INDUSTRY PEOPLE
THE TRAXION
STORY
Back in his twenties, Paul
Ashman had a vision of an
Empire.
The Empire would be wrought from paving stones, bricks-
and-mortar and bespoke landscaping. There would be a
troupe of enthusiastic employees and a fleet of branded
vehicles.
It was 1980s London, and anything was possible. People
had crazy money—silly money—to spend on their houses.
Londoners, especially, were not known to hold back
on expenditure on their abodes during this era. A few
thousand quid thrown at a patio was nothing, and soon
Paul’s company was staring into Empire horizons.
They were heady days, he reflects.
“They were absolutely amazing times. There was a surplus
of work on, a great team and everyone was having a blast.
London had so much to offer a young guy, and me and the
team, we absolutely lived it to the fullest.”
By 24 years of age, he was feeling pretty indestructible...
until the crash of ‘87. While the business was in rude
health and there was work aplenty, the option to fold the
business up while the going was good seemed eminently
sensible. Paul headed back to New Zealand for the next
chapter.
Traxion stock a range of winch brands including this example from
Taiwanese brand THAC.
Superwinch is an American company who specialise in
the design and manufacture of winches and accessories.
It’s a trusted and respected brand and one that Paul knew
would take off here in New Zealand—with the right person
at the helm.
He was born in the UK but moved here as a kid. After
two OEs, coming back to New Zealand felt strange but
“I started to approach some of the commercial clients
necessary. As someone who had always maintained
and within this marine company, I built up an automotive
independence (he got his first paper round at 11 and
division, and after a couple of years of doing that there
financially never looked back), looking for a
was a change in structure of the company.
work gig was a tough but inevitable next step. “One day I was sitting I left the company and took the division I
there looking through a
had built up with me with the agreement of
“I ended up working for a company that
catalogue of Superwinch
imported marine hardware, and inside that equipment and I had a the owners of the company. It was my little
baby, I’d built it up. I stopped working for that
company, it always went very quiet in winter. lightbulb moment.”
company and the very next day I opened up
One day I was sitting there looking through a
Traxion. My clients hardly knew any difference between
catalogue of Superwinch equipment and I had a lightbulb
the bigger and now smaller companies.”
moment.”
This is a monthly series on businesses in our industry. We profile one business per month to find out how our hard-working
business owners, employees and contractors manage to run these specialist businesses and what makes them tick in the
New Zealand trade business environment. These are the stories of our CAM people.
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CAM April 2020
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