Youth, new, prosperous – the English interpretation of the Italian name Giulia, New Zealand’s largest and most technologically advanced aluminium extrusion press.
The press has been purchased by McKechnie Aluminium and signals the company’s long-term commitment to Taranaki, says the New Plymouth-based aluminium manufacturer of its NZD18m leading-edge investment that is intended to futureproof its business.
The company is neither young nor new like Giulia, as it has been manufacturing, exporting and creating employment opportunities in Taranaki for 60 years and has no reason to doubt that Giulia will ensure McKechnie Aluminium will extrude for at least another three decades.
McKechnie also exports a sizeable share of its production to Australia and has been doing so for nearly 31 years.
The sizeable investment is welcome news for the local economy, particularly in the wake of the Government’s 2018 announcement to cease offshore oil and gas exploration.
“This state-of-the-art aluminium extrusion press is a very exciting addition to Taranaki’s, and New Zealand’s, manufacturing capability,” says managing director Pramod Khatri. “This significant investment is part of our strategy to grow our business and futureproof our customer base, employees and local community.”
The press has increased the plant’s capacity by 30-40 percent by enhancing the company’s capability to produce larger-sized products and complex profiles previously possible only through imports.
The benefits for customers of having their aluminium product manufactured in New Zealand are multiple, including reduced working capital, shorter lead times, certainty of delivery, assured quality and high environmental performance.
“Our product has the lowest carbon footprint of all aluminium extrusions produced in Australasia. McKechnie is the only aluminium extruder with a re-melt facility, which means a high proportion of our product is made from recycled content,” says chief operating officer Scott Fuller.
McKechnie’s is also the only Australasian aluminium extruder, and the world’s first, to have gained third-party CEMARS environmental certification, which is based on stringent European standards ISO9001 and ISO14001 for being quality and environmental certified.
Installation of Giulia started in October 2017; the first billet was produced in March 2018; and final performance handover from Italian supplier Turla was in July 2019.
