Page 44 - HW October 2020 NEW

frame & truss
A stillage containing the closed wall panels for a terrace home is craned into
Clever Core – one year on
It’s already almost a year since Fletcher Building officially opened its Clever Core “offsite manufacturing” (OSM) factory in Wiri.
To date, the operation has designed, manufactured and assembled
a range of home types – single-level duplexes, two-storey terraces,
and standalone single level homes – for Fletcher Living’s Ormiston, Beachlands, Swanson and Whenuapai developments with more to follow at Red Beach and Waiata Shores.
With volume a crucial box to be ticked in the OSM game, the Fletcher Living connection “has given us the scope and scale to really hone
our market offering, while ramping up our capability,” says a company spokesperson.
What sort of capacity is the facility operating at currently?
“We’ve been in a capacity and skill building phase and Covid-19 has added complexity so we are not yet at the capacity we would like to be,” admits our spokesperson.
“That said, in all other ways we are ahead of where we planned.
“Our quality assurance system is in the process of being automated, our Record of Works and other compliance documentation systems are well established and ready to ramp up.
“The support we have received in particular from Auckland Council in their inspection process has been a real win-win.”
In terms of staff and resource, the Wiri operation is looking to add
to its 40-strong team (already up from the original team of 35) and is currently working through the border exemption process for “specialised skills which simply don’t exist in New Zealand for our small, but growing industry.”
The first year’s operations have not been without challenges, however.
Key learnings have included the moving and transporting of roof components, as a result of which the stillages for forklift movements were redesigned for greater flexibility and a variety of crane types trialled to find the best and safest approach (see photos).
The company has also since employed its own specially trained, dedicated crane, rigging and dogman crew and is now consistently assembling the structural core for any of the house types it currently manufactures in a day.
What other lessons have been learned during this time from a production perspective?
As well as increased speed to completion, Clever Core’s Design for Manufacture & Assembly approach has also yielded benefits from a production waste perspective.
Impressively, the non-recycled waste produced in the factory environment is typically about the size of a domestic garbage bag.
On top of this, there’s an opportunity for timber offcuts to be used in other components.
At launch, the roof cassette line was still using stress graded timber ratherthantheLVLusedinforwalls.Thisremainsthecasebut,addsthe company:“Watch this space, we’re working on some exciting innovations in this line.”
Compared to the high-tech assembly process seen for walls, the roof cassette line is also likely to stay with manual assembly, says Clever Core, but adds that improvements are being considered that would enable the automation and manufacture of some “exciting and innovative roof options”.
Returning to the question of volume, is Fletcher Living still the operation’s sole customer or are external customers also now being supplied?
“The next part of our journey is identifying volume projects which is where Clever Core’s Design for Manufacture & Assembly approach will
place ready for assembly of ground floor walls at Fletcher Living’s Swanson development.
Roof cassettes in various stages on the Clever Core production line.
A roof cassette for a terrace home arrives at Fletcher Living’s Swanson development.
shine and add real pace to delivering houses.
“We’re currently well underway with some designs for consenting
with external customers,”says our spokesperson.
“Growing this part of the business is our next focus; we’re engaging
withpotentialcustomerssuchasKāingaOra,grouphomebuildersand other residential developers – anyone who is looking to optimise the delivery of quality housing at scale for their developments.”
If so, what sort of projects are Clever Core products going into?
“Medium density housing projects is the real sweet spot,” says the company. And, although medium density can be a challenge on-site, equally this is an opportunity for Clever Core to save time compared to traditional builds.
“Overall, we expect demand for all the types houses we can manufacture. Auckland still has a housing shortage and Clever Core has a role in helping the industry deliver better quality, healthy homes that Kiwis love, faster.”
www.fletcherbuilding.com
42 NZHJ | OCTOBER 2020
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