Franz "Frank" Brugger, OBE (7 March 1927 — 27 February 2000)[1] was a New Zealand businessman known for his car parts factory in Wainuiomata and production of a highly efficient wood burning stove.[2] He was born in Rottemann, Austria on 7 March 1927 and died in Wainuiomata, New Zealand on 27 February 2000.
Brugger obtained a degree in industrial management at Rottemann University,[3] then emigrated from Austria to New Zealand in 1956. After working for Mobil, he set up his own welding business in Petone in 1959.[4] Noting that car assembly plants were required to increase the amount of locally manufactured components, he took the opportunity and built a factory in Wainuiomata in 1970. Wainuiomata at the time was growing rapidly and a number of Brugger's staff already lived there. Brugger Industries made many components for cars, including car seats, panels, floor coverings, head linings and sun-visors.
Further operations were set up in Auckland, Dunedin and Levin and Brugger also set up an engineering business in Samoa,[5] where he had the honorary title of Toleafoa. Brugger represented New Zealand on trade delegations to Switzerland, Germany and Japan.[6] By 1983 the company employed 600 staff and had an annual turnover of $20 million.
In the early 1970s, George Katzer at the DSIR Physics and Engineering Laboratory in Lower Hutt designed a new type of wood-burning stove, and the DSIR opted to make the design freely available rather than patent it. The unique design, though more expensive to produce than other stoves, had several advantages: extremely high efficiency, burning one load of wood for seven hours with only a small amount of ash residue; little smoke; and no soot or creosote in the chimney. The stove-top could be used for cooking, and a loop pipe to heat water could be incorporated into the stove. Brugger Industries approached the DSIR about producing the stove, and the 'BI [Brugger Industries] wood-burning stove' began production in Wainuiomata in 1978.[7] It was also known as the 'Ugly Duckling wood stove' or the 'Pyroclassic'.[8] [9]
In 1985, Brugger received an Air New Zealand Enterprise Award. He received an OBE in 1986 for services to industry, export and the community.[10] Brugger retired in 1986 and died in 2000.