| 3 Hugh de Lacy Taking a shot at a new product line The company’s 4200sqm Rotorua factory has a staff of 45, and 85% of Kilwell Fibrelab’s production is exported. Kilwell Fibrelab REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Already known world-wide for its fishing rods, Rotorua-based Kilwell Fibrelab is expanding its composite tubing design and manufacturing skills into the firearms industry, with stocks and carbon fibre-wrapped rifles. “We make stocks for firearms for the rifle manufacturer Hardy Rifles in Palmerston North from carbon fibre, and wrap carbon fibre around rifle barrels,” says Amanda Wells, co-owner and director of Kilwell Fibrelab with her brother, Geoff Wells. They are the grandchildren of the founder of the company, John L Wells, who made his name as the designer and manufacturer of the Kilwell range of fishing and boating gear, and for his fishing rods in particular. “Most of our business is serving the sports industry, and we’ve become a world leader in composite design and manufacture with products like rowing-oar and squash racquet shafts, masts, booms, prods, spinnaker poles, outriggers, stern tubes and telescopic pole sets – it’s a pretty comprehensive inventory,” Amanda says. “Being at the sharp end of composite industry developments, we’re looking for new uses for our products and technology, and that led us to experiment with different production methods and extend into the firearms industry with stock manufacture and barrel wrapping. “Carbon fibre wrapped around rifle barrels aids in heat dissipation, reduces the weight of the barrel, and ultimately, looks pretty sharp.” The 4200sqm Rotorua factory has a staff of 45, and 85% of Kilwell Fibrelab’s production is exported, with key clients including the Australian company Croker Oars, which uses Kilwell blanks for the competition rowing oars it produces. An American client, Industrial Tube, uses Kilwell-produced tubes in a water-divining product, while the long-established Australian sports retailer, Wilson Fishing, is one of the company’s biggest consumers of fishing rod blanks. And it was those fishing products that launched John L Wells on the path that led to Kilwell Fibrelab becoming the company it is today. English-born John L was a passionate fly fisher, and he first set up a sporting goods shop called Kellys, specialising in fishing gear, in Auckland in 1933. He was drawn to Rotorua because it was already famous for its trout fishing, and in the mid-1930s he set up a shop, first in Fenton Street, before moving to the present site in Te Ngae Road in 1989. John soon switched from retailing to wholesaling, picking up the New Zealand agency for globally known fishing brands such as Mitchell, Scientific Anglers and Abu, while continuing to make and market his own Kilwell products. Sons Jeremy and John G Wells bought their father out in 1965, and in 1968, broke new ground by establishing Kilwell Firetube and becoming the first company in Australasia to produce tubular fibreglass and rod blanks. Jeremy’s family took ownership of the company in the early 1990s, and today it is run by the third generation of the Wells family, Amanda and Geoff. Amanda is mainly focused on the marketing and operations sides of the business while Geoff, who has a passion for fishing and competitive shooting, is in charge of sales. Proudly supporting Kilwell Fibrelab Image courtesy of LTA Research
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