| 49 MANUFACTURING KiwiAz Trailers & General Engineering T T Ange Davidosn Custom builds, tricky jobs a focus for firm All KiwiAz trailers, campers and engineering projects are manufactured from start to finish in the Whakatane workshop. TRAILER PARTS WHEELS AND RIMS FOR YOUR TRAILER BUILD. 0800 653 246 treadway.co.nz GET IN TOUCH Proudly supplying Kiwi trailer manufacturers for over 40 years. Get yourself a Megastrong trailer and choose the accessories you want and the items that will suit your needs. From Couplers to lights, U-bolts to cages, we can provide good quality, long lasting products at competitive prices for your Megastrong Trailer. Talk to us today and find out why our Megastrong Trailers are so popular—satisfaction guaranteed! 027 476 1246 import-motoring@xtra.co.nz www.megastrongtrailers.co.nz “We’ve only been in Whakatane for four years and already we’re known as the guys who can build it.” KiwiAz Trailers and General Engineering’s tagline, ‘You dream it We build it’, isn’t just marketing hype, it’s for real. The Whakatane based company custom makes trailers, campers, food carts, horse floats, and just about anything else built from structural and stainless steel and aluminium. Director Mano Todero says no request is too extravagant for the company and they have developed a reputation for tackling the tricky jobs. “We’ve only been in Whakatane for four years and already we’re known as the guys who can build it,” laughs Mano. “We’re all about custom building whatever our clients want, and we get a good variety of projects to work on. We don’t know what we’ll be doing from day to day.” KiwiAz Trailers is currently fabricating between 50 - 80 boat trailers a year with a full range of five to eight metre trailers that can be customised for farm bikes, jet skis and lawnmowers. There is not a lot of interest in standard car trailers which Mano puts down to cost, as the market has been flooded with cheaper trailers from China. A KiwiAz camper has recently hit the market using a standard box design that can be customised according to need. “We’ve got our own look going on, and its big! The basic campers are the same but the size and configuration of internal walls, windows and doors change. We’ve just done a custom trailer for a woman who shows sheep. The ‘box’ is 3.2 metres by 1.6 metres wide with a fridge, cooker, portable loo and a swing down bed from the wall, plus space in the back for the sheep. The internal walls are a composition panel with metalcraft tin on the outside,” says Mano. “Another completed custom camper was for a local hunter who wanted to have his Polaris in the back along with a freezer and gun safe. “We have a camper coming up that’s 6 metres by 2.2 metres and built out of insulation panel,” he says. “They’re pretty durable to look at but they’re built for the job and built to last.” “Custom builds are time consuming but we get way more enjoyment out of them and the finished product is impressive,” he says. The company also offers a mobile welding service that provides welding work and repairs at a workplace or home and is available for after-hours visits. On the general engineering side, Mano and his team tackle any steel work from eye beams for a building company, to handrails and gates. All trailers, campers and engineering projects are manufactured from start to finish in the KiwiAz workshop. Steel is sourced from Tauranga and Auckland outfitters but Mano tries to utilise product and services from Whakatane where he can. “We’re still learning about new products from suppliers and finding out how to do new things which keeps it pretty interesting. “My background is in boat building and mechanical engineering so you learn how to adapt.” It was an ability to adapt that saw Mano move from Mount Manganui to Whakatane to start up his business four years ago. The company now employs six people with the aim of training up an apprentice every two years and sending them out into the world, adaptable and work ready.
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