Fairview Metal Industries Group (FMI) has opened New Zealand“s most high-tech glass processing plant in the Izone business hub at Rolleston. The 2,400 sq.m. manufacturing plant represents a USD 10 mi…
Fairview Metal Industries Group (FMI) has opened New Zealand“s most high-tech glass processing plant in the Izone business hub at Rolleston. The 2,400 sq.m. manufacturing plant represents a USD 10 million investment by Australasian window and door designer and distributor FMI, headquartered in Auckland and employing over 250 people throughout Australasia. According to FMI director Warren Lewis, this is almost a homecoming for the company, which was founded in Timaru in 1909. Reasons behind the move include increasing freight costs, which were making it uneconomic to service the company“s traditional South Island customers. We chose Izone because of its location next to State Highway One and because we were able to buy enough land to allow us, in the future, to double in size. It“s also pretty special to be in a well constructed business park with views of the Southern Alps and a local workforce nearby. FMI imports glass prepared on an Italian-designed table and cut by an automated glass cutter. The latest Finnish technology is used to strengthen the glass and then, in a New Zealand first, another Italian-designed machine makes “warm edge“ insulated glass. By using the latest technology we will be producing the most thermally efficient insulated glass in the country at a higher volume than our competitors with fewer overheads, Lewis says. The plant will be tested and de-bugged until the end of the year, with manufacturing beginning in 2011, employing an initial six to eight people, then expanding as production increases.