50 | CONTRACTING Bayonet Innovation, investment drive business Virginia Wright Wire products remain at the core of Bayonet’s business. 94 Gargan Road, Tauriko, Tauranga 3110 | 07 575 2027 | office@harkinroofing.co.nz | www.harkinroofing.co.nz PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH BAYONET AS THEIR PREFERRED INDUSTRIAL/COMMERCIAL METAL ROOFING AND CLADDING SPECIALISTS Farm Materials • Building Materials Electrics • Stock Feed • Water Tanks Culverts • Hardware Proud to support Bayonet We now stock Rural Direct products ~ more than just fencing ~ Phone Ross 06 374 8193 or email ross@turtons.co.nz Although it was rebranded Bayonet only last year, the company now trading under that name has been in business for 50 years. Joel and his brother Frank took official ownership of the manufacturing business from their parents Paul and Rosemarie in early 2020, extending the Bishop family legacy into its third generation. Bayonet began trading as Paul Industries in 1972 when Doug Bishop and his son Paul responded to a short supply of bitumen-soaked craft paper for roof underlay, commonly known as building paper. Paul had trained as a draughtsman and was working as a roofer so knew exactly what was required, explains his son Joel. “They had friends who owned Millers Marathon Roofing and there was a shortage of building products in the early 70’s, so my grandfather and my father built a machine that saturates craft-paper in bitumen to supply them, and they were soon supplying it to wider roofers.” In what was a natural progression at the time Paul Industries soon bought a machine to produce the hexagonal wire roof netting used to support roof underlays from sagging to this day, as it too was in short supply around the country. It was the first of the many wire products which remain at the core of Bayonet’s business. They’re still as quick to recognise opportunities in the market as they were in those early days and make it their business to come up with ways to meet the market’s needs. They expanded the range of hexagonal netting to other sizes to serve other purposes including the rabbit netting which launched them into the rural market. “The backbone of the business was always construction, but that rabbit netting led us into the wire products for rural supply which now includes deer netting, sheep netting, barbed wire, chain link fencing, fence staples and so on,” explains Joel. Innovation also remains at the core of Bayonet’s business. In response to the drive for safe working environments in the 1990’s they developed a machine to manufacture the first New Zealand roof mesh, branded “Kiwimesh Roof Safety Mesh”, making them the sole manufacturer of roof safety mesh and roof netting in New Zealand which they are to this day. Producing it locally means shorter lead-time and that they can cut to length, and it’s 100% batch marked meaning it can be traced back to the point of manufacture, thus hitting an increasingly ‘point of origin’ savvy market. By the 2000’s they were supplying the latest in technology membranes increasingly in de- “The backbone of the business was always construction, but that rabbit netting led us into the wire products for rural supply which now includes deer netting, sheep netting, barbed wire, chain link fencing, fence staples and so on.” mand for house wraps, using synthetic materials to provide the faster wrapping systems the construction market was demanding. More recently they’ve come up with a new solution to the rabbit crisis hitting a lot of the South Island. “We’re producing a new type of fence netting which reduces the hole sizes by half, further reducing the risk of rabbits getting through,” says Joel. Over the years the mechanically minded Bishop family have built up a lot of internal machinery and IP for manufacturing products in response to their quick appreciation of what the market needs. Around 2015 they started investing in further plant and equipment to manufacture the fixed knot prefabricated netting which now gives the company its name “Bayonet”, and then invested in a purpose-built machine to increase the quality and quantity of both the Fixed Knot and Kiwi Knot wire fence they produce for the rural market. Also in 2015 they consolidated their operations into a single purpose-built 4500 m² facility in Tauranga complete with offices, big enough to house it all. The company remains a family-run business, poised to recognise needs in both the construction and rural markets, and come up with products to make life easier for customers in both.
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