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Industry Snapshot: Rob Kruber
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ext in the series of Industry Shapshots is Rob Kruber, CEO of Spa Industries Global and chairman of SPASA Australia.
How did you get into the pool and spa industry?
It was about 15 years ago. My friend owned Spa Industries back then, and I was an electrician. And he was having troubles with his manufacturing. I did a lot of project managing, and started setting up his manufacturing lines and got everything running. And one thing linked to the other – once manufacturing was sorted, the link between that and sales needed setting up, so we then moved into that, and I slowly progressed my way through the company.
What are your highlights in the industry?
What we’ve achieved over the years – we’ve won a lot of awards over the years. And probably one of the highlights is that we’ve managed to maintain manufacturing in Australia. I love manufacturing and love that Australians can still manufacture. So
“Consumers want products to be easier to use and more integrated. So they’re easy to look after and more efficient to run, and a better experience.”
being able to keep manufacturing in Australia is probably my highlight, I reckon, of my time there.
Where do you think the industry is heading?
Consumers want products to be easier to use and more integrated. So they’re easy to look after and more efficient to run, and a better experience. And they’re all things that we’re actually looking at to improve in our products. You know, water saving devices, things that will make the spas clean a bit easier and even the integration, through a lot more artificial intelligence to make them operate a lot more easily as well. So better experiences from products.
How do you see the local scene?
I’ve been involved in SPASA associations for the past eight years, and go back just five years ago and SPASA Australia was just a vision. To where it’s become today is an absolute credit to its staff and the vision of the board. Absolutely amazing – a great result. More: Videos of these and other interviews are available on SPLASH! TV at splashmagazine.com.au/videos. April/May 2020 SPLASH! 25