01

Results at a Glance

• 275% increase in daily productivity

• Daily output up from 4 to 15 houses with the same staff

• 82% reduction in truss production time, from 11 minutes to 2

• Saw stations reduced from five to three

• 4 to 6 year expected return on investment
  

02

Client Overview

Spicer Trading Group is one of Queensland's leading manufacturers of frames and trusses, supplying builders across the Bundaberg and Wide Bay regions under the CQ Building Supplies brand. The business had built a strong reputation, but the facility it operated from could no longer support it.

The factory sat on a floodplain, putting operations at risk every significant rain event. The layout was fractured across multiple areas, creating unnecessary material handling and making it impossible to introduce the robotised manufacturing equipment the business needed to stay competitive.

Spicer Trading Group did not arrive at Entegra with a building specification. They arrived with a production problem and a clear view of where the business needed to go.

03

Key Outcomes

Spicer Trading Group is now producing 15 houses a day with the same number of staff that previously produced four or five. Daily productivity is up 275%. Production time per truss has been cut from 11 minutes to 2, saw stations have been reduced from five to three, and material waste has dropped as the robotised system removes variability from the process. The combined effect of higher output and lower cost per unit points to a return on investment within four to six years.

Those gains sit on a new 6,300m² facility on higher ground in Maryborough, delivered by Entegra alongside head contractor IDC Construct. The site sits close to the highway, cutting freight distances and removing the flood risk that had defined the operation for years.

The 50-metre clear-span structure eliminates internal columns entirely, giving the production floor complete layout flexibility. The facility houses Australia's first robotic truss manufacturing system, developed locally for Southern Hemisphere conditions, with the building designed around the equipment rather than retrofitted to suit it. Ridge venting, insulation and a building height tailored to local conditions keep the internal environment comfortable through Maryborough summers reaching 42°C.

The competitive position is structural. The facility, the technology and the site are not assets a competitor can quickly replicate, particularly given the land scarcity in capital cities.