When John Down launched contract metal manufacturer ENI Engineering in October of 1993, it was just him and his business partner. His partner was from Samoa, and the term ‘ENI’ initially, and affectionately, stood for ‘Ebony N’ Ivory’. After John bought his partner out and the business evolved, ‘ENI’ came to represent their core values: ‘Excellence and Innovation’.
Just two months into the business, ENI employed their first two staff members. That number has grown to 70, with several of them having been with the company almost since the beginning. ENI is proud of their culture and the fact that they’ve nurtured people right out of school, trained them through apprenticeships, and helped them to become contributing members of society.
25 years in the metalwork industry providing sheet fabrication services has helped ENI to develop a 'can-do' attitude. When a client has an issue, that’s seen as a challenge. Meeting and overcoming those challenges are what ENI staff thrive on. Their focus is on significant customers on a ‘big, regular and often’ basis, and they specialise in applying innovation to their projects. ENI work to understand the customer’s need, develop deep relationships, and provide a responsive and flexible service. That’s backed with high quality, DIFOT, ongoing innovation and improvement, speed to market.
Over 80% of ENI’s work has been in the Canterbury region. Having weathered the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, ENI has been actively involved in the CBD rebuild, with several projects around the city aimed at attracting people back into the CBD and showcasing the new Christchurch as a beautiful, liveable city. Their projects include the metalwork at the Margaret Mahy Playground, the street-scapes through Evolution Square and down the South Frame, and the Manchester St bus shelters. ENI see the city as rising from the ashes, and are proud of the part they’ve played in it.
Customer relationships are an integral part of ENI’s 25-year history, and ENI see themselves as primarily a service business. A big part of those successful relationships is being able to offer their customers the very latest technology the metalwork industry has to offer including lasers, punch-folding, robotics and powder coating. “We've always invested in the latest technology,” says John. “It's through that technology that our clients have been able to stay ahead of their game and remain competitive. We've been able to provide them with world-class technology.”
Having celebrated ENI’s 25th anniversary, John is looking ahead to the next quarter century. “Our key ambition is to continue to grow, and to offer challenges and growth for our staff,” he says. “Our aim is to help our customers ‘make it big’. We have big ideas, big capacity and big hearts; so we can help them realise their goals – to make a big impression, a big impact, a big difference.”
Find out more about ENI’s 25-year quest to always strive for Excellence and Innovation, and how to get in touch.
03 349 7052
john.down@enieng.co.nz
