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PLUMBING CONNECTION
AUTUMN 2015
M
aking a big business decision, such as finding a
prospective buyer to take a company into a new
direction, does not happen overnight; however, in
2014, the GWA Board completed a strategic review of the
business. The review concluded that GWA’s focus should be
on the core Caroma business and as Simon explains, it was
the right move.
“In contrast to what can often be the case when a
business changes owners, the staff and management
team were very understanding and in fact supportive of the
decision.
“GWA had been great owners since they took over the
business from Hardies in 1997, but there hadn’t been
much focus on the Dux business in recent times. When
you’ve got a stable of brands like Caroma, Dorf, Clark etc.,
it’s understandable. I think the staff at Dux and GWA both
thought it was the right call.”
There was no shortage of prospective buyers either,
thanks to the brand’s rich history and proven reputation.
“There aren’t too many manufacturing businesses in
Australia with a 100 year-old heritage and operating out of
a brand new $24m factory. Dux is a strong trade brand with
a quality product and some deep customer relationships, so
there was incredible interest both in Australia and overseas.
There were plenty of companies interested in buying the Dux
business both in Australia and from overseas, but ultimately
Noritz won out.”
Noritz is a serious global player in hot water. They were
established in 1951 and have operations in Japan, Brazil,
China, Hong Kong, USA and now Australia.
“Last year, globally they sold in excess of 2 million water
heaters with sales of $2.4billion (AUD). They’ve got nearly
10,000 employees around the world and a clear focus
on water heaters. They have 15 production facilities in 3
countries so for Dux Hot Water the scale of this business is
just enormous,” Simon explains.
As stated in the previous article, Japan dominates the
market for storage and instantaneous heaters and for good
reason too.
“Per capita, Japan is probably the highest user of hot
water in the world. Whereas Australians typically have
showers each day, most Japanese have a bath. For them
its a little luxury and a time to unwind and enjoy ‘the simple
comforts of life’, which is the motto of Noritz in Japan.
Like others, they’ve successfully taken their hot water
technology to the world.”
Noritz is currently in expansion mode with a real focus on
growing their business internationally.
“They thought Dux was a very good fit within the group
and it absolutely appears to be the case. Noritz quickly
realised that continuous flow and commercial hot water had
been weaknesses for Dux, where the core Dux capability
was always in storage tanks. Now that we have one of
the world leaders in continuous flow and commercial hot
water standing behind us, those old weaknesses are new
strengths.”
Simon recently returned from a trip to Japan where he
was given an extensive tour of the Japanese continuous
INDUSTRY MOVEMENTS
WE CAUGHT UP WITH DUX CEO SIMON TERRY TO DISCUSS THE HANDOVER OF DUX FROM GWA TO NORITZ AND
WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE BRAND AND THE HOT WATER MARKET IN AUSTRALIA.
THE NORITZ EFFECT