Gearing down for the recession proves a wise decision for exporter.
A few years back, Jenkin Timber's export orders were almost halved when the United States was gripped by the global financial crisis and demand dried up almost overnight.
Strategic planning never came in handier - Jenkin came out of the crisis sharper and more convinced that its slow-and-steady approach was
the right one.
Chief executive Richard Carbines says the company had been trimming its operations even before the slowdown. "We were prepared for the recession; we saw it coming."
The company, based in Henderson, West Auckland, had been exporting about 23,500 cu m of timber products a year, but by last year that was down to 12,500-13,500 cu m. Because it had already started cutting back, even at the worst point of the economic crisis, it only had to trim the equivalent of 10 per cent of full-time staff.
"The recession affected our profits," says Carbines. "But we didn't stop investing in design, or in advertising, especially in New Zealand."
The company has gone through several metamorphoses since it was founded in 1922 by Harry Jenkin, whose philosophy still permeates the organisation: "You don't sharpen tools - you keep them sharp."
Jenkin started as a builder and dabbled with joinery out of his garage in the 1930s. The company was an early adapter, using finger-jointed pine, pioneered by a German.
A few years ago, says Carbines, the company went through the Better by Design (BBD) programme initiated by NZ Trade and Enterprise. "We narrowed our focus on timber cladding as an area of great opportunity and Australia, New Zealand and the US as key markets."
Jenkin had started making timber cladding in the mid-1980s but the BBD programme helped it find ways to get more out of its timber products by innovation and design.
In 2007 it launched its first design-focused product - A-lign cladding, an updated version of traditional weatherboards. Jenkin has for the first time patented the product and the system for installing it.
Jenkin's A-lign cladding was used on a Silver Award winner in the Registered Master Builders House of the Year won by Niels Anderson of Kris Anderson Builders.
The company reckons it has between 15 and 20 per cent of the timber cladding market, of which A-lign has about a third share and is still growing.
Jenkin's other timber product brand is Tru-Pine, made from pine trees from renewable plantations. Tru-Pine's applications include framing, cladding, pergolas and decks. It also owns one-third of another product, Bodyguard, a line of treated wood products made only for the US market.
Meeting consumer demand for sustainability has also served Jenkin well.
"Five years ago, if you would have asked me about this [sustainability], I would have said it was on the fringe," says Carbines. "Now it is a definite movement in the US."
Jenkin's pine products are sourced from renewable forests and have certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, which means the company can produce a paper trail showing where its timber is sourced.
Carbines says operating within FSC standards is important "if you want to have a good differentiation and reasonable return for your products".
In future, the company will continue to focus on its key advantages.
"The sustainability focus has proven to be a success. The quality of our product is another," says Carbines.
He also wants to see Jenkin living up the idea of "lean manufacturing".
"Two years ago, we weren't totally efficient so we took on lean manufacturing. This involves a massive changing in culture."
Knowing that best ideas come from the factory floor, Carbines is keen for the shift to lean manufacturing to take root among staff.
"It is not something you can drive top down."
Carbines was hired in 1963 by the late Jim Jenkin, son of founder Harry. Carbines says Jim was an extremely fair person and one who was ready to invest in innovation.
If there is one thing he learnt from Jim, it is keeping the innovative culture alive.
"We hope over the next five to 10 years we would be firmly entrenched in being the best maker, marketer and distributor of timber products."
The company's strategy has also been to stay focused on progressive growth, rather than rushing into all markets.
This is reflected in its targeted approach in the US and in Australia - a market it has spent 25 years developing with its distributor, Tasman KB.
New Zealand will also be seeing more of Jenkin, he says, as the company turns its focus on the home market to complement its exports.
