Page 10 - HW May-June 2020

hard news
CHH LVL and James Hardie
reconsider New Zealand manufacturing
TWO LONG TERM and high pro le operators in the New Zealand are both reconsidering the bases of their production.
CHH LVL exports uneconomic – Mid- May we heard about uneconomic exports driving Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) to consider a purely domestic focus for
its Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) business (https://futurebuild.co.nz/).
Following a proposal to restructure the LVL business into a smaller, domestically- focused operation, in mid-May CHH advised it had started a process of consultation with a ected sta .
At the time, global CHH Chief Executive, Prafull Kesha, said: “ e proposal re ects our serious concern that the export part of the LVL business, which accounts for approximately 70% of our production and sales volume,
is unpro table and the business as it operates today can’t continue.
“While total closure has been considered and still remains an option, we have identi ed that a smaller domestically-focussed business may be
more viable than the current business (which serves both the export and domestic markets) with a better chance of long run survival.”
A nal decision will be made once the consultation process with all sta in its LVL business is concluded.
It is thought that most of the proposed cuts will come at the Futurebuild LVL manufacturing facility, at Marsden Point in Northland.
James Hardie’s Aussie shift – Earlier
last month, as part of a global rethinking of its manufacturing, James Hardie (www.jameshardie.com) announced plans to shift New Zealand production of bre board products to more modern Australian plants during the next year.
e aim being to “move to a regional model for the manufacture and supply of ber cement products for the New Zealand market”, “Ultimately,” says James Hardie, the company “intends to cease all manufacturing of products in New Zealand.”
With a consultation process still to take place, the plan is for manufacturing to shift from the outdated Penrose site to James Hardie’s more modern Rosehill and Carole Park plants in Australia.
Freight and logistics will also be outsourced but the New Zealand
sales, marketing, customer service and technical support teams would continue to be locally based.
Slated to cease manufacturing over the next year, the COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to the 80-year- old Penrose plant’s likely closure, it’s reported.
Bunnings New Zealand Director, Jacqui Coombes, says: “Despite the incredible e orts of our teams, the challenges at these stores have been exacerbated as a result of the COVID-19 environment and unfortunately these stores are no longer a viable part of our store network.”
The seven affected stores will close by the end of June,
leaving the Bunnings network as 46 current store locations with new
stores coming for Westgate (West Auckland), Queenstown (Frankton, due to open mid-2021) and London St in Whanganui.
www.bunnings.co.nz
More closures from
Bunnings’ review of NZ network
FOLLOWING A PERIOD of consultation in May, Bunnings has since con rmed its intention to close seven more stores across New Zealand.
Stores for closure include the Ashburton Bunnings Warehouse, the Hornby and Hastings Trade Centres and four smaller format stores in Cambridge, Rangiora, Te Awamutu and Putaruru.
A network review late last year has already led to Bunnings closing three of its smaller format stores at Te Aroha, Waikanae and Paeroa.
Says the company: “While in this instance the decisions taken have largely been connected to the challenges
of the recent trading environment,
this proposal has taken into account other considerations including lease arrangements, individual store performance and suitability of location, with some of the stores always intended as temporary locations.”
8 NZHJ | MAY/JUNE 2020
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