.jpg)
H&D Mitre 10 at Heatherbrae in the NSW Hunter Region, operates a solidly busy timber mill alongside its hardware store.
Manager James Haynes says the 30-year-old business has grown steadily, servicing both industrial and retail customers from the on-site mill.
“We have customers who buy casually, and regular businesses we serve such as various builders and Tomago Aluminium, the smelter.” Tomago, established in 1981, is a joint venture between three global big names — Rio Tinto Alcan, Gove Aluminium Finance and Hydro Aluminium.
“We supply dunnage timber for export to China to Tomago, and had reached the stage where we needed to improve our manual continuous-roller coding process on that timber, as well as make it lot tidier.
“We asked for recommendations, and Weathertex suggested Matthews. They’ve had a Matthews coder for quite a while and are very happy with it.” Weathertex manufactures reconstituted wood products from wood and wax.
.png)
H&D Mitre 10 at Heatherbrae in the NSW Hunter Region operates a solidly busy timber mill alongside its hardware store. The 30-year old business has grown steadily, servicing both industrial and retail customers from the on-site mill. Customers include builders and exporters.
H&D Mitre 10 supplies dunnage timber for export to China for Tomago Aluminium (a joint venture between Rio Tinto Alcan, Gove Aluminium Finance and Hydro Aluminium). The mill’s manual continuous-roller coding process on the dunnage needed to be faster, automated and with a clearer print.
The timber needed to be coded on two sides simultaneously.
The mark on the timber needed to be clear, to meet export standards, and the coder needed the capability to code alphanumerically and logos.
H&D Mitre 10 asked other mills for recommendations. Reconstituted wood product manufacturer Weathertex, also their customer, suggested Matthews, having successfully used a Matthews coder for quite a while.
After a site visit, Matthews recommended a Drop On Demand SX32 coder. (Some applications demand a hi-resolution coder, such as the brand-new Mperia, however the SX32 suited H&D Mitre 10’s needs.)
.png)
H&D Mitre 10 has two SX32 Drop on Demand Inkjet coders; one sitting underneath the timber and the other over the top, to mark two sides simultaneously.
The mill uses them to code a logo with the Australian Standard, their identification number and what they’ve treated the timber with (a methyl bromide fumigant). For that one export client alone, H&D Mitre 10 does around 600 cubic metres annually — plus several hundred cubic metres for domestic clients.
Staff find the coders easy to use. They have improved the mill’s productivity, and given a more professional look, with a clearer mark.
H&D Mitre 10 also likes the fact they can program the coders for different things if they need to; for instance, they can print a customer’s name and phone number on the underside of the board, which customers like as identification and free advertising.
“We have a good relationship with Weathertex — in fact we subcontract back to them with their rubix panel — so were happy to go with their recommendation. We’re really happy with the machine and Matthews: they’ve been really good with all of our enquiries and helping us out. They go out of their way to help us.”
— James Haynes, Manager, H&D Mitre 10, Heatherbrae, NSW Hunter Region
