Management systems complying with ISO9001:2000 to precisely control production, raw materials and process planning, while meeting the stringent requirements of tolerance and quality control. B&R stays on the leading edge of new technologies in order to exceed customers’ expectations of high quality, low cost, and timely delivery.
Hager – a world leader
A key to Hager’s success in the wiring accessories market is the patented rotoloc fitment system, designed to make installation of switch mechanisms quick and easy.
Hager is a leading international manufacturer of domestic and commercial electrical distribution equipment under ISO9001 certification in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and China. Hager products are available under a variety of brands in over 40 countries around the world and the group employs over 6,000 people worldwide.
In Australia, as a part of a joint venture with B&R, Hager offers a full range of modular protection and control devices, enclosures and accessories, creating a complete distribution system for commercial, industrial and residential installations.
Award winning Hager products
The HagerBlu Collection of wiring accessories was released to much fanfare on the Australian and New Zealand markets and was awarded category winner at the Australian Design Awards. A key to Hager’s success in the wiring accessories market is the development of the patented rotoloc fitment system, which is designed to make installation of switch mechanisms quick and easy.
New Hager wiring accessories product launches are planned for late 2008, bringing to Australia more award winning European styling for residential and commercial design.
Hager global installation system
“A thorough system with extremely clever underlying details that is difficult to achieve in such a competitive and mature market”
Australian Design Awards Judging Panel commenting on the Hager system.
Hager has offered world markets a comprehensive Global Installation System that combines all products designed for application ‘in front of the wall’ with those designed for ‘behind the wall’. The result is a combination of modular protection devices, cable management, main switchgear, enclosures, wiring accessories and home automation, which together present a total solution of components required for any installation of electrical devices.
The GIS is at the heart of Hager’s worldwide commitment to raising the technical efficiencies of electrical devices and their service and supply. Hager has developed this co-ordinated approach to electrical systems to better its offering to contractors and distribution networks around the world.
“Our aim is to make installation more streamlined and infinitely simpler than traditional systems” says Mark Phillips, Hager B&R’s General Manager Sales and Marketing Communication. “We need to find the most intuitive ways of constructing our products to ensure ease of installation for contractors around the world. This is an ongoing challenge as technological advances become more and more sophisticated. The task for our designers is to maximise the synergy between components at all times, resulting in a seamless system. This is at the heart of the Hager international Global Installation System and continues to be the driving force of the group’s design and manufacturing objectives.”
Hager – a world leader in training and education
Hager is renowned worldwide for its innovation in electrical training. Considered to offer the benchmark in installation education, Hager continues to develop and evolve its training packages to bring to market the latest in technological advances.
“Training is a key component in our local program” says CEO Ben Kramer. “Hager training is considered the leading education program for contractors and we are very committed to investing heavily in this area. We will launch to market a new Hager accreditation program for installers that will make graduates the most highly trained technicians in Australia and much sought after in the market place.
Our plan will also promote Hager Accredited Installers to Australian homeowners, informing them of the expertise and experience required to install the complex electrical systems now being specified in our homes. Hager Accreditation will become a must for all installers who will also enjoy the high profile support of the Hager brand” says Kramer.
Training facilities exist in all Australian offices with training delivered by a team of experienced facilitators. These highly trained individuals undertake regular educator update programs at the Hager HQ in France, as well as training on local specifications, keeping them up to date with the latest advancement in technology. “Our training is second to none, and it’s only going to get better!” says Kramer.