What is the innovation?
Makinex is an Australian design company who seeks to make a difference on the global construction industry through the provision of truly innovative and high-quality products.
We offer several innovative products that each have an impact on how efficiently and effectively those in the construction industry can do their job.
The innovative leaps we have created have meant the products we sell have limited direct competition and provide our customers with new and efficient ways to get their job done.
Our core product we have had most success with is The Makinex Powered Hand Truck. It is a universal materials handling solution that enables one person to safely lift and load goods weighing up to 140kg (309lbs). It provides a quick and easy alternative to using a forklift or tailgate loader for small loads. A range of attachments are available to lift a variety of materials.
What benefits does it bring?
The Powered Hand Truck (PHT) was developed specifically to solve a problem of employees sustaining lifting injuries and as a result the PHT was developed as a one person lifting aid up to 140kg. The Equipment Hire Industry was the starting point where employees are required to continuously lift and load a variety of equipment on and off trucks, wagons, vans and Utes. The PHT has been and still is a huge success providing safety and autonomy to employees within equipment hire yards.
The Powered Hand Truck was created in response to a customers need to improve inefficiencies in lifting and to reduce the number of back related injuries. Since this customer implemented company wide use of the Powered Hand Truck, they have reported a 32% decrease in back injury related claims as a direct result.
What commercial success and/or benefit to society has it achieved?
The Powered Hand Truck is a commercial success story for Makinex , holding 24% of company sales in 2017 with global sales at $2.2M
The Powered Hand truck is selling in over 8 countries including Australia, UK, USA, New Zealand, China, Japan.
Makinex as a business has seen extensive growth over the last 5 years and we strive to continue this growth by innovating new products and learning to improve and work with the need of the industries we service.The Makinex Powered Hand Truck has won many awards across 3 continents, with the Good Design Award in Australia, Innovation award in UK and industry awards in the USA.
What lessons learnt can you share?
It is easy for businesses to be opportunistic chasing every sale, especially when they are young and need every piece of income they can get. For many years we took on products that didn’t suit our brand and chased markets that were not core.
Once we decided on a 10-year goal and focused on that we’ve said no to many opportunities. This was challenging at first but we’ve become a much better business because of it.
A more recent challenge for Makinex has been managing a huge growth spurt when a video of The Makinex Powered Hand Truck received more than 10 million views on social media (view below). Whilst this was an amazing few weeks the challenges that have followed trying to manage design, production, supply chain and internal company growth have stretched every team member.
As a business we are constantly growing and learning, having people within the business with the same values and enthusiasm for innovation is important and a growing workforce means better policies are needed and a good flow through of new innovative products to sell. We are always looking at how we break into new markets and bring our passion and innovative products to new audiences.