KEY POINTS:
The hardest lesson Methven boss Rick Fala learned came in August 1998 when he closed the firm's Dunedin factory, costing 137 people their livelihoods.
It was a baptism of fire for Fala, who had been boss of the shower and tapware maker for less than six months.
"I did that myself personally and understood the hurt that this brought about ... the families that I was impacting on who suddenly had no income," Fala says.
"That lesson of closing down that plant made me want to never be in that position again."
Fala credits mentor and former Methven chief executive Alec Mandis for broadening his view of business.
"As an accountant, I thought people were just headcount; under Alec I realised and learned that people were really people."
He was born and grew up in Wanganui with a love of reading and learning encouraged by his Samoan and Maori parents.
"It was a very stable environment to grow up in as a child.
"There wasn't any alcohol; there was no smoking. So we had this wonderful, safe and incredibly encouraging environment."
Fala has been interviewed for a television programme highlighting successful Maori and has never felt his ethnicity has held him back.
"I cannot think of one time in my entire working career where the colour of my skin mattered," Fala says. "I believe I've always been judged on the merits of what I've been able to do."
In the future, he would like to offer something back to the community and mentor other people - regardless of their backgrounds.
"We all have this passion to help our country. It's great when you see other Kiwis trying to do it over there, and if you can help or if you can learn, I'm all for it."
Fala started at Wanganui Boys College in 1974 and took accounting studies from day one, continuing at the Taranaki Polytechnic before starting with Ernst & Young in 1983.
However, when he left school he really wanted to become a teacher. But he kept accounting as a fallback "just in case things went pear-shaped". After a year of teacher training, Fala knew it wasn't for him - "so I guess things went pear-shaped" - but his fallback position proved to be the ideal choice.
"The accounting itself - that's quite tough. But ... economics and business really just came so naturally to me."
That natural talent is borne out in Methven's half-year sales ending in September. They jumped 59 per cent in Australia, as total revenue rose 16 per cent at $34.7 million and net profit was up 5 per cent to $3.7 million.
Methven's patented Satinjet shower technology is now being exported to the United States, while Britain presents a significant opportunity because of its similarity to New Zealand's low pressure water-flow conditions.
Fala joined Methven in 1996 as chief financial officer before taking the top post in 1998 and leading a management buyout in 2001, which gave him and four other senior managers 10 per cent each of the business.
The firm - founded in 1886 as an iron and brass foundry - listed on the NZX in 2004 with Fala now holding a stake of about 5.4 per cent. Methven generates about 40 per cent of its business overseas, and strong Australian growth is predicted to continue for the full year.
But the company's international ventures have not always been so successful.
In the early 1990s, Methven entered Australia and bought tapware company Donson, but pulled out in 1995 after the going got too tough.
Meanwhile, the company was operating a forging plant that was making pretty much anything it could sell from golf club heads to yacht winches.
However, the made-for-export products had been marginally priced and struck disaster in 1997 when the US dollar exchange rate spiked and much of the work became unprofitable.
Methven's first export drive ended in failure, but lessons were learned.
"Because they'd been chasing the export dream with all these other bits and pieces, they'd forgotten a lot about their home markets. We brought them quickly back, and it was just in time, too," Fala says.
The company had almost lost its relationship with its core local customers.
Fala always wanted to take the company back overseas, but the next time it would be done with in-house design, high-margin products and with both feet firmly planted on solid foundations.
"In the early 90s it used to be the export customers that got the preference, but now we make sure that our New Zealand customers are first up in terms of product supply," Fala says.
"We'll never make that mistake again."
Methven re-entered Australia in 2001, and since its New Zealand launch in 2004, Satinjet has become a key driver for the business.
"This year you'll start to see some products other than Satinjet that will come out that we believe make a difference in terms of the way people use bath taps."
Global interest in sustainability, including in the US, has played into Methven's hands, Fala says.
Satinjet technology - in which streams of water collide just outside the shower head to create a dense, wide spray - can result in 40 per cent less water use, he says.
Environmental awareness is a key value of the business - along with Kiwi ingenuity and not compromising on design - and may be increased in future campaigns.
During the past few years Methven has been sending more manufacturing work to China, but saving money was a secondary consideration, he says.
"If we're able to get the growth that we want firstly in Australia and the US and then the UK, we need to make sure that we have a production capability to do that."
The company employs about 150 people in New Zealand, mostly in Auckland, which as the key design facility will focus on first-off production runs to prove products and markets before transfer to China for large-scale manufacturing.
The plans for the business have never been kept secret from staff, Fala says.
"I think that's the key. You've got to bring them in, you've got to show them the vision."
And the vision comes from the team, not just from the boss, he says.
"It's getting together a group of talented people who are really passionate about what they want to do, and getting them all aligned," he says.
"It can't be Rick Fala's idea. It truly must be shared."
Fala won't push exports at the expense of the domestic market; similarly, he reminds staff not to push work at the expense of home life.
"When I get people that are balanced, then the performance they give to Methven is absolutely on the money," he says.
Fala himself switches off by relaxing with his family, working out at the gym and composing music on his guitar.
"My time at Methven, sometimes you feel like your head's just above water - but it's fun, it's bloody fun."
Rick Fala Methven Chief Executive
* Age: 46.
* Family: Married, two children.
* Home: Auckland.
* Education: Taranaki Polytechnic, Wanganui Boys' College.
* Career:
1983-1990: Assistant manager, Ernst & Young.
1990-1996: Senior accountant, McKechnie.
1996-1998: Chief financial officer, Methven.
