Renson secures local manufacturing foothold with Issey purchase

The acquisition – part of an international expansion plan for Renson – will see it starting production of Fixscreen sun protection products in Australia in 2022. 

“The long delivery times for screens travelling by boat from Belgium have been unjustifiable for some time now,” says Paul Renson, Renson CEO. 

“This is the reason we started producing them locally in the USA and China as well. Now it is Australia’s turn; it’s a region we’ve identified as offering plenty of growth potential for sun protection products.”

The opportunity presented itself in the form of Issey Sun Shade Systems, a family business from Perth with 30 years of experience in outdoor sun protection. 

“Our product vision is very close to Renson’s,” explains Lane van den Akker, Director of Issey Sun Shade Systems. 

“Like Renson, quality is at the top of our priority list, while technically, our products are actually very close to those of Renson. Only the best is good enough. In any case, our customers are happy with the acquisition by Renson and look forward to a strengthened position in the Australian market.”

Paul Renson says that even though the company is located on the Australian West Coast and the greatest market potential is on the East Coast, the advantages easily outweighed the disadvantages.

“The time difference between east and west coast provides a few extra hours for collaboration with Belgium, while a delivery time of three days from Western to Eastern Australia is significantly better than the two months by boat.” 

“A nice bonus is the strong name Issey has built up with architects over the past 30 years, a target group also highly regarded by Renson.” 

“And with a strong distribution network in all the major Australian cities (Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane), this acquisition gives Renson the opportunity to double its local distributor network.” 

With production sites in the USA and China, Renson is now taking a major step forward in Australia to improve its response to the local sales market by using local production. 

The company says the new acquisition is strategically important if Renson wants to be able to act quickly in Australia. 

“There is currently a lot of progress in Australia regarding ventilation legislation, so we’re also seeing new opportunities in this field as well,” says Paul Renson. 

“And of course, the local production of screens is also a great stepping stone for potential new outdoor living partners. Thanks to this acquisition, we are doubling our turnover of the entire Renson Group in Australia in one fell swoop, but the ambition is to increase it fivefold within five years.”

 “Local anchoring is two-pronged for Renson: with the bulk of the production carried out in Belgium, we can continue to meet the high quality positioning Renson stands for as a brand. But we cannot expect to continue to deliver worldwide from Europe forever. So, for me, local anchoring is also being active close to your sales market. This also creates mutual trust. ‘European design and technology, assembled in Australia’: this catches on locally, and we’ll play it out that way.”

Renson said that the appointment of management, experienced in the Australian market and able to integrate existing sales personnel and the Issey organisation is also seen as a key success factor. 

Renson appointed Phillippe Mouret as its Regional Manager (Oceania) in June 2021. Mouret returns to the local window furnishings industry after time overseas having previously run the Australian arm of Verosol between 1999 and 2013.