Rayglass is opening a brand new, 7,000sqm production facility

Rayglass has been growing consistently since Tony and Vicky Hembrow founded the business way back in 1987 in Pakuranga. In the last few years this growth has kicked up a notch with increasing demand from overseas and investment from the Brunswick Group. 

The problem is, Rayglass can’t make enough boats to keep up. 

We’re proud to announce that we’ve built a solution - a brand new and improved production facility in Takanini just 20km up the road from where it all began. 

Introducing Heb place Rayglass’ new production facility

Rayglass previously had six facilities spread throughout Auckland and Hamilton, three Rayglass and three third party. We built our new production facility at Heb place to consolidate all of these into just two Rayglass owned and operated premises:

1. Now 6 Heb Place will handle production of Rayglass vessels from end-to-end including lamination, mould assembly, fit out and R&D. 
2. Rayglass HQ at 7 Paisley Place will continue to handle sales, servicing, premium restoration and administration. 

Dean Harris, Rayglass President, says the new facility is a win for the company and its customers:

“Rayglass’ biggest constraint is supply. In the past we’ve split work between Rayglass and trusted third party contractors but we’ve always struggled with volume, particularly with growing demand for Protector and now Legend offshore.”

“To be able to deliver what the market wants, we simply needed a bigger facility.”

Rayglass to significantly increase production and shorten wait times

Rayglass’ priority has always been to deliver world leading vessels and customer experience. But production bottlenecks were holding the company back:

“Wait time has always been the biggest frustration for Rayglass customers. Consolidating six facilities into two enables significant cost and time savings, which allows us to double our production. Now we’re able to meet demand and shorten wait times,” Dean said. 

“The business has grown so much in the last forty years. We’re not that tiny, homegrown operation we were in the 80s. Rayglass is now recognised internationally on the world stage with Protector, the America’s Cup and Sail GP.”

“We’re seeing huge growth in the international market, but we’re definitely not forgetting New Zealand.”

Here’s to a bright future

The entire Rayglass team, including Dean, are absolutely fizzing to get started at Heb Place:

“We’re extremely excited about what’s next for Rayglass. Brunswick’s investment in the company and the trust they've given us is amazing, so we’re really looking forward to continuing growth and research and development.”

“In future we know we’ll still be building the same world-class vessels. The only difference is we’re now doing it faster and better in a world-class production facility.”