KEY POINTS:
Increased airport security since 9/11 has delivered business success for Kenneth Allen Stevens, the airport baggage system engineer, manufacturer and exporter who has taken one of the highest awards for a business leader in the 2008 New Year Honours.
Stevens is made a distinguished companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his work as founder, owner and chairman of Auckland-based Glidepath. The company has operations in Latin America, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas and Kunshan, near Shanghai, and offices in Sydney, Vancouver, Toronto, Dubai, Santiago and Diago.
Glidepath's 190 staff members handle passenger baggage and cargo software control systems, parcel sorting pedestrian conveyors and security systems. Ninety five per cent of production from its Auckland operation is exported.
Success has seen Stevens appointed Business Champion for Export Year 2007 and he has focused attention on the manufacturing exports that have been moving overseas.
In making him a distinguished companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, the Government said Stevens had dedicated a significant amount of his own time and funding to promote the importance of New Zealand business.
The 63-year-old export leader said manufacturing exports were needed to retain talented young people in this country and improve wages to attract talent back from overseas.
"I am passionate about New Zealand and its trading future because I want something for my grandkids," he said.
"I became involved in export promotion because I could see a lot of manufacturing jobs slipping away offshore. We have to arrest that. We have a good education system and a good people [but] we do not have the critical mass to keep them here with higher wages."
Far flung New Zealand is not the obvious base for a company servicing the world's airports. But Glidepath has established a reputation for simplicity and easy maintenance.
The company made its first export to American Samoa in 1978 before establishing an Australia office the following year and setting up a US office in 1983.
The former general engineer had focused on baggage and cargo handling and gone looking for markets rather than becoming a "jack of all trades".
Stevens entered the business in 1972 with a one-off project for Air New Zealand at Auckland Airport and 35 years later has travelled almost 5 million kilometres on projects.
"Travel and airports seemed pretty exciting back then, though it's pretty mundane now," says Stevens.
Glidepath installs systems at airports in Australasia, including all New Zealand airports. Their 451 projects also cover 100 airports in the US, including Dallas Fort Worth, in Texas, and a terminal at JFK airport, in New York.
He say that the company's initial growth phase was during the change to jumbo jets and more recently the airports' upgraded baggage systems offering better security.
Stevens was overseas for 105 days last year and inevitably he has been parted with his luggage during that time. But he never worries.
"You never actually lose baggage, sometimes it trails you." He said that internationally there was a trend for shorter stopovers, which put pressure on baggage handling systems to have a fast turnaround.
Stevens said the company was one of three similar companies that operated in the market in the Asia Pacific region.
In March Glidepath won its biggest Middle East deal to date - a US$12 million ($15.53 million) contract to supply baggage handling systems for an airport refurbishment in Jeddah.
The company joined a New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Middle East Beachhead programme in 2006 and was one of seven businesses to operate from a special zone in Dubai, where foreign companies could work without the need for 51 per cent local ownership. The company said at the time that having a local presence was crucial in beating competitors.
*KEN STEVENS
Age 63.
Founded Glidepath in 1972.
Products include baggage handling, software control systems, cargo handling, parcel sorting, pedestrian conveyors and security systems.
Has done 451 projects in 55 countries.
Business Champion for Export Year 2007
