22 | Embracing innovation drives success Sequal processes export-grade radiata pine logs at its sawmill in Kawerau, turning them into multiple products that they export to businesses in 20 countries around the world. Sequal T T Virginia Wright REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Having set up their company in 2008, primarily to supply a booming Middle East market that suffered the impact of the GFC, the founders of Bay of Plenty-based company, Sequal, soon realised they would need to pivot. They quickly worked out that everyone in the world wants something other than the standardised goods historically produced and supplied from New Zealand, and they began to adapt to what CEO David Turner describes as “producing for mass-customisation rather than mass-standardisation”. They have also responded to the growing preference in the international marketplace for sustainably produced goods. Businesses take Sequal’s value-added goods, made out of New Zealand radiata pine from sustainably harvested 100% FSC certified forests, knowing it helps them to reduce their own carbon footprint. Sequal processes these export-grade radiata pine logs at their sawmill in Kawerau, turning them into multiple products that they export to businesses in 20 countries around the world: no mean feat in a global environment where the countries they export to prefer importing raw materials over value-added goods, a preference that is reflected in the regulations that allow access to that market. It’s their ability to cost-effectively produce value-added goods across an unlimited range of variables that lies at the heart of Sequal’s success as they have adapted and changed to meet the global market, David, who is from one of the families that co-founded Sequal, says. “Our customers around the world want every possible geometric size from 13 millimetres to 300 millimetres, and we do every millimetre increment that our different customers require in whichever grade they want. “At any different time we could have 1300 or 1400 different geometric sizes, different grades and different lengths that require processing. “We have developed our own software to assist us put that together and optimise how we get the most out of a log, and out of our production system, over the course of a week.” David believes New Zealand needs to move beyond the mass-standardised manufacturing systems that have characterised production since the industrial age, and rather be able to kt.co.nz A global leader growing sustainable fibre solutions for future generations. CELEBRATING 80 YEARS create products for a wide range of different individuals needing a wide range of individual things. “It’s more challenging, but our view is that the digital age is going to be defined by a shift from mass-standardisation to mass-customisation,” he says. Instead of producing a standard range of products, such as house-framing timbers cut to the size typically used by builders, Sequal is processing a potentially infinite amount of products to meet orders from other businesses, wherever they are in the world. Embracing multiple layers of modern technology is the key: digitisation, automation, and AI, combined in a way that enables Sequal to produce mass-customised goods at scale. They may be the only ones doing it in New Zealand, but David has no doubt it’s the way of the future. “At any different time we could have 1300 or 1400 different geometric sizes, different grades and different lengths that require processing.“ “This transition to mass-customised business models is probably the most important transition that New Zealand needs to make if we’re going to continue to grow and export value-added products globally.” He says Sequal has successfully transitioned from producing traditional raw commodity forestry goods to a high-tech mass-customisation model, leading the way for other New Zealand exporters, and showing what can be achieved when a company embraces innovation and sustainability to redefine a traditional industry.
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