Springarm; from prototype to popular product - Marianne Awburn

0:00This is a podcast from Rover. All right, here's a very clever idea that came to light at the Field Day's Innovation Awards back in 2021. We're talking about spring arm, and since that Innovation Award in 2021, it's become a very popular on-farm accessory in water troughs that stopped in farmlands. And we've got one of the founders with us, Mary Ann Orburn, who I understand has been rick came up with this. So we're going to talk about that now. It's lovely to have you all, Mary Ann. How are you? Good, thank you. How are you? I'm very well, very well. So where did the idea for the spring arm come from? Well, it wasn't me. It was my husband's originally. We're just having so many arms break constantly, primarily in the drier parts of the year. And that had been going on for a long time because we had been farming in that same area for a wee while up to nearly 20 years.

1:00And not on the same farm, actually, but that whole area is quite renowned for having a poor water supply. And so basically if an arm broke, and the troughs overflowing, it emptied out tanks, and we just could never catch back up. And then that led to more arms breaking. So that's kind of where the out of frustration, something had to be done. And I believe rick basically stood out in the garage one day and thought, what if they could flex instead of just breaking? And the only thing he could see that could flex was the little spring that holds up the stand on the motorbike. And so that's what he grabbed. And that's how he made the first prototype. Wow, from a motorbike part. That's brilliant. That was really cool. And that was funny. And that's just how he is. He just gets ideas and just has a go. And he spent ideas initially trying to put it all together. That was kind of the challenge.

2:00He was drilling holes through, he was cutting arms into pieces basically. And then drilling holes into it, putting that spring in. And there was just no way we could get it to hold. And anyway, a spring from a motorbike stand was way too flexible. Anyway, so it wasn't working initially. And even if we found some springs that were a bit stronger, we couldn't get them to stick onto the arms. Like we're not professional welders or anything. So we didn't actually realize initially that those two medals don't really stick together that well. So we got some help from some friends. But yeah, welding was never the way to go. So that was kind of the biggest challenge was just getting to a stage where we could use it. So it went through different iterations before you finally came up with the finished design. Definitely, definitely. I mean, I remember I think we welded something like 50 springs onto these little bolts. And we were screwing them onto arms. And we were buying things to make threads onto rods

3:03and all this stuff. And they just kept breaking until we kind of put the spring directly onto the rod. And that seemed to work. And we actually engaged with the company in Hamilton at the time who sort of helped us make that thread work. And at the same time, just when we were getting to that stage, that's when I was started to say, OK, this seems like it can work. But let's actually test it more properly. Because at that stage, record dispensers are buying. Oh, we'll buy one of these springs. And we'll buy one of those springs where initially, you know, eventually I kind of went, OK, let's try it with these five different links and these five different strings. And then see which one is going to truly work. Because yeah, it has to be that perfect balance between strength to cut the water off and then flexibility to make it all last. Yeah, so you brought a bit of order to the chaos. Oh, I think he would agree, actually, yes. Because, you know, he's an inventor, so he's creative,

4:03but perhaps not structured. Yeah, well, it's a good partnership then. So how do they work exactly? Well, so the arm, the head was the other part of it where that's universal so that can fit into anything pretty much that's out there, typically on the market in New Zealand. So you can just put it in like a normal arm into the ballcock, replace the arm. There's a spring bit that allows it to flex so that it doesn't break when it gets pushed to the side. And if you compare normal arm to our arm, you can sort of bend it about six times and then it will snap where we've tested our arm up to sort of 25,000. We had a machine doing that. That was not a person. It's going to take a while. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, so that obviously lasts a whole lot longer.

5:04And not just the arm itself, but also the ballcock, whether it's a little tape that kind of goes out and holds on to the arm, that's also protected a bit in a sense that the arm flexors, not the ballcock. So infinitely better than what people had to deal with beforehand? Well, I think so. And we've had them installed on our farm now since basically a year before we launched, we started installing them into our troughs. So that's about six, seven years ago now, and we have had no issues with them at all. And to the point also where the ones that we sell, we don't really advertise it, but we do replace broken arms. As long as we get an image of the broken arm, or preferably we get the actual arm sent in, because we like to study it and see where, why it might have broken. But we haven't had many of those. So people just take it back to their store. Where were they bought it and if they had one?

6:05So what did winning that field day's innovation award mean for the progress of this product and the business as a whole? It was amazing. It meant such a big difference for us. Initially, we just did it because there was a cheap way of getting a site at the field days, because they can be quite expensive. And I don't actually know what they are now, but I think they were like a grant at the time, which was much, much cheaper than... There might even have been $500 actually in the prototype, because obviously we were in the prototype part of it, which is where you haven't actually launched your product yet, but you've got something that people can have a look at and give some feedback on. And the great thing about being in that innovation tent is that that's where... If you go to the field days, depending no matter who you are, people will generally go through there and be really interested in hearing your story. So it was a fantastic way to get our story and our concept out there.

7:06And we were so well received. So that was really, really uplifting. Yeah, I can imagine it wouldn't have been much harm. It wouldn't have done much harm for business. So from the winning the prototype to actually getting it to market, what was the time frame in around that? Well, we were almost ready. We had our product pretty much ready to go. So I think we got to market within a month afterwards. We were just kind of finalizing the website so that we could actually sell it. And obviously it just came to see what people had to say about our product before we launched it, because what if we needed to just make some final adjustments and whatnot, but turned out it was pretty much ready to go as it was. So yeah, it was really quick afterwards. And that was fantastic because obviously winning it gave us a fair bit of publicity. So that helped with sales straight away.

8:08People knew what it was. People were asking for it. So that's good. That's a good way to start a business is when people are actually asking for the product. Yeah, before it's even ready. I mean, I think there was some good prize money attached as well that couldn't have heard. Oh, the prize money will fantastic. It came right at the right time. I actually don't know what we would have done with it. Because it was so hard when you're starting a business as many people would appreciate. You don't really have anything. You can't really borrow much money because you don't have any check record. So that went primarily on covering all our lawyer bills actually, because we had been pursuing intellectual property protection. So that a lot of it went for that. And then the other half went to buying the first spring arms so that we could get some out of the door. Because yeah, which we've never done this before. You sort of don't realise how much money you actually have to spend up front before you can sell the product.

9:10Yeah, because where's the manufacturing done? Well, we ended up partnering with MetalForm, which was another really nice thing that came out of the publicity of winning. MetalForm is a company based in Denmark. And they do a bunch of different aquaculture products. And so they now manufacture and distribute and do everything for us basically. So we don't have a lot to do with the day to day running anymore, which is fantastic because we love what we do. So we didn't really want this to become our full-time gig. See, that's what I was going to ask you whether or not that is now actually a full-time thing. But you've come up with the idea, you presumably get a cut of what's sold. And you let the specialist company take care of the nuts and bolts and springs so to speak. Yes, for sure. And they're doing such a great job. That's what they do every day.

10:10That's what they know how to do. They've got marketing specialists. And they change the products slightly so that it's cheaper to manufacture because they understood how that process works. So that was fantastic to get a bit of input from them and put them to be managing it. What are they sell for, incidentally? That varies a bit, sort of between $25 and $30, depending on where you go and get it. But yeah, we have actually got a bit of a special on if anybody wants to. We've created a special coupon for anyone that's listening. They can go and go to our online website, springarm.co.nz, and put in Rick's podcast at checkout as a coupon code and get 10% off. Very good. All right, perfect. And they're well priced anyway. So that's great, Rick's podcast. Make sure you do that. There's those of you that are interested in purchasing these spring arms. Now, Mary and you also have a role with primary ag ITO as well, don't you?

11:15Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. People still call us ag ITO. We actually primary ITO because ag ITO merged with a lot of businesses seven years ago. There you go. Okay, so primary ITO, yeah. What do you do there? I'm the agriculture sector manager. So look after dairy and meat and fiber. And basically look after the relationships with our customers, make sure that we deliver what they need, and just keep them finger on the pulse in the industry to make sure that they have what they want in terms of vocational training. For me, this was my dream job so I wasn't willing to get it up because I was at a school teacher originally, which is always wanted to do, but then also worked on farm full time for a wee while before I became a teacher, and realised I wasn't prepared to leave farming behind, but also didn't want to leave education behind. So this is a perfect mixture of the two and absolutely loved my job with primary ITO. Yeah, that's great. That's good to hear, actually.

12:15And also in relation to all of that, is where you actually write articles about New Zealand agriculture for a Danish magazine, I believe. Yeah, I do a bit of writing. That's something that it happens every couple of months, just from a Danish perspective and New Zealand, I suppose. It's always interesting because when I talk about someone once, I always have to remember to put the months in, because it's the other way around, then at home, because I'm from Denmark obviously, so hence why I can write in Danish to the Danish audience. That's great. What do you sort of write about? Oh, it's just basic kind of, you know, how the season's been, what's going on. I mean, my last article was about PC1, here in the Waiketta, which was quite a big thing, which we're still waiting, I suppose, exactly how that's going to come out,

13:15but with the government and having sort of put everything on hold. Yeah, so just anything and everything, really. So you're just giving readers in that part of the world just a bit of an update perspective from what we do here, farming wise. Yes, for sure. And it was really interesting when we were talking about the tax on greenhouse gases, because that was huge in Denmark at the same time as here, and they were keeping a really close eye on what we did actually, to sort of, I think everybody around the world was keeping an eye on each other to see who was going to go first on the decision. So it's always really interesting to share stories. Yeah, that's very cool. Where best do you farm in New Zealand? We are in the Waiketta, so just out of Telomoto. So Rick's on the farm, and obviously I work for primary ITOs. I'm not too involved in the farming life at the moment. Is he working on anything else, Rick? Well, there's definitely an idea brewing,

14:18but we have struggled to find the time, because it takes so much time to actually get it to a stage where you can show people. So watch the space. Watch the space, indeed. Well, that's cool. It's a good story you've got there. I love the, you know, from the motorbike part right through to the innovation award and, you know, through to seeing it realised there's a product in the market. It's, yeah, it's a good story. You must be, you know, happy with the way things have turned out, so far, at least anyway. Yeah, no, it's been brilliant. And like I said, we're so grateful to middle form for helping us with that side of things, and grateful to the field of innovation awards. That there was even a thing, and forgiving us the publicity. Yeah, the innovation awards for this year, they close on Friday the 24th of April, and the winners are going to be announced at a private awards function during field days at Mystery Creek on the 11th of June.

15:18That's the Thursday. So if you want to get those innovation awards in, those interest classes are, say, the 24th of April. So you'd probably be encouraging people I imagine, Mary Ann, if they've got something like you guys did, just, you know, give it a shot. What's there to lose, I suppose? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Get involved. I mean, it's a cheap way to get to field days if you want to display your product. And we were just a normal farming couple from the Waikato. So never, never discount yourself, even if you think you're not having got a big engine behind you. You can still do really well if your product is what the industry wants. Yeah, very good advice. Exactly. If it's what the industry wants, if it's what the markets after, then there will be space for it, absolutely. Very good. Thanks for sharing your story. I really appreciate it. Cheers. Thanks for having me on.