Waikato Business News November/December 2018
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
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28 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>November</strong>/<strong>December</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
CLAY BRICKS<br />
Impressive new kiln, equipment see<br />
Clay Bricks boosting output and range<br />
Clay Bricks Ltd, based in Huntly, has<br />
reopened after a multi-million dollar<br />
new plant upgrade.<br />
The family firm can now<br />
process up to 150,000<br />
bricks a week at its Tregoweth<br />
Lane site, doubling its<br />
former capacity.<br />
It has imported the latest<br />
state of the art machinery from<br />
Italy, and extended its factory<br />
space to 5500 sq m.<br />
The substantial investment,<br />
featuring enhanced automa-<br />
The AGV-automated guidance<br />
vehicle carries racks of bricks<br />
to be dried and fired.<br />
tion, saw 80 containers worth<br />
of machinery arrive from Italy<br />
around May last year, and the<br />
new equipment has been running<br />
since April this year.<br />
The new setup uses<br />
Marcheluzzo Impianti equipment<br />
and also features the<br />
only Roller Hearth Kiln in<br />
Australasia, a continuous firing<br />
furnace which transports products<br />
using ceramic rollers and<br />
reaches 1300 degrees Celsius.<br />
The kiln includes a treatment<br />
that enhances the colour<br />
of the bricks, which are being<br />
snapped up by builders as construction<br />
booms.<br />
That sees Clay Bricks,<br />
with agents in Auckland and<br />
through the rest of the North<br />
Island, set to add the South<br />
Island to the mix 18 years after<br />
it started on a green field site.<br />
The firm, the only clay brick<br />
manufacturer in the North<br />
Island, has also been contacted<br />
by Kiwibuild.<br />
The owners made the<br />
decision to upgrade as their<br />
18-year-old kiln began to<br />
need more maintenance, and<br />
as they could see demand for<br />
their durable, low-maintenance<br />
product would only increase.<br />
Former bricklayer Eric<br />
Finlay and his wife Vickie<br />
started the business in 2000<br />
and since then their sons Chad<br />
and Joseph have joined them in<br />
the factory. Jeff joined them in<br />
the early years, and is a shareholder<br />
and director in the company.<br />
He previously worked<br />
for an Australian-owned brick<br />
manufacturer in <strong>Waikato</strong> - he<br />
used to sell bricks to Eric; now<br />
he sells them with him.<br />
When they started, there<br />
were two other clay brick<br />
manufacturers in the North<br />
Island, one of them at Horotiu.<br />
“Both of them are now housing<br />
estates - with brick houses on<br />
them,” Jeff said.<br />
Their only domestic competitor<br />
today is based in the<br />
South Island.<br />
The level of automation<br />
means the company has been<br />
able to keep staff numbers stable,<br />
with five permanent staff<br />
in addition to the owners keeping<br />
the operation running 24<br />
hours a day, five days a week.<br />
All their clays are sourced<br />
locally, and mixed on site to<br />
get the right colour before<br />
being extruded, dried and fired.<br />
The factory can produce<br />
a range of sizes, and has also<br />
boosted its variety of colours<br />
with the addition of a popular<br />
white brick.<br />
The factory features an<br />
AGV-automated guidance<br />
vehicle that carries racks of<br />
bricks to be dried and fired,<br />
and which can handle five and<br />
a half tonnes. Its introduction<br />
has reduced the use of driver-operated<br />
forklifts, which are<br />
now used only to shift pallets<br />
to the storage area outside.<br />
There is also a fixed robot in<br />
The fired bricks are handled and<br />
packed on pallets by a robot.<br />
The Roller Hearth Kiln<br />
uses ceramic rollers.<br />
the factory that sets up pallets<br />
and stacks them with finished<br />
bricks. The pallets then move<br />
to the stretch hood wrapping<br />
machine and a branded wrap is<br />
stretched over them ready for<br />
delivery.<br />
Clay Bricks sell mainly in<br />
<strong>Waikato</strong>, though sales are starting<br />
to ramp up in Auckland.<br />
The South Island market has<br />
been opened up by a change<br />
in pallet size which they introduced<br />
along with the new<br />
machinery, meaning the bricks<br />
can be shipped in containers,<br />
greatly reducing the cost compared<br />
to trucking them across<br />
Cook Strait.<br />
Almost all their bricks are<br />
used in the residential market.<br />
Jeff said the growth hub of<br />
Te Kauwhata is handy for the<br />
firm, as is Pokeno a little further<br />
north.<br />
Eric: “We're quite centrally<br />
located here for supply to the<br />
golden triangle - Auckland,<br />
Hamilton, Tauranga. We're<br />
right in the heart of it, it's a<br />
good spot.”<br />
It’s as true today as it was<br />
when he started 18 years ago.<br />
“Huntly was the area to be in -<br />
you had gas, clay and you were<br />
central.<br />
NZ MADE BRICKS<br />
FOR NZ HOMES<br />
Established in 2000, this family owned business manufactures<br />
bricks using clays sourced from the local area.<br />
51 Tregoweth Lane, Huntly | 07 828 9919 | claybricks@xtra.co.nz | www.claybricks.co.nz<br />
200543AA
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