Oil filter manufacturer Winchester Global is scouting for further international opportunities after director Colin Rynbeck secured a number of orders from Malaysia during a recent visit.
Oil filter manufacturer Winchester Global is scouting for further international opportunities after director Colin Rynbeck secured a number of orders from Malaysia during a recent visit.
The Perth-based company already claims to have captured about 14 per cent of Australia’s marine fleet market for its high-performance ProtxL oil filter.
Developed over the past eight years by Mr Rynbeck, the company now boasts performance figures for the ProtxL that have received testimonials from some of Australia’s most profitable companies, including the MG Kailis Group, which uses the product in its fleet of 69 trawlers.
The filter improves on standard filters, which typically require changing of oil after 150 hours of service, according to Winchester director Philip Wheatley, who joined Mr Rynbeck five years ago with a background in commercialisation.
The ProtxL filter’s major selling point is that oil can last up to 5,000 hours before it needs changing.
The company currently manufactures the filters at its Willetton premises, and in Malaysia, Indonesia and South Africa to service those markets. There are plans to manufacture and market in Europe, where environmental legislation has primed the market for ProtxL, according to Mr Wheatley.
But Winchester has not limited itself to the marine industry.
The product can be applied wherever oil is used as a lubricant, and therefore oil contamination is possible.
One use of ProtxL has been in power stations, with Winchester currently supplying filters to a major Malaysian power generation company for its $100 million turbines.
Standard filters can run up maintenance costs worth about $1.5 million a year for the turbines, but Winchester’s filters have delivered a substantial saving to that company, Mr Wheatley said.
“They [the major Malaysian power generation company] were so blown away by the results, they sent a team to have a closer look,” he said.
During his recent visit to Malaysia Mr Rynbeck made a presentation at an oil and gas exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, resulting in “significant orders”.
Among the company’s local clients is the Rottnest Island power station. Winchester will look to further exploit the power station market in the next two years.
The company has deliberately taken a low-key approach to mainstream advertising, believing the market is largely conditioned to standard oil filters.
In fact, the product’s performance is the only marketing tool Winchester needs, it seems, with a strategy that often involves a direct approach to potential clients to explain the benefits.
A major selling point of the product, Mr Wheatley said, is the fact it won’t void warranties.
Offshore, the company holds patents over its ProtxL range in several countries, but finding the right distributors has been a challenge.
“It took two years to reach a point where we were comfortable in Indonesia,” Mr Wheatley said.
Winchester has no plans to raise external capital, with joint ventures currently working well overseas, according to Mr Wheatley.
