A bold expansion plan has seen Wood Solutions
reinvigorate their Dunedin based production facility.
Formerly a part of the Naylor Love group of companies, Wood
Solutions separated from the group just under 6 years ago. This
separation has seen the consolidation of their production
facilities to the one central location in Dunedin.
As part of this plan Wood Solutions have also invested heavily
in updating their ageing workshop with the latest high
production machines available.
Andrew Bellamy, Manager explains “Our guys have always had pride
in the quality of the work they turn out, to maintain that high
level we need to have the right machines”
Andrew goes on to explain “Our purchases have saved us a lot on
labour, that makes us more competitive” With just on 30 staff
spread throughout the joinery shop, component shop, machinery
shop and the door factory, the decision to update their machines
was not taken lightly.
“The first machine we replaced was our Taiwanese wide belt
sander. The new SCM is quicker and gives a much better finish.
On top of that we have the ability to do veneer boards” said
Andrew “We used to spend a lot of time hand sanding, but now we
have nowhere near the labour content as previously required”
The new SCM sander is a 1350mm wide, twin head machine. The
machine is designed to be as versatile as possible, as Wood
Solutions need to be able to handle solid timber, panels,
veneered boards – whatever their customers throw at them.
Wood Solutions have a clientele that varies from developers, the
hospitality industry, builders through to the general public off
the street. This means the machinery they use has to be capable
of short runs, through to large production runs, without long
changeover times.
A large part of this clientele comes from the Central region.
The company has a long association with Queenstown, stemming
from the companies involvement in rebuilding the town after the
floods of 1998.
As Andrew explains the company took a unique approach to this
restoration work. “About a third of the town was flooded, mainly
through the CBD. We worked in with insurers, developers and
contractors to ensure we could get business’s back up an running
as soon as possible”
This collaboration meant that refit timeframes were dramatically
reduced. For a town heavily reliant on tourism, and the ability
of business’s to “open their doors” this proved to be critical
in minimizing the effect of the floods.
During this time, Wood Solutions recognized the growing amount
of development in the Central region. The company subsequently
adapted a large part of their business to service both the
domestic and commercial market in the area.
