44 | Making steep slopes safe The Madill range includes log haulers, extraction machinery excavators, and steep-slope harvesters that forward and process trees, and load the wood out. FORESTRY Moutere Logging / DC Logging T T Richard Loader In July of this year, DC Equipment, a Brightwater (Nelson) based manufacturer of steep-slope Falcon Forestry equipment purchased the Madill, Thunderbird and Cypress brands, including all intellectual property, enabling the company to manufacture the machinery from the ground up, and help achieve its goal for safe steep-slope activity. Specialised machinery designed for the forestry industry, the brands’ range includes log haulers, extraction machinery excavators, and steep-slope harvesters that forward and process trees, and load the wood out. DC Equipment’s Managing Director Dale Ewers says the Madill brand is internationally recognised as the premier brand of log haulers. “Our acquisition of these brands is huge and made international news in the forest sector. In forest circles, publications grabbed the story. The acquisition of these brands enables us to fulfill our mission and vision as a business. We’re a steep-slope solutions company, operating on the global stage and focused on making steep-slope solution safe, efficient and effective.” DC Equipment was established in 2010 by Dale and his wife Christine to complement their forestry business Moutere Logging, which currently operates four logging crews in the top of the South Island, and a further four crews in the lower North Island. “All our crews are mechanised. Ten years ago we used to manually fall eighty percent of our wood and now we manually fall ten percent, which we’re looking to mechanise in the near future. “Through our logging work we identify opportunities and then through DC Equipment design and transform those opportunities into reality, selling them to forest industries throughout the world. “One of our key developments is the Falcon Forestry Claw — a motorized grapple carriage, designed to eliminate ‘break out’ accidents. The purchase of these three new brands will make us the most aggressive manufacturer of forestry equipment in New Zealand.” DC Equipment’s goal is to offer a complete solution across the forestry sector and Dale acknowledges that the acquisition of the brands was the most expedient way of achieving that goal. “As it stands, these are very good machines, but we’re going to modernise them to accommodate computerisation and automation. We already have that technology in our Falcon brands and the existing Madill equipment used in our own forestry operations. “We’ve now commenced building the new machinery from the ground up, adding the new technology, with existing orders already received from North American clients.” Dale and Christine initially looked at building the new machines in Canada, but found it more cost effective to ship the componentry to New Zealand, and manufacturer the machines in Brightwater, shipping the complete machine back, with its enhanced technology. “We’re hoping that the first machine will roll out of our workshop in December. In the near future, we’re going to triple the size of our Brightwater premises, and already have resource consent. We’re just going through the building consent process, and hope to start construction early in the New Year. “We have established a subsidiary manufacturing plant in Chile, and we will also set up shop in North America.” While the forestry sector was DC Equipment’s original reason for being, the company has expanded its scope to encompass world-leading technologies for all steep-slope industries. “We’ve just sold some of our Falcon machines into West Virginia. Those machines are not going into forestry, they’re going into land clearing, oil and gas, all sorts of different uses that we are transitioning our machinery into. We’ve had our machinery building the dam here in Lee Valley. “In the future, the Madill brand will play a large part in achieving our overall vision.” Maximum e ciency, approved by OEMs for more information visit tenz.nz mmca.co.nz P. 03 545 6565 Proud to support Moutere Logging. Talk to us today to experience the difference of an award winning accounting firm — Xero Large Accounting Partner of the Year 2021. Proud to support Moutere Logging Specialising in: • Excavator conversions for Forestry • High and wide modifications • Full guarding packages www.cop.co.nz
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=