By CASEY NEILL
A DANDENONG South manufacturer’s caravan breakthrough helped earn it a place in Victoria’s Manufacturing Hall of Fame.
AL-KO International was among seven businesses inducted at this year’s awards ceremony at Crown Casino on Thursday 6 June.
Managing director Sven Mannfolk knew the company was nominated heading into the evening.
“We were half waiting with expectation and half thinking ‘being nominated is good enough’,” he said.
“Everyone’s ecstatic about it.
“It’s not for one person. Everyone can share.”
Mr Mannfolk said AL-KO hadn’t sought awards in the past, but this year accepted requests to put its name forward.
“We want to make the brand better known,” he said.
“It says something to our customers.”
Mr Mannfolk has been with the company for just over 24 years and has seen a lot of change.
“You don’t expect to be CEO for so long,” he said.
“Three to five years is the normal life.
“But the company is very different today and has been different along the way.
“There have been new challenges along the way.”
The leading component manufacturer for recreational vehicle and trailer industries in Australia and New Zealand dates back to 1946.
Hornby Engineering started producing axles in South Melbourne and grew to become the market leader.
In 1988 the German AL-KO Kober Group acquired the company and started a new era.
Following two decades of significant growth, last year AL-KO expanded its facilities at Dandenong South with a purpose-built Recreational Vehicle Technology Centre.
“It’s a leading-edge manufacturing facility. It’s world’s best practice,” Mr Mannfolk said.
It’s enabled AL-KO to evolve its capabilities to include high-tech electronics, resulting in its new electronic stability control (ESC) technology – considered to be the most significant breakthrough in safety ever released for Australian caravans.
“That has really taken the caravan world by storm,” Mr Mannfolk said.
“It makes driving on the road and towing on the road safer so it saves likes.
“It’s something we’re really proud of.”
The AL-KO ESC has a worldwide patent and strong export potential, particularly to the USA.
The company is best-known for its high-quality vehicle technology running gear range including axles, brakes and suspension products.
It is now 10 times the size it was 20 years ago.
“It’s been great to be part of that,” Mr Mannfolk said.
And there’s more growth to come.
“We believe to survive it has to be about being smarted at manufacturing and developing products that are hard to copy,” he said.
The company has a culture of innovation.
“It’s not something you can decide overnight,” he said.
“It’s become part of the genes of the company.”
