Drones will be flying out of a new Timaru factory starting from next month.
Aeronavics, a Hamilton industrial aerial robotics company whose clients include the US Navy, is relocating its manufacturing operation from Hamilton to 26 Kennels Rd, Washdyke.
“We’ve run out of space and need more room to expand,” company co-founder Rob Brouwer said.
“Our chairman and shareholder John Rolleston had land in Timaru we could move to.”
The factory would be located at the same address as biotech company South Pacific Sera. A total of 15 staff were relocating from Hamilton.
There could also be a few more staff,” Brouwer said.
He and co-founder and director Linda Bulk started the company more than a decade ago.
READ MORE
“We were pioneers in drones starting in Australia then we decided to move to New Zealand, and it’s grown quickly.”
Aeronavics was the first company to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to give drones’ technical name, at Mt Everest base camp and the first to use them in Hollywood films and documentaries with approval from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the US.
The company’s client list has included the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), Disney, BBC, National Geographic, and Dreamworks.
“We’ve been supplying non-combat drones to the US Navy for three years.”
Brouwer said 95 percent of the drones manufactured were marketed overseas with specialist drones used in underground and above ground mining, radio frequency and transmission tower signal mapping, and hyper-multi spectral mapping.
The company also manufactured a long-range heat detection drone designed to protect rhinoceroses from poachers across Africa.
Another factor in the move south, Brouwer said, was to start automating drones for use in agriculture.
“It’s at the beginning stage. We knew four or five years ago that it would be our future.”
Bulk said the drones could be used for precision agriculture, monitoring stock and farm infrastructure, as well as mapping and surveying.
“Drones not only increase productivity, but also improve on-farm health and safety by reducing the risk of accidents.”
She said the company planned to stage demonstration events in Timaru to showcase the drones in action.
