We are working with Balex Marine, helping them develop their Hydraulic Powered Automatic Boat Loader that automates the launch and retrieval of your trailer boat. The Automatic Boat Loader provides the ultimate launch and retrieve experience.

You don't even have to get your feet wet - no more clambering down the slippery boat ramp to attach the winch, no more cranking on the manual winch or slow unreliable electric winching. The Automatic Boat Loader is being launched at the Hutchwilco NZ Boat Show in May.

Here's the back story.

The Automatic Boat Loader is the brainchild of Lex Bacon. Lex, a keen boatie, developed the Automatic Boat Loader concept after his wife Sue identified the problem of  'the grief people have at the boat ramp'. Lex has been developing the Automatic Boat Loader for the last five years, and was at the point of needing further capital and expertise to take the product to the international market. Enter Paul Symes.

Paul and his family had recently returned to NZ after a stint in the Philippines and, looking for a business opportunity, Paul was introduced to the product and business developed by Lex Bacon.  Paul founded 4D Global Group (4DGG) in 1995 and grew the company to become one of Australasia's largest steel detailing and Building Information Modelling (BIM) services with offices in NZ, Australia, Philippines, Canada, and USA. In 2006 Paul moved to the Philippines to establish the operations centre there, and in 2011 4DGG merged with PDC Australia. Earlier this year Paul resigned from his GM role at PDC to pursue new business interests. 

That's where we come in. 

After attending the Young Innovator Awards (YIA) Innovation Forum, Lex had seen Blythe talk and suggested Paul talk to us. Paul approached Locus Research to carry out some market validation work on the Automatic Boat Loader. 

The first stage of our engagement was to undertake the market validation and assist with due diligence prior to Paul's inward investment. This involved a very rapid, practical, directional approach that was led by our Research Director, Jono Jones.  We visited a lot of boat ramps spending time with end consumers and talking to some of the leading influencers in the market. Once a clear picture was formed we also assisted Paul with the commercial aspects leading to his decision to invest. We then set about building a lean 'Minimum Viable Product' (MVP) programme that covered 5 months of cross-sectional activity. We were so impressed by both Lex's concept and Paul's business acumen that Locus Research has become a shareholder in Balex Marine, and will incubate the business in our new Newnham Park Facility.

We are now fully immersed, working with the Balex team on programme management, product development, engineering, productionisation, IP, marketing, brand, and communications, and gearing up for market launch. 

"The Locus Team are great to work with. Their product development capability is world class, and they have added value across the business. It's been a really collaborative approach so having them come on board as a shareholder was a natural fit."

- Paul Symes.

This project is a good example of our collaborative and integrated approach to product development and the wide range of services we can offer:

• Market validation
• Commercial due diligence
• Customer insight research
• Ideation and concept development
• Technical and engineering development and testing 
• Productionisation
• Marketing and branding
• Communication
• Programme Management

If you're interested in Balex Marine: Please contact Paul Symes and visit the Balex Marine website

If you're interested in working with Locus Research please contact Timothy Allan