Challenger Safes

The client need

In 2015 Challenger Safes underwent a major transition from manufacturing to importing and outsourcing production of secure storage products for its clients in the banking and retail sectors. The business needed to find key supply partners to maintain and enhance their capability during a difficult period of change.

Dennis Davidson, Challenger’s owner, said their process up till that point was ‘messy’ using a range of different suppliers and having to internally manage the majority of the fabrication, assembly, and finishing processes.

It turned out that their newly appointed general manager had connections with Metco in his previous involvement in the industrial lighting sector, so he connected with Paul to see if Metco could assist with Challenger’s requirements.

The Metco experience in the client’s words

Dennis recalls … “Metco obviously had a very comprehensive capability and previous experience in the security products area – so I quickly felt we had found the right partner..

We started with an existing bank product – which involved a fast learning curve and tight timeframe for Metco. Paul and Brent looked at our old design with fresh eyes and said ‘why don’t we make it like this or that… we can simplify fabrication, save time and cost without compromising the quality of the finished product’.

I found their responsive and constructive approach backed with knowledge and experience second-to-none, and we managed to turn things around quickly.

The result was that we regained margin in the face of cost and time pressure, and delivered on time to the client.

Another product we worked on was a coin trolley (which sits in a cash machine to receive deposits). It needed to be built like a ‘brick outhouse’ but easily handled with hoists and trucks, weighing 70-80 kgs fully loaded. Health & safety and ergonomics were important along with a tricky locking mechanism.

Metco handled all this well and enabled us to change the handle location in response to comments from users in the field. We have had good feedback from Australia about our trolleys being more robust and requiring substantially less maintenance than competitor products.

Then there was our Electronic Cash Drawer (for bank tellers), where Metco again, in conjunction with our design engineers, did a series of incredibly innovative modifications which have simplified construction and minimised the cost for us.”