Business View Oceania | March 2021

29 30 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA MARCH 2021 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA MARCH 2021 03 338 0877 www.waymanroofing.co.nz PO Box 9354, Tower Junction, Christchurch, 8149 Metal Roofing & Cladding • Insulated Panels Torch-on Membrane • Butynol synthetic membrane Standing Seam roofing and cladding www.treotham.co.nz info@treotham.co.nz 0800 847 2004 Auckland & Hamilton Schmalz Vacuum Handling Systems Treotham Automation are the New Zealand agents for the German brand Schmalz. Schmalz offer a range of vacuum lifting and handling equipment from 100kg to 2,000kg as standard. To compliment this, Schmalz offer a range of lightweight aluminium jib and gantry cranes with electric chain hoists. For more information please contact the team at Treotham Automation. HECTOR EGGER NEW ZEALAND L IMI TED services. So, in the factory, we end up with three transport trailers of components for each of those duplexes and we take those onsite and assemble that structure in less than a week, to weathertight. “There are also a number of sustainable benefits to our process. In the factory, we use 12 metre lengths of timber for all our framing, because the software can optimize the cutting and therefore minimize the amount of timber going to waste. We use locally sourced LVL engineered timber products supplied directly from the manufacturer and all of our timber is sustainably grown in New Zealand.” BVO: Do you offer specialised training for your workers? Franklin: “Yes. The design side of the business is a highly specialised area. We brought a member of the Hector Egger design team down here 18 months ago and he’s been instrumental in helping us set up that side of the business. Because what we do is relatively unique to New Zealand, we have to do the majority of training ourselves. Normally, if we didn’t have the issue with COVID-19, we’d be able to bring in experienced labour from Switzerland or Germany, where they’re used to this type of methodology, but we don’t have that ability at the moment. So we’re slowly building our team up and providing training as we go. But on the manufacturing side, once the design work is done and the machines have all the necessary shop drawing files, it’s not hugely complicated and workers can be trained reasonably easily.” BVO: What is the growth plan going forward? Franklin: “We’re obviously taking a conservative view on our first year. We have five diverse projects under contract, which will take us through to September with several others in various stages of development. We expect the equivalent of about 40 houses in our first and Weinmann CNC machines to full operation. “Attached to that factory is a 450 square metre, two-storey office building, all constructed in timber. We prefabricated that in our Swiss factory and shipped it out in six 40-foot containers. Actual construction of the factory began in Jan. 2020 with a 12 month build program. We lost six weeks of our programme due to the COVID-19 shutdown but caught a lot of that up and completed the project within three weeks of our original programme. We currently have 15 employees and expect to increase to 20-25 once we move to a second shift in the factory.” BVO: What does the manufacturing process entail? Franklin: “We manufacture the timber panels and elements for residential and commercial building projects. For example, the first project we’re doing is North Villas at Jacks Point, Queenstown. It consists of six duplex townhouses comprising 12 x 3 and 1 bedroom homes. Each one of those duplexes has 75 unique timber panels and elements making up the structure including walls, mid-floor and roof cassettes. “In the initial design process we build a 3D model so we can detail every aspect of the project. Every piece of timber, every staple and every screw are included in the model so we can resolve all of the connections before prefabrication. For this next stage we use two CNC machines, the Hundegger K2i which cuts all the timber and connection details, and the Weinmann Multi-function bridge where we assemble, insulate and line the panels. This machine has a large robotic gantry that runs over the top of the panels and does the stapling, nailing, screwing, cutting and routing of the various types of lining including OSB and gib board. We insulate those panels as well and where required put conduits in for electrical