Based in Alberton in the Gippsland area of regional Victoria Australia, Alberton Timber & Treatment Plant are experts in manufacturing treated pine post & poles and other timber products for various industries.
The Olarenshaw family started Alberton Timber 32 years ago as a small treated pine sawmill and retail store in Gippsland regional Victoria.
Luke Olarenshaw started working for the family business at the age of 17 where his passion for the sawmilling industry all began. Today Luke’s wife Angela Olarenshaw runs the business Administration Operations, while he focusses on the plant production along with a terrific team working hard to produce quality post and pole products for their loyal customers.
The Alberton post & pole products are sold through farm equipment suppliers such as AG Warehouse as well as to dairy and beef cattle farms, sheep farms, vineyards and landscaping businesses with customers located throughout the Gippsland region.
Luke and his team had been busily toiling away producing timber posts & poles products for around 20 years when it became clear that an opportunity existed to increase the production volume, to meet the increasing needs of their growing customer base.
They soon realised the existing plant machinery couldn’t keep up with the demand and often had technical, reliability, and safety risk issues. It was at this point the team knew it was time to do more research to find the right custom sawmilling equipment.
Luke visited many mills across Australia and NZ and talked to various suppliers of sawmilling machinery. The sawmill machinery that they required needed to be more efficient, improve safety for the workers, improve the quality of the finished post & poles, and increase production volumes.
They knew they needed to find a supplier of sawmilling machinery that would work closely with them to understand the specific needs of the Alberton production requirements, and with the flexibility to customise a solution based on their ideas and experience. The supplier would need to have extensive industry knowledge, and a reputation for building reliable robust machinery that will last for many years ahead.
A decision was made following extensive market research and recommendations from peers in the sawmilling industry, and based on their experiences. Luke saw the Gibson brand equipment still reliably working away in sawmills for 30 or more years and decided to contact the AE Gibson & Sons team in Kendall NSW to begin exploring options for suitable sawmill machinery.
Luke said – “ the AE Gibson & Sons engineers worked together with me to understand the specific production and product specification needs at Alberton Timber, and then able to match the new equipment design features to achieve the best outcomes”.
“The engineers at AE Gibson & Sons also assisted me to grow my knowledge of sawmilling processing methods, and understand how the equipment can be customised and incorporated into our Alberton production plant”.
“I knew that Gibson machinery was the right fit for our business needs and that their sawmilling machines were built to last”.
“They took all the guess work out of how we were going to improve our sawmill systems, as well as the safety and work environment of our team”.
The team at Alberton wanted a sawmill system layout that was unique to their current timber processing system and could reliably stand the test of time.
The new custom designed plant was installed and commissioned in early 2022 and has not only met their needs but exceeded all their expectations.
The increased production volumes and efficiency of the new plant now allows Luke to spend more time on other parts of the business, reducing most of the manual handling for the team. Workers are now able to operate from covered work areas or inside air conditioned control cabins.
Once the new Gibson sawmill equipment was installed and commissioned, the volume of timber production was increased to meet ever increasing customer orders. The automation technology ensures that all the timber is sorted by size, stacked like clockwork and runs with high efficiency and reliability.
When Alberton first started peeling posts, they were processing around 12-15 tonne a day. This was all done with a mill built from predominantly second hand parts which Luke and his father had built and modified over the years. They were then able to increase this to around 40 tonne a day as their business evolved into the wholesale market. The newly installed mill now produces 60-100 tonne per day of timber post and pole products.
The increase in production capacity and high efficiency has allowed Alberton to remain highly competitive within the treated post & pole industry, and the business now has the potential to grow even further.
Luke remembers back to the days when it was all a little stressful and busy, trying to run the business day to day. When he decided to upgrade their sawmilling machinery, he soon discovered there were so many elements to consider to getting it right. He was running the business whilst coming up with ideas and designs that would suit the business needs, and knew it needed to happen soon to keep up with demand. That’s where the team at AE Gibson & Sons were able to assist and take all the stress out of the process, and turn all his ideas into a reality. He had learned that AE Gibson & Sons is a trusted brand with a team of expert engineers who were able to create the right custom sawmill system, to sustainably and reliably produce the volume of timber required.
Luke was impressed with how the new plant has enabled his team to run their business more efficiently, and now has a great sense of satisfaction for where the business is at today.
Luke’s recommendation to others facing similar issues within the timber sawmilling industry is to understand the market opportunities and risks, talk to experienced people in the industry, then spend the money to invest into the business to achieve better outcomes.
His passion for the industry has grown in leaps and bounds over the years, and his knowledge and understanding has also grown with the ever changing world of automation and technology in the sawmilling industry.
Luke commended the Gibson team on their expert knowledge and quality sawmilling products. The Alberton Timber business is now reaping the rewards gained by the new plant efficiency and volume, and already planning for further expansion and growth.
Luke said “I have loved this industry right from my early days as a 17 year old starting work in the Alberton Mill with my dad. I also really appreciate that other mill owners across Australia are all wanting to help each other out with tips and advice to improve our businesses. Along with the support of my wife Angela running the Administration of the business and our terrific team of workers in our plant every day, we are now producing high quality products in much higher volumes. I am already looking at the next opportunity to improve our operations further”.
The team at Alberton Timber also wanted to acknowledge their ongoing relationship they have built with Murray Goulburn from Saputo. Angela & Luke said “without their support and trust in our product and service over the years, we would not have been able to achieve the growth we have today. The mill expansion project wouldn’t have been possible without their support”.
**Images provided by Alberton Timber visit their website here.