Shane Wilson: mill general manager on the Tai Rāwhiti mill reopening under Australian management

The Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, with new Australian owners.

About 87 staff were impacted by Japanese-owned Juken's decision to close the mill - amid financial difficulties and weak demand for Japanese housing wood products.

Millari Group of Australia confirmed in a statement that it will upgrade and re-establish the 25-hectare site in Gisborne over the coming months.

Mill general manager Shane Wilson says more details will be revealed over the next few weeks - with repairs and upgrades needed to boost operations.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now some good business news for a change. New
owners will reopen tight Afterty's Sawmill. This means investment, this
means jobs. This is great stuff. The mill ran for
thirty years before closing in twenty twenty three, but is
now being acquired by Malari, which is an Australian outfit.
Before its closure, Shane Wilson worked at the mill for
twenty three years. He will return as general manager and

(00:23):
he's with me this evening. Hi Shane, Hey a you rong.
How are you feeling?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm excited excited on en.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
What is the plan? What have you been told so
far about when and how this will happen?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
So currently we're in the settlement stage of the process.
Hopefully you get the key handed over to us leader
this month. On that key handing over where we'll be
entering site and recommissioning most of the machinery. They're healthy.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
It's an awesome outcome. What state is the machinery and
whether they need to be upgrades and things.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
There would be a lot of upgrading eventually. The mill is,
like you said, thirty years old and it is a
lebor intensive milk and I'm guessing we'll have to try
and get rid of that heavy lifting for our operators.

(01:26):
To be honest, what type.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Of reaction have you had from people, especially because there
would have been a lot of well eighty seven made
redundant in twenty twenty three. Have you heard from some
of them?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
I have heard from a lot of them, seen as
when public have been getting calls from many seeing chances
of me having a position back at the mill, and yeah,
it's been awesome. There's been a lot of critical staff. Also,

(02:00):
what's the technical side of everything they've been bringing up
also trying to secure a position as incoming Malari email.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Shane, how many route do you know how many jobs
there will be available?

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Initially we're going to just need full staff to do
all the machinery and recommission most of the machinery. What's
the help of a lot of trade companies contractors coming in? Also?
Initially we will head towards the eighty eighty people mark.

(02:38):
So that's the initial one and in two years, maybe
one year, we'll be heading towards the twenty four seven
day operation, which would be around about two hundred to
two eighty staff required.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Wow, so a lot more, a lot more than then
the Japanese output ended with yes, what's everyone been doing since?
You know? For those people who did lose their jobs,
did they all manage to find new jobs in the meantime?
I mean, or have people been have some people been
kind of without work for that time?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Are the ones that I know of have had secured
jobs on the day they had finished some had finished
earlier which went on gardening to secure jobs, and Jane
I looked after them. They did workshops, they did career

(03:38):
days on site for the stuff, and a lot of
the community healthy caman and hired most of them. All good.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I'm pleased to hear it, and I'm pleased to hear
that there's going to be more jobs to go around
for you guys soon. Shane, thanks very much for your time.
Appreciate it. Shane Wilson, the general manager of malari in
Zid Mill which is coming back. The mill is coming
back to tight after your Gibsbee, which is fantastic news.
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talk ZIB from four pm weekdays, or follow the

(04:12):
podcast on iHeartRadio.