Waikato Business News February/March 2017

18 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS February/March 2017
Hansa Chippers produces a wide range of top quality wood chippers.
Innovative design and quality key
to Hansa Chippers’ success
A business established in a back yard shed
in Ohaupo is now a world class design and
manufacturing company exporting half of
its production.
Hansa Chippers – a
specialist in design
and manufacture of
top quality wood chippers -
employs a team of 26 people
from its base in Pukete,
Hamilton.
The ambitious company
is growing at a rate of more
than 25 percent a year and
has recently been recognised
by New Zealand Trade and
Enterprise (NZTE) for its
export potential.
Hansa Chippers had humble
beginnings when in 1981
Manfred Vogel spotted an
opportunity to develop wood
chippers creating a market that
was destined to grow. On a
shoestring budget, initially
working out of his mother in
law’s honey shed in Ohaupo,
he designed and manufactured
the very first Hansa Chipper.
Fast forward 22 years,
Manfred’s son Martin returned
from qualifying as a mechanical
engineer at the University of
Auckland and joined the business,
then based in Frankton.
“Twelve years ago it
was just Dad and I doing
everything ourselves,” recalls
Martin. “We did all the cutting,
the welding and the assembly.”
When Manfred retired,
Martin bought him out and
has taken Hansa Chippers to
new levels but always kept to
the businesse’s original values
of producing innovative and
quality products that exceed
customers expectations.
By GEOFF TAYLOR
Five years ago, Hansa
Chippers outgrew its previous
location and moved to its Tawn
Place site where it now produces
3500 chippers a year;
in two weeks it produces what
Manfred and Martin used to
make in a year.
Hansa Chippers produces a
large range of wood chippers.
Its smaller models are massively
popular, particularly the
Model C7 chipper, pitched as
the ultimate weapon for lifestylers.
But the range extends
all the way from models for
home gardens, to full scale
commercial arborist businesses.
You can even pop down
to your local hire centre and
chances are you will find a
Hansa Chipper.
The Hansa Chippers’
design team uses Solidworks
3D modelling to turn ideas into
top class machines. Drawings
go to Hamilton-based Stainless
Design for laser cutting which
are then welded, blasted, powdercoated
and assembled by
the Hansa team.
The factory which is
Team Hansa and visitors at 10,000 Honda engine celebration.
entrenched in lean manufacturing
has become so busy that
it now runs across two shifts.
Martin says assembly is
becoming more automated,
evidenced by Hansa Chippers’
robot welder which can do the
work in a quarter of the time.
Blasting and powder coating
are likely to be automated in
the future.
“Anything that can be automated
we have to do it,” he
says.
“l have to look at our competitors
in Europe and the
United States. Their cost of
manufacture is cheaper than
ours. We must look at ways to
do it smarter to compete on that
world scale. That’s been key to
getting an efficient operation.”
Further to this, Hansa
Chipper’s success is the agility
created through its design
and manufacturing operation.
New models can be quickly
developed from idea to design
to market.
An example is Hansa
Chippers’ latest model, the
C60RX chipper, which is
The first Honda powered Hansa Chipper.
mounted on a tracked undercarriage
and is fully operated
by remote control. Hansa’s
design team started developing
the model in March last year
and it was released at the fieldays
in June. The C60RX can
get to places that are difficult
to access. With 10” capacity
and powered by a 65HP
engine, this chipper is ideal for