Cutting edge in timber

Press, 1 March 1989, Page 37

Cutting edge in timber

Stoneyhurst Timbers, of Belfast, has bought a computerised sawmill from Sweden.

However, although the equipment has been in New Zealand for six weeks, the Belfast company has yet to receive it because of delays caused by a freight company. Stoneyhurst Timbers’ manager, Mr John Hawkins, said the shipment, consisting of 10 containers, had been quicker coming to New Zealand from Sweden.

The company has been going for 48 years, and has been at its present site at Belfast for 24 years. The decision had been made to buy the computerised mill because the present mill was getting old, Mr Hawkins said. The computerised mill had four times the capacity of the existing mill, but none of the 20 workers would lose their jobs in spite of the increased automation.

“We will probably need more staff to handle the increased production,” Mr Hawkins said.

The decision by <Stoneyhurst to buy the mill stems from the prospect of a vast increase in the amount of logs available from State-owned forests, starting four years from now. The Government is offering its forests and mills for sale as part of its assets sale programme.

Mr Hawkins believes that the new mill will give his company an edge on its competitors, because it is easier and quicker to run, and also more efficient.

The mill, made by Ari, was bought from a company in Sjosa, Sweden, which had “gone broke.” Two employees of Stoneyhurst had spent a month in Sjosa marking the equipment while the Swedish company dismantled the mill. The mill would be reassembled by the Belfast firm, A IOOOsq m building has been erected at Belfast for the two-storey mill, and there will also be ancillary buildings to house a log scanner, debarker, metal-detector, and for timber handling.