32 | Southland: Daiken Southland REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Russell Fredric Global demand drives plant output Daiken Southland has an active plan to continue to increase production rates which will require capital investment in equipment. Techsure Engineering are proud to support Daiken NZ For all your onsite, workshop welding & general engineering requirements. or 027 694 4007 Daiken Southland continues to make a solid contribution to the local, regional and national economy, employing 130 staff whose combined effort produces 200,000 cubic metres of medium density fibreboard (MDF) annually. Sales and marketing manager Tristan Dawson says as well as employing the 130 staff, Daiken Southland’s contribution to the economy also relies heavily on engaging up to 100 contract workers from local engineering firms for the plant’s annual and regular maintenance days. The plant produces a range of MDF products from 2.5mm to 36.0mm board. These products are highly versatile and in many ways central to the global construction industry and include melamine-faced boards, plus a variety of wood-based panels in a wide range of thicknesses that have many applications. They are ideal for residential and commercial interior applications such as kitchen joinery, office furniture, wall and floor linings, mouldings, shelving and partitions among others. MDF is also an excellent substrate for natural wood veneer, vinyls, printed papers, foils and melamine papers. Daiken Southland has an active plan to continue to increase production rates which will require capital investment in equipment, Tristan says. “It also requires ongoing development with resin, which is one of the main ingredients of the manufacture of MDF, so we work closely with resin suppliers to develop resins that not only enable production to be increased but also control and reduce the levels of formaldehyde emissions.” “Looking into the future, in terms of growth of the green economy, the direction that needs to be considered is around bio-resins or plant-based resins rather than the use of a urea-based formaldehyde.” The company has a dedicated environmental department that monitors the plant’s activities against permitted levels and communicates these results to the local authority and neighbours. Tristan says that, despite the impact of covid, Daiken Southland’s production has been underpinned by strong global demand, while New Zealand’s housing shortage will also ensure continuing stable demand domestically. “Globally MDF goes into two main categories, one’s building materials and the other is furniture manufacture.” Across the Daiken group in New Zealand, which includes its Rangiora plant, 75% of production is exported. The Covid pandemic has also created a reduction in the availability of shipping containers, driven by congestion in ports in China and the west coast of the United States. This has in turn interrupted international shipping schedules along with considerably increasing costs. However for its raw product, Daiken Southland is fortunate to be centrally located within a 150 kilometre radius of large forestry operations which was the key reason for the plant being built in the late 1990’s. “It terms of the volume that’s available, we are in a strong position compared to some of our competitors. “The other advantage is most forests are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified in the Southland region; that’s a certification to prove it’s a renewable resource and plantation forest and that’s been beneficial as the environmental green-side of consumer demand has come through.” “Looking into the future, in terms of growth of the green economy, the direction that needs to be considered is around bio-resins or plant-based resins rather than the use of a urea-based formaldehyde.”
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