Premier Forest Group has invested in new machinery at its recently acquired sawmill in Croespenmaen to improve productivity of its fencing panels.
The Newport-based timber and panel importer and distributor purchased the feather-edged panel machine, tailor-made by Young Black, to enable them to produce their premium Gwent Country fencing panels more effectively.
The new machine has an automated hydraulic offloading system which is said to dramatically speed up the production process, allowing Premier to produce 80 to 90 of the 6ft² panels per day. The company was previously only able to make 30 panels per day by hand.
Simon Harris, softwood manager of Premier, said: “The machinery has been in place for a month but already we have surpassed our expectations. Because of the way the machine works, the feather edge of our panels is much thicker than the average fence panel, making them suitable for heavy duty use.
“Although our production rate has increased dramatically, the quality remains very high and I’m sure that when people see the panels that they will sell themselves.”
The wood used for the panels comes from within a 60-mile radius of the Croespenmaen site and is FSC certified.
