Niche market drives diesel engine specialist's growth.

Henninger's Diesel Limited will ride out the wave of change as Northern Ontario's only authorized distributor/dealer for all the major fuel-injection manufacturing companies, and the Duetz diesel engine. President and CEO Manfred Henninger, who passed away in February, came to Canada with the Robert Bosch Company of West Germany in 1966. He saw a market in Sudbury with underground mining equipment when diesel fuel injection products were in their infancy. He branched out and started his own diesel fuel injection repair business in 1970, which later expanded into servicing and remanufacturing Deutz diesel engines.

Edward Bayford, general manager, joined Henninger in 1972, experiencing the peaks and valleys of the new and used Deutz engine markets. He is there today, running the business with his expertise that has been built up over the years.

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The shop began in a small house, but soon moved to an 8,000 square-foot facility. The business has expanded to the 24,000-sq.-ft. facility it has today. With nine employees, Henninger's Diesel continues to remanufacture and service the Deutz engine, which is primarily used in generators, underground mining and logging equipment.

In the '80s when the Deutz engine was second to none in quality and service, the business peaked at 29 employees. However, as the engine's popularity was replaced with electronically controlled diesels, Deutz did not aggressively compete. They were too slow to introduce them, so the large mining companies switched to North American electronically controlled engines, which had a good dealer network, says Bayford.

As the demand for Deutz engines dropped, Henninger's, in turn, was affected.

Bayford explains the reason for electronic engines is driven by the reduction of fuel emissions and consumption, the former having a greater impact. Deutz was already meeting fuel emission regulations mechanically, so there wasn't a need to change their product, Also, underground mining equipment is a relatively small market for Deutz.

Unfortunately, all the current mining equipment built is based upon electronics, so despite the high performance of the engine, mining operations wanted engines that could interface with the rest of the machinery.

"They've improved their technology now," Bayford says, "but it's a day late and a dollar short."

Despite the drop in sales, Henninger's Diesel continues to be steady by remaining an independent, diversifying, keeping themselves trained and maintaining their parts and technology supplies with an inventory worth around $700,000.

Bayford says a large part of their market now is in exports to Mexico, Central and South America and South Africa. Also, the company has built up trust over the years with a quality product and service, high standards, and an independent mindset.

"If the customer needed something, we supplied it." And they still do. Though the fuel injection is a strong part of their business now, a rebuilt Deutz engine is between 50 and 60 percent cheaper than a new one, with the same warranty.

Bayford says with proper maintenance, the life of an engine in an underground environment is about 14,000 to 15,000 hours, and above ground applications is about 25,000 to 30,000 hours.

While they are keeping abreast of the electronic repairs for fuel injection and the newer electronic Deutz engines, business has increased within the last two years. The biggest seller right now for mines has become a smaller, air-cooled mechanically-controlled Deutz engine in a different model that supports utility vehicles like scissor lifts, some drills, and small scoop trams.

By ADELLE LARMOUR

Northern Ontario Business