Shutter Business Expands
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday December 3, 2002
A Unanderra timber shutter and blind manufacturing business has decided to expand and move to Fairy Meadow in the new year after experiencing a 12- month period of solid growth.
When Rene Tummers acquired Orinoco Shutters from a customer of another business he was associated with, Hardex Hardware Plus, he spent 12 months consolidating it.
Within two years he has gone from employing one staff member to a team of three.
``I purposely did not go and invest a lot of money," he said.
``I just allowed the business to generate its own surplus cash. I didn't take any drawings, I just reinvested in the business to improve stock levels and spent a bit more on advertising and the Yellow Pages to establish a name."
Mr Tummers said the business had grown to about 75 per cent of the final position he would like it to get.
``I didn't want to get too big," he said.
The new premises in Pringle Rd, Fairy Meadow, is twice the size and will include a showroom.
Orinoco Shutters has made a name for itself by using Western Red cedar, imported from cedar plantations in Canada, in the manufacture of timber blinds and shutters with a variety of blade widths.
The finished product can be oiled or lacquered but Mr Tummers encourages customers not to paint the cedar.
``It is better than most timbers in terms of appearance and look," Mr Tummers said.
``And it is fairly serviceable."
Mr Tummers said the great thing about Western Red cedar was that the timber had its own preservatives and wouldn't rot, decay or attract fungus.
Its structure can also help reduce outside noise, retain or repel heat.
The timber shutters and blinds are fade resistant and some of the blinds have a hidden mechanism which enables a person to change the direction of all the blades by touching only one.
The mechanism makes it very simple to control light or heat.
Other blinds and shutters feature a control rod.
Orinoco Shutters prefers customers opt for a vinyl product if they don't want a timber-grained finish.
He tells them ``if you are going to paint have a think about vinyl because the colour goes all the way through and they come with a 20-year guarantee against warping and fading. I can't guarantee paint for 20 years. I hate to see people paint over good timber".
Mr Tummers, who buys the vinyl shutters from another manufacturer, was pleased to see timber shutters and blinds were becoming more popular.
He said a trend that had started in Queensland in recent years was moving further south as more home owners opted for timber floors and timber framed windows.
Orinoco Shutters is one of only a few companies in the Illawarra that makes and installs its own products, the majority of which are tailor-made for individual customers.
But for the convenience of customers the Unanderra business also sells a complete range of window furnishings, including window verticals aluminium venetians and holland blinds sourced from other manufacturers.
The business is also a wholesale manufacturer for some clients who sell Orinoco Shutter products on the Southern Highlands.
The shutters are made for indoor and outdoor applications for everything from room dividers to bi-fold doors that provide access to a patio.
Mr Shutters said bi-fold doors allowed people to control airflows while still obtaining privacy without the banging sound of venetians in the breeze.
A range of products is on display at Hardex Hardware Plus, Fairy Meadow.
© 2002 Illawarra Mercury
