Cutting Edge Technology Wins More Export Deals
fRIDAY 18 jULY Rotorua A small New Zealand company has exhibited their portable sawmills at the world’s largest forestry
show with exceptional results.
Marketing Manager of Peterson Portable Sawmills Rosie Coward says the company took away several new deals and made an
incredible number of new contacts at the Ligna 2003 exhibition in Germany.
“It was the first time Peterson Portable Sawmills had been to Ligna and the first time a Peterson Mill had been shown in
mainland Europe, so we were very excited with the results.”
They secured a new distributor for Germany, which was a company who approached Peterson’s some time ago but the deal was
finalised at Ligna. Rosie Coward says they are having a trial period at present, and hope to have a container load of
portable mills to Germany by the end of the year.
“A new order for 16 mills to Africa was also placed at Ligna. We were able to meet with our South African distributor,
and show him the improvements we’ve made recently, so it was great to close the deal.
“We also had around 95 enquiries about our sawmills from people wanting to buy or distribute them. We were very pleased
with the amount of interest in our sawmills, as well as the positive comments on their quality.”
Petersons went to Ligna as part of a wood technology group managed by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), says
Rosie Coward.
“This was wonderful because it made the whole trip much more possible. We combined our marketing efforts with NZTE,
which was a great help for us.
“We worked closely with Lionel Crawley at NZTE, who organised the New Zealand stand at Ligna. We also had our own stand
because we needed to be outside to demonstrate our products, but we took part in the joint NZTE stand.”
Lionel Crawley, Wood Technology Client Manager for NZTE says Peterson’s successes at Ligna were amazing, but certainly
deserved by a company which has worked tremendously hard.
“They have a very high quality product which is ideal for exporting. What makes Peterson Portable Sawmills unique is
their highly developed circular saw technology.
“Circular saws have traditionally been perceived as inferior to band saws because there is more wasteage of wood while
cutting. However Peterson’s have developed new technology using a much thinner circular blade which minimises wood
wastage. Circular saws are also about a third of the cost of bandsaws, and need less maintenance.”
Rosie Coward says Petersons have found their relationship with NZTE to be tremendously helpful.
“NZTE helped us to take our products to the UK last year, and we have since gained CE certification, which is an
internationally recognised certification, to the highest safety standards.
“Next year we’re going to AusTimber, an Australian forestry show, with NZTE to launch our new automated mill, and we’ll
definitely be heading back to Ligna in 2005.”