SCANDINAVIAN SKILLS, KIWI ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A new laser cutter is elevating an already busy Nelson stainless steel fabricating firm and the owner says investing in the best equipment is what gives him the edge.
Danish Kiwi Chris Nielsen trained as a stainless steel and aluminium fabricator in Denmark. He was surprised to learn the trade didn’t exist here in New Zealand but has turned that into the strength of his booming business, All Stainless Nelson.
“It’s a trade all on its own in Europe” he says. But what he’s found is a gap in the market in New Zealand for highly specific and skilled stainless and aluminium fabricating – and with classic Kiwi ingenuity, he’s established a business that hasn’t had to advertise in the last three or so years, they’ve been so busy with repeat work from existing customers.
His skill set and knowledge, unique in New Zealand, is one of All Stainless’ points of difference. He says he keeps up with European training online and enjoys passing on the knowledge to his apprentices – and hasn’t given up hope of making it a trade all on its own in New Zealand.
He also brings a Scandinavian focus on investment in business, something he feels can be lacking in New Zealand.
When he returned to New Zealand in the early 2000s he couldn’t believe some of the old equipment he saw.
“Some of it belonged in a museum.”
But his belief in investing in high end plant is, he believes, one of the reasons All Stainless grew so fast.
He insists on only the best and has added his biggest investment yet – a 6kw Bodor laser and tube cutter from Laser Machines Ltd. It builds on the existing plant of a 1.5kw Bodor laser, CNC press brake and swing beam guillotine.
Nielsen is clear about what this means for both his business and his customers.
“We have significantly more capacity – before we could do in a day what this machine will do in an hour. It’s so fast.”
It takes more time to load and unload the machine than it does to do the job, in some cases. And the precision is astonishing.
This means less wait time for existing customers and gives the business the ability to take on new customers and perform a bigger range of tasks. Nielsen is spending less time in the workshop, and more on developing his customer base.
Previously All Stainless primarily serviced Nelson and the South Island, but he’s eyeing expansion to nationwide customers and says in particular firms that need an urgent part made could potentially have 24-hour turnaround. He’s also got good supplies and sizes of stainless steel in stock so if he gets the specifications, an urgent job can be turned around very quickly, meaning businesses can minimise downtime caused by breakdowns.
He says the purchase – in the ballpark of $500,000 – reflects both his confidence in the industry and in Nelson as a place to do business. While it can be thought of as isolated, he says there’s good links and plenty of daily flights so new customers can have confidence, especially with express jobs.
Nielsen has personally trained all his six staff and he says having such a strong team gave him the confidence to invest time and money into expanding the business.
However, while he spends less time on the floor and more on sales he says like many Kiwi businesses, getting staff is the biggest challenge.
All Stainless looks for people it can train or put through apprenticeships and he’s always on the lookout for people with the right qualities.
New staff get tested on the floor and if they have the goods, Nielsen says he can teach them the rest.
He’s looking forward to this new phase of his business.
“In the last three years I haven’t had time to get out of the workshop.”
The Danish approach to training and investing blended with a very Kiwi attitude of giving things a go is a formula that’s worked well so far.