It was while working as a spare parts interpreter that Dennis Bozic recognised the potential for a new product that could make his job a great deal easier.
It was while working as a spare parts interpreter that Dennis Bozic recognised the potential for a new product that could make his job a great deal easier.
He shared the concept with his cousin and future business partner Frank Dobra, and the two men then set about developing what would ultimately become the ‘unicoil’.
With a range of automotive applications, the unicoil is a stainless steel coil with a malleable spine, which enables the user to bend straight hoses up to 90 degrees.
While still working full-time, the two worked on the design of the product, making their way through a number of prototypes before settling on the final design.
Three years later, in 2002, after rigorous testing and market research, the product was brought to market, and the company, Unicoil International Pty Ltd, was launched.
With the two founding partners sharing the financial burden, the decision was made to outsource the manufacturing, which required no capital outlay for the immediate commencement of production and provide a readily available workforce.
“We thought about having [production] staff here, but we weren’t really in a financial position to do it,” Mr Bozic said.
“By outsourcing, we didn’t have any set-up costs and we could start production without outlaying a cent.”
Mr Bozic, who undertakes monthly trips to the company’s manufacturing facility in India, said the operation ran smoothly in his absence due to good management and the provision of an independent quality control division.
The company has since invested almost $150,000 into the purchase of machinery for the facility.
“It’s a good system. We’ve had 100 per cent quality compliance. We’ve sold around two million coils and never had single return or complaint,” Mr Bozic said.
Another early consideration for the company was to protect its product by securing global patents.
With patents now granted in the US, China, Australia and New Zealand, and further international patents pending, Mr Bozic said it was important to protect the technology in key markets.
But the patent process was long and costly, with each application taking anywhere between two to five years.
The legal cost associated with patents was a major source of capital outlay in the early stages, adding up to almost $80,000 in the first year alone.
But the major turning point for the company came in July 2004 with the arrival of a major investor, and now chairman of the board, Ray Della-Polina.
Mr Della-Polina, founder of the Marlows automotive retail chain, came on board as a 25 per cent shareholder and brought with him the industry knowledge and experience needed to launch the product internationally.
“Ray came on board with a great deal of knowledge. He’s got over 30 years’ experience in the worldwide market, so we were able to draw on that knowledge,” Mr Bozic said.
The company started exhibiting at numerous trade shows, including Automechanika in Germany in 2004, and at APPEX in Las Vegas, where the unicoil won Popular Mechanics magazine’s editor’s choice award.
Their appearance at the trade shows, along with Mr Della-Polina’s international network of contacts, secured Unicoil distribution deals with major US automotive groups Gates USA and Goodyear, encorporating in excess of 14,000 stores in the US.
Its involvement in the Gates network also drew in retail stores in Canada and Australia, with South Africa and Europe pending.
“They weren’t running to grab it – we had to convince them,” Mr Bozic said.
“By promoting at the trade shows, the customers of the major distributors were telling them about our product.”
All up, Mr Bozic estimates the total capital invested by the two founders and their chairman to take the product from initial conception to launching the product internationally was between $300,000 and $350,000. But, he believes, the investment has paid off and will continue to do so.
After selling just more than one million coils in 2005-06, realising a turnover of $2.24 million, the company is forecasting sales of 1.5 million units in 2006-07, on the back of strong US sales.
