NEWS
AFTERMARKET COMPANIES RECOGNISED BY AFR A number of AAAA members have been recognised in the 2020 AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies list AAAA members Ryco Filters, Brown & Watson International and AutoGuru feature amongst the Australian Financial Review’s BOSS Most Innovative Companies rankings released for 2020.
Ryco Filters – 5th in manufacturing and consumer goods In 2020 Ryco has been recognised for its groundbreaking Ryco Vehicle Specific Component Kits (RVSK), after making the top three last year for its RCC350 Crankcase Filter. In an industry first, Ryco explains it devised a vehicle specific component kit designed for the dual or single installation of Ryco Fuel Water Separator and Ryco Crankcase assemblies. The convenient kits come supplied with specifically moulded hoses and brackets that are engineered to fit each unique vehicle engine bay. The speciality kits are aimed at rugged utes including the Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, Nissan Navara, Holden Colorado, Mitsubishi Triton, and Toyota’s Hilux and Landcruiser options. “Ryco’s innovative spirit and inherent curiosity about the problems facing our customers has led us to design and develop our own products rather than duplicate existing offerings,” Ryco Filters General Manager Engineering and Innovation, Alastair Hampton, said. “Ryco’s own original equipment products help differentiate the brand and create new markets and segments, contributing to continued growth. “Products like this directly serve the booming ute and SUV segments, and we will continue expanding our range with new vehicle applications and products that draw on more advanced technology.”
Brown & Watson – 8th in manufacturing and consumer goods Brown & Watson International, the company behind leading automotive brands including Narva and Projecta, has been recognised for its innovative Narva VR (Virtual Reality) Driving Light Experience. The VR Experience – which is available on the Narva website (www.narva.com.au) – sees the user seated as a front passenger of a four wheel drive at night, and allows them to select from a variety of LED light bars, LED driving lamps as well as non-LED lighting over three terrain types: highway, dirt road and a four wheel drive track. As well as giving an accurate visual representation of each product’s performance, a narrator provides the key benefits of each light as selected and this is supported by performance data including colour temperature, and Lumen and Lux details to the left of screen. Typically, driving lights are purchased during daylight hours from a retail automotive showroom or online, with buyers rarely having the opportunity to see how the lights would operate in ‘real world’, low visibility conditions. The VR Experience addressed this situation by offering an innovative solution. “As a company we strongly believe that continuous innovation is key to remaining relevant in our industry – buyers of Narva products should know that we won’t be slowing down anytime soon,” Brown & Watson International Chief Operating Officer, Kabel Davis, said.
AutoGuru – 10th in technology For AutoGuru – which states it is Australia’s number one booking site for car servicing and repairs – 2020 marks three consecutive years of recognition in these prestigious rankings. The Gold Coast-based company was recognised for its innovative response during the COVID-19 Pandemic. “I knew (when restrictions were first announced) that we needed to quickly mobilise our network to secure bookings for our members,” AutoGuru Chief Executive Officer, Eden Shirley, said. “Within one week of announced lockdowns, the call went out to see if workshops had mobile vans that they were willing to put on the road, or if they were willing to pick up customers’ cars and bring them back to the workshop to work on. “The response to both call-outs was incredible. We grew our mobile services network 840 percent
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Australian Automotive Aftermarket Magazine November 2020
with a good number of traditional workshops registering a mobile van, and 383 workshops nationally signed up for Valet Servicing. In the weeks that followed during the peak of the pandemic, we saw mobile services account for over 36 percent of bookings which is a huge increase.” AutoGuru says the real innovation happened after AutoGuru significantly scaled its mobility services and realised the needs of mobile suppliers are uniquely different. Due to the limited capacity of individual mobile providers and rapidly scaling demand, the booking platform’s traditional marketplace approach didn’t work at scale. The bookings team was inundated with rescheduling requests and cancellation numbers increased. “We solved that problem by changing the way we presented and booked mobile providers and the results were incredible,” Eden said. The AFR Boss Most Innovative Companies list (previously the BRW Most Innovative Companies list) is now in its ninth year. The list ranks the most innovative organisations in Australia and New Zealand, by industry, and is the only national list of its kind. In 2020, the list comprised of ten industry lists, compiled from over 600 nominations. For more information about the AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies list, please visit www.mostinnovative.com.au
