Yunca®

Our History 

• 1977 - Terry Young established Young’s Electrical as an owner-operator on 23rd of March 1977
• 1979 - Terry manufactured the first heater for our 100 year old home
• 1980 - By 1980, Terry had sold five units to acquaintances in Invercargill - Displayed units [one burning] at the Southland Agriculture and Pastoral Winter Show taking orders for 151 units. At the time making one per week (3 years sales) hence the need to purchase more machinery and hire extra staff- bringing production numbers up to six per day. Expansion of the first factory behind the old home at 38 Bowmont Street.
• 1981 - Established a network of retail associates throughout the South Island.
• 1982 - First shipment of units bound for Australia with salesman Ron Downy, in November 1982. These were stored in a warehouse in Botany, Sydney with Ron, our salesman, working to establish the market.
• 1983 - Further expansion of the factory after buying the neighbouring home of 34 Bowmont Street.
• 1984 - Purchased 50% of Procote Industries 18 McNab Street Dunedin [Enamelling and powder coating plant] this allowed Yunca to offer a number of colours. Ken Rewcastle our chartered accountant joined the company and played a large part during this early development.
• 1986 - We established a market in the Netherlands with our multi burner.
• 1987/88 - Purchase of plant and equipment from Champion Appliances and the Yunca Dunedin factory at 2 Donald Street to house the new equipment. Operations Manager of Champion appliances Harvie Bell also joined Yunca at that time and retired from the company in 2013 after 27 years with Yunca.
• 1989/90 - Development of the Wegj, a radical new concept in design for wood heating with the drop down door.
• 1992 - Our first shipment was dispatched to the USA, Canada and Greece. We also purchased a further 25% of Procote Industries in 1992 completing the purchase of the remaining 25% from Ralph DeVries in the late 1990s Ralph stayed on with the company until the age of 65.
• 1993 - We acquired our new factory at 41 Onslow Street and still operate from this site today.
• 1993 / 4 - We received our first engineering contract to manufacture 18,000 cell hood covers for New Zealand Aluminum Smelters (NZAS).
• 1995 - Our second contract for NZAS was to manufacture 22,000 anode clamps for the up-grade of the smelter. Harvie Bell developed a range of gas product all manufactured in Dunedin, the gas production ceased in 2008 favouring wood burning production.
• 2002/3 - Established a gas distribution company eventually selling out to Nova Energy in 2010, Nova still operate from the site leased from Yunca.
• 2006 - Purchase of the Yunca India site in the state of Goa starting production in 2010 allowing us to re-establish our export market. Mahesh Upadhye is Yunca’s operations manager in India ensuring the company’s quality comes first is retained. Also in 2006 our first shipment of engineering product was sent to the UAE.
• 2010 - A shipment of Engineering product was dispatched to Germany with a second shipment leaving in 2013. Karyna was head-hunted to join the company, so succession is in great hands for the future.

Founded in 1977 on the principal of 'quality first', Yunca is a 100% New Zealand family-owned business. A dedication to quality and customers, means that they still carry a full range of parts for models manufactured over 30 years ago; heaters which are still going strong today.

The new range of heaters are both modern and stylish, with the same commitment to being more than just a heater.  

After manufacturing their first heater in 1977 for Terry and Vicky Young's own 100-year-old home, Yunca went on to establish itself through the 1980’s and 1990’s as a leading manufacturer of wood and multi-fuel burners of unsurpassed quality, heat and efficiency

Now a second generation family business, Karyna Young LLB BCom is responsible for international and domestic sales, and emerging markets.

With her father Terry, still hands-on running the manufacturing and engineering side of the business, Karyna has been responsible for introducing a company-wide renewed focus on product design and company service provision.

Manufacturing and exporting over a 39-year period also requires tenacity, and the willingness to ultilise and restructure existing infrastructure to remain competitive.

While the wider Yunca Group has become successful in the provision of components and services to aluminum smelters worldwide, the core of their business is, and always has been, domestic heaters.

Not only have Yunca heaters been keeping New Zealanders warm for over 39 years their heaters are some of the cleanest in the world, in keeping with sustaining New Zealand's environment.

Today, Yunca manufactures their heaters from their three factory's in India, Dunedin and Invercargill; where the head office is based. The addition of the India factory making them competitive in the international marketplace and allows Yunca to provide New Zealander's a well priced unit without compromising quality.

Yunca Heating still remains loyal to the commitment first made in 1977... “quality first”.