Australian fan manufacturer Fans Direct has unveiled a new name and image: Pacific HVAC Engineering.
The Melbourne-based business has traded as Fans Direct for the past 14 years, but has a history in local manufacturing going back further to the early 1990s.
The company is a key supplier of ventilation products in the HVAC category as well as the wider construction, mining and manufacturing industries in Australia and New Zealand.
Announcing the new name, managing director Ian Bakos said increased export sales and expansion into complementary equipment such as chillers meant the old name “just didn't fit anymore”.
“We have been known as a fan company for a long time but increasingly we find ourselves working with a wider range of products in diverse situations,” Bakos said.
“The mining boom has led to increased sales of our Chicago Blower equipment here in Australia and in remote locations as far afield as Russia and North America.”
Although operating in a ‘rust belt’ industry, the business has gone against the prevailing trend, growing strongly since the global financial crisis and employing more staff in a wide range of disciplines including engineering and production.
"When the market slowed down in the wake of the GFC, we intensified product development and released dozens of new models,” Bakos said. “Nearly everything we released was designed in-house by our own engineering team.”
This has led to increased employment within the company and in component sub-contractors dotted around Australia and New Zealand.
Bakos said the back story behind the name change centres on the company's decision to expand into chillers.
"In 2011 we saw an opportunity to develop into areas adjacent to our core fans business leveraging off our existing resources and customer relationships,”he said.
Reviewing the global HVAC industry, he said Italian company GI Industrial was chosen as the best fit strategic partner for chillers and packaged air conditioning equipment.
"We rigorously assessed a short list of manufacturers but chose to work with GI Industrial based on the quality of their products and leadership in technical innovation,”Bakos said.
The Clint brand from GI Industrial will now join the established names of Chicago Blower and MacroAir (HVLS fans) in the company's product portfolio. Products in the core range of fans are now grouped under the brand Fans HVAC.
Pacific HVAC Engineering manufactures products in Melbourne and Sydney and employs sales engineers in offices throughout Australia and New Zealand
