RV Lifestyle Explores the History of Action Manufacturing

RV Lifestyle's Steve Lane goes behind the scenes to learn more about Action Manufacturing history with Grant Brady, Action's Managing Director.

Action Manufacturing

This is a success story about Action Manufacturing, a firm that came about as the result of a merger seven years ago between two big players in the RV industry and now a company that is turning heads across many industries. They have been somewhat flying under the radar – until now. But first, let’s have a little history lesson to get us to where we are today.

First: CI Munro was established in 1948 in Otorohanga originally building caravans, then began building motorhomes in the 1970s. The company was purchased by Tourism Holdings (thl) in 1995 and relocated to Hamilton in 2007, expanding into a much larger factory to cope with increasing demand of rental campervans for their Maui and Britz rental fleets.

Secondly, KEA Manufacturing was established in 1995 in Auckland as part of KEA Campers. Grant Brady, one of the founding members of KEA was running the manufacturing side of the business. KEA was the first to design and build a two-berth shower/toilet campervan to put into the rental market in New Zealand. Up until then anyone looking to rent a campervan with a shower and toilet had to rent a larger four or six berth van, which was not what everyone wanted. I remember Grant telling me he was laughed at by a few of his peers in the rental industry at the time. “They all reckoned there would be no demand for a van conversion with a shower toilet.” How wrong they were – the two-berth campervan with a shower and toilet is nowadays a basic of every rental fleet in the country. That sort of outside-the-box forward thinking is what still drives Grant Brady today in his position as Managing Director of Action Manufacturing.

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