UNICLA AUSTRALIA
Ralph Cadman is a rare human being. His personal attributes, and his honourable character almost outshine the contribution he has made to the vehicle air conditioning industry.
But Ralph is a true pioneer of this industry in Australia. It could be said that he was among the first to pioneer multiple service centres in Sydney and as a result he began building a product sourcing and distribution network, which, back then, was a difficult thing to do because systems as such did not exist. Every item had to be sourced, even manufactured and brought to Australia for assembly into a multitude of models, for which there were no drawings, no specifications and no manuals.
The famous Marlan Air Conditioning was co-founded by Ralph, with the colourful Ross Marshall in the early 60s. This famous enterprise operated from four locations, Kogarah, Artarmon, Five Dock and Parramatta. We are talking about a business which put airconditioning systems in Mercedes Benz, American cars, Holdens, Falcons, before anyone else.
This was the first car air conditioning business in Australia where no job was too hard. It was at Marlan that he developed a keen business sense, and began the first of many overseas trips to source parts.
Around the mid 70s he sold his interest in Marlan, but in the meantime, he had nurtured a part time sales involvement with Unicla. So in 1972, Unicla Australia was incorporated and the legendary Mr Nobata asked Ralph to be a partner and manager. The office and warehouse was first in Carnarvon Street, Silverwater.
Ralph moved the enterprise to Egerton Street Silverwater, in late 1992.
In 1997, Ralph decided he needed a change of scenery and pace, and in his meticulous fashion, sold off his stock and arranged a virtually seamless transition of parts of the business to others.
Ralph has developed other business interests, but the fact that he came to this convention, as he does to all the conventions, to rekindle friendships with many people he worked with over many years, speaks volumes about his loyalty to the industry. It should be known to everyone here that it was Ralph Cadmans money that funded the spark which led to the formation of VASA.