Sage expands next door

Our strength lies in our machinery, our materials and our men. That’s the thinking at the heart of local door manufacturer Sage Doors Ltd. Bob Nordgren from JOINERS Magazine recently had a tour through their Albany based factory, in the NorthShore of Auckland, to see how that all comes together, and left impressed with just how much they have achieved, given the space they have.

In recent times, they have been able to expand into the factory next door, completing a plant expansion that took over a year to complete. This included a purpose-built mezzanine floor onto which they have built a second board storage system. It’s a really busy place. I had a chance to catch up with Operations Manager Lydia Posthuma to find out more.

“Sage Doors has been a family business for the past 40 years, since my father, John, bought the business. Being a ‘small’ family business has meant we can be more flexible towards what our customers need.” she comments. Sage is in the business of producing kitchen doors in predominately acrylic and melamine. They have a number of ranges, always seeking the latest trend to bring to the market. “We have sourced our materials – board and edgetape – from all over Europe, as much of it isn’t available locally. In turn, due to our very specific automation machinery requirements, we’ve built a lot of our machinery inhouse ourselves from scratch. These have been huge projects, including recently building the second storage system; however, it enables us to continue to manufacture a quality product to our customers with a short lead time.”

You cannot avoid technology while going around the factory in this tightly organised facility. The mezzanine floor and storage system is solid to say the least. The board storage and board handling technology, designed and built by Sage to fit their needs, is impressive. Over the last few years, they’ve changed their entire factory setup, including integrating 2 storage systems, multiple CNCs, and automated Edgebanding. “Sage has changed a lot over the past 10 years, but it’ll continue to be a family business into the future.” Sage has a range of products, all of which have been specially trademarked, to ensure consistent quality assurance.

Covid has presented some challenges, but Sage Doors has continued to produce kitchen doors for their clientele. “Covid has meant we’ve needed to be more flexible & really keep on top of our international suppliers and freight companies to ensure that we can continue to supply with as few disruptions as possible.” comments Lydia.