Small-town furniture firm shows backblocks no barrier to success

By FIONA ROTHERHAM

Dang it, them country boys done beat us city folks agin.

In New Zealand's version of hillbilly country, Waimate firm BJ Abraham is running a furnitureexport business that is outpacing many of its city slicker counterparts.

Winner of a Trade NZ export award in 1998, the company is one example of a manufacturer thriving in small-town New Zealand while others have been forced to quit the provinces or shut up shop entirely.

BJ Abraham is one of two furniture-makers of similar size in the South Canterbury town (population 3000), both starting about the same time.

Between them they are big Waimate employers, with about 100 staff.

The company was founded 35 years ago by owner John Abraham, who is Waimate-born and bred.

It initially supplied joinery and expanded into exporting and fabricating wooden components for the Australian furniture industry.

Today, BJ Abraham exports 70 per cent of its production - predominantly high-quality dining room furniture made from pine - across the Tasman and to Japan.

Growth is 15 per cent a year, with turnover forecast to rise from $3.5 million this year to $4.25 million in the next.

(This growth mirrors New Zealand's furniture industry. Exports rose 29 per cent last year to total $82.7 million.)

Why Waimate? Mr Abraham's reply is succinct: Why not?

The only disadvantages were isolation and communication, but with the fax machine and e-mail, these problems largely disappeared.

Advantages include low overheads for land and buildings, and proximity to both the raw product and port. Most importantly, there are the people.

Half of BJ Abraham's staff have worked there 10 years or more and one 25-year veteran has never worked anywhere else, starting as an apprentice and progressing to factory manager.

"The culture of the people in an organisation is what makes the difference," Mr Abraham says.

For the past five years, all staff have taken part in a quarterly profit share plan, which they decide how to distribute.

Once a year, all staff attend an offsite conference to check whether financial and production goals were met and to discuss targets and strategy.

The community gets to share in the company's success, Mr Abraham says.

He hopes the Government will act on its stated desire to help rural New Zealand and exporters.

Exporting opportunities are huge, "but in many cases it is very difficult or near impossible for individual companies to do it on their own."

Then how come BJ Abraham is doing so well?

"I said 'near impossible'."