Our purpose is to challenge, transform and give more to the future through wood – so we’re always looking for ways we can give more at Sequal; to our people, to our partners and to the future.
For our customers, as well as creating long-lasting partnerships and finding ways to value-add, we believe giving more means delivering a quality product that is cut to requirements, delivered on-time and in a way that we all can be proud of.
With wage rates in New Zealand constantly increasing and technology moving as fast as it is, automation is an opportunity for us that is super exciting. However, with automation comes a challenge – the challenge for us to stay true to our values. At Sequal, we’re really staunch about not compromising on things we’re passionate about, especially when it comes to our values and beliefs – and we really care about our people. We want to grow our people to learn to problem-solve and innovate so that no matter what industry they find themselves in, they’re learning skills to build on their futures.
We’ve recently installed an automatic strapping machine which will enhance our packet quality and standardize packet appearance. However, it will also mean that a job that was once done by 8 people is now done by a machine. We are passionate about progress, but not at the expense of our people, so in preparation for this we’ve had a strategy in place to ensure minimal disruption to our staff. How we have done this is firstly, through forward planning of projects and an understanding of their impact on personnel, we have filled roles that have become vacant due to normal attrition with temporary workers. Secondly, we have redeployed all affected other staff into new roles that we have created, with a particular focus on quality. With this upgrade we have created new outfeed quality control roles to help us up our ante on our quality systems – putting more eyes and processes in the place where it matters most – on the production line.
So, the outcome of this upgrade will be better quality, better delivery, better production and better roles for our people. This is the essence of “Give More”, everyone can win.