14 | Atkore Unistrut Proudly supporting Aluminium Forged by Nature, Enhanced by Altus® Your trusted, customer focused supplier of carbon, stainless, engineering steels and aluminium. Customers are at the forefront of our priorities, and this is reflected in ourpromise of delivering in full, on time. Vulcan proudly support the team at Atkore W W W . V U L C A N . C O T T Sue Russell Expanded plant proving its worth Toby Ferguson, left, and Atkore NZ General manager, David Harding, at the new Atkore plant. It’s been an exciting period of development for building services support manufacturer Atkore Unistrut as it settles into its new purpose-built facility in Horotiu, just north of Hamilton. For branch manager, Toby Ferguson, the new 6300sqm factory and headquarters has delivered sustainable future-proofing to the multi-national business. “We moved into this building over two years ago, and it’s been wonderful, having spent 25 years in a 1900sqm facility that we had well and truly outgrown,” Toby says. Asked how to describe the systems they manufacture, Toby says it’s best to think of them as ‘Meccano for adults’. “While we dispatch standard products to support electrical and service fitouts for buildings, we’re specialists in creating bespoke infrastructure designed and manufactured specifically to meet a project’s specifications. I think this is why the technology has proven a game-changer for industry.” The new building was designed to deliver an efficient, user-friendly manufacturing plant, complete with racking extending to 8 metres in height. Toby says everyone working at the factory appreciates the thought that went into its design, including the 1100sqm covered canopy where freight is loaded and unloaded. And the building also heralded a significant change in operations, dropping from two shifts to one, meaning everyone is on site at the same time, building a sense of team, while also leaving room for expansion if needed. “Just things like state-of-the-art air extraction for our welders and a comfortable recreational space have delivered real benefits to the team on the ground.” Toby says designing the $20 million building from scratch was a massive undertaking. Because many of the products manufactured on site are large in scale, it made sense to offset the columns supporting the building. “We spent significant time looking at a few options before settling on the specifications for this building, and that was time well spent as we’re delighted with how this building functions. Feedback from the team has been very positive.” Located close to the Waikato Expressway, Toby says that since its opening, the plant has proven its worth by increasing manufacturing capacity and ensuring efficient freight in and out. And while the building is large, the team is relatively small, with a total of 28 people across manufacturing, administration and logistics. Toby says this size works very well with the advanced systems that Atkore Unistrut operates. “Since operating the one shift, this number works very well, and if demand increases, we have the capacity to take on more.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT The significant increase in floor space has enabled the addition of machinery, including a new 3kW fibre laser cutter, and provided space for the in-house mechanical engineer to offer a raft of services to industry. “We’ve become very busy in the seismic engineering space these past 10 years or so, and while we mainly service the industry, our products are also increasingly used in the retail and hospitality sectors.” The company’s heritage dates to the 1920s in the United States, where architect Charles Attwood developed a ground-breaking channel support system, designed to clip together without welding and capable of easily increasing in scale and load capacity. Proof of its popularity can be seen here in the array of projects Atkore Unistrut’s building service support infrastructure system can be found, including the Waterview Tunnel, City Rail Link, the Christchurch Convention Centre and the iconic Auckland Harbour Bridge, to name a few. “We’re feeling very positive about the future; now we have a factory capable of meeting our needs as demand continues to grow. We certainly couldn’t have chosen a better location.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=