Page 42 - HW October 2020 NEW

frame & truss
Interest in OSM is high
In terms of developments in offsite manufacturing (OSM) or prefabrication, we note that Concision has put investment into a facility in Matamata and will be joined in the new year by a new Cromwell-based operation.
Hector Egger New Zealand is a JV between Swiss engineered wood products company Hector Egger Holzbau AG and New Zealand
partners Stephan Mäusli and Tristan Franklin.
With plans to start manufacturing early next year, the Cromwell
factory and offices are nearing completion as we write (see photo). We hope to be able to find out more from Tristan Franklin in good time for the next issue.
https://hector-egger.ch/he-nz/
the market, currently, customer preference remains a barrier: “Some people love it, and some people don’t. It’s often just personal preference.”
Along with CHH Wood products, Nelson Pine Industries (www.nelsonpine.co.nz) is a key purveyor of LVL, and Sales & Marketing Manager, Paul Dalzell, continues to express surprise at the resistance to LVL products in frame & truss, particularly in the North Island, although the South Island continues to show a much keener interest.
Admitting there is a price differential – which comes with LVL’s performance differential – Paul says demand will grow organically and that’s something he’s reasonably comfortable with.
“It only takes two or three builders to decide that they want to make a change. People take notice of successful builders and say, ‘if they’re prepared to give it a go, we’ll try it too’.”
In this respect Nelson Pine Industries is continuing with its LVL8 framing material programme and has also introduced an LVL11 in six or 12 metre lengths, which Paul Dalzell says is cost effective compared to an LVL13 and is “being received very well”, particularly in the modular housing arena.
“We want to go up the value chain in terms of performance. beyond that of an SG8,” he says, adding that the company is moving to a 24/7 shift operation from January 2021 thanks to “a bit of a vacuum in the Australian domain, into which we’ve been invited...”
TOWARDS END TO END MANAGEMENT
Like any modern business, progress in frame & truss isn’t just about manufacturing, saws and presses but also people and process.
Interesting to note here that Mike Stanton believes efforts to date in prefabrication and offsite or controlled environment manufacturing have definitely piqued the interest of frame
& truss players in terms of smarter buildings and smarter technology.
Indeed, MiTek as an example is encouraging plants towards adopting software that can manage jobs from end to end, from the moment the plans arrive through to detailing, production, delivery and into the ongoing customer relationship so the builder knows exactly where his job is at.
Adds Mike Stanton: “I think it’s really important that frame & truss manufacturers understand exactly what’s happening in their business and now we have software that is starting to give them real clarity about how they’re performing.”
I imagine this sort of system would offer particularly keen payback for those working across multiple sites.
Take for example, PlaceMakers, where Mark Buckenham explains that a recent restructure means estimating and detailing across PlaceMakers’ eight-plant frame & truss network are now working much more closely, with the expectation that this will deliver some key benefits.
40 NZHJ | OCTOBER 2020
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