Australasian window and door designer and distributer, Fairview Metal Industries Group (FMI), moved to Izone in late 2010. 

Glass Relate, n FMI Group Company, has built New Zealand’s most high-tech glass processing plant covering 2,400m², representing a $10 million investment, at Izone. Products are marketed under two brand names, – Fairview and Elite.

FMI director Warren Lewis says the Izone plant is a South Island homecoming for the company, which was founded in Timaru in 1909. FMI is now has its headquarters in Auckland and employs more than 250 people throughout Australasia.

Increasing freight costs were making it uneconomic to service FMI’s South Island customers, says Lewis. To retain customers and prepare for when the building industry bounces back, the company realised it needed a plant in the South Island.

“We chose Izone because of its location next to State Highway One and because we were able to buy enough land to allow us, in the future, to double in size. It’s also pretty special to be in a well-constructed business park with views of the Southern Alps and a local workforce nearby.” 

FMI imports glass through the Port of Lyttelton because there are no New Zealand manufacturers. The glass is prepared on an Italian-designed table and cut by an automated glass cutter. The latest Finnish technology is used to strengthen the glass and then, in a New Zealand first, another Italian-designed machine makes ‘warm edge’ insulated glass which is more efficient than the traditional ‘cold edge’ glass. 

“By using the latest technology we will be producing the most thermally efficient insulated glass in the country at a higher volume than our competitors with fewer overheads,” Lewis says.

Glass Relate also tailor-makes glass balustrades, pool fences, staircases, floors, walls, showers, kitchen splash-backs, screens and partitions.