b'CHAPTER 04GROWTH AND ACQUISITIONS | 29YEAH NAH: WHEN THINGS DONT PAN OUTKennards Hire is a business that has become renownedwould be a great addition to the business and ordered for its innovation, and it is no stranger to taking calculatedenough for every branch, plus a load more to sell.risks. Experimentation is part and parcel of the journey. At Kennards, this kind of risk is accepted, even celebrated.Unfortunately, what came in the container was a slightly You want to create an environment in any businessdifferent model, one that was prone to overheat, drip where people are prepared to have a crack. Theyrefuel or catch fire, with cylinder heads that cracked at prepared to be innovative, to even risk failure, former CEOthe slightest bump. It was an absolute dog, Andy says Peter Lancken says. candidly. He can laugh about it now, but at the time it caused a huge headache and a major dent in profits. But every now and then, that risk doesnt pay off. HereThat was one of the biggest bloopers weve made with are a few times Kennards had a crack, but things didntequipment. When we sold them off at auction, we quite go to plan. joked that they would have been good as boat anchors.PRINT GUNSThe disastrous Jenbach takes pride of place in the In the 1950s, Wally Kennard obtained the agency forKennards Hire Museum next to the original old faithful. the Print Gun in the USA, an alternative to the Dymo label gun. The Print Gun was supposed to be an easyMYNA BIRD TRAPSway to create self-adhesive labels, but the guns wereIn around 2006, Kennards Hire tested a couple of Indian unreliable. Wally, along with the rest of the family,myna bird traps, designed to get rid of the invasive bird had to pull apart all 5000 guns and replace the faultyspecies along the east coast of Australia. The dog-food-cutting knives. The Print Guns wound up costing morebaited traps seemed to work, and an order was put in than they could be sold for. for two container-loads. The branch managers were advised of the incoming traps, with a note of their role JENBACH AIR COMPRESSORS in eradicating the birds.During one of his overseas trips in the 1970s, Andy had been introduced to Austrian-made Jenbach airThis turned out to be a tough sell. The RSPCA deemed compressors. Every customer raved about them,it unethical for the general public to euthanise the and with only a small, high-maintenance compressorbirds after capture, so the responsibility fell on branch to rent out, there was a hole in the Kennards Hiremanagers after the appropriate training. The method of inventory. Kennards Hire performed its own tests on theeuthanasia was to cover the trap with a canvas bag and Jenbach, and confirmed it was as good as the reviewsthen place it over a car exhaust. Half the managers were suggested. Andy and Nev decided these compressors It was an absolute dog.dAndy Kennaron the Jenbach air compressor'