Drying Solutions was born out of a struggle to find a device that could dry macadamia nuts.
Sensing an opportunity, co-owners Robert and Paulette set their sights on the nut growing industry, and when that venture proved unsuccessful, they turned their sights to the pet food industry.
From there, the business, which provides drying solutions for a wide range of food industries, has grown with increased diversification into various products like fruit, leaves, and mussels.
It creates energy efficient products that utilise refrigeration heat pump technology. The low heat better maintains the food’s nutrients and colour, and the pair have also built a sealed chamber that prevents air from getting in or out.
The husband-and-wife duo take pride in their achievements. They were able to help a big New Zealand company from humble beginnings to becoming a prominent exporter. They’re also proud of the company’s record of helping other businesses develop their own products, as well as the major energy efficiency of their NZ-patented Rexmoi® Dryers.
They sell within NZ, and export a product to Australia. However, they have also received a lot of overseas inquiries.
Covid-19
Thankfully for Drying Solutions, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were a lot less damaging, as they were constructing units for a petfood company, which was considered an essential business, during the spread of the virus.
However, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for them. For instance, they’ve had delays in getting parts, with NZ suppliers facing their own challenges. The business has been completely self-funded which has meant that development of the Rexmoi® Dryers has not been as fast as they would have liked.
The future
Drying Solutions has many bold goals for the future.
Firstly, it wants to export more dryers. The pair also want to aid innovating clients by providing novel products, including those that want to turn waste products into valued added goods.
Additionally, Drying Solutions strives for increased innovation, including bigger and smaller units.
With carbon costs playing a role in multiple other types of dryers, Drying Solution’s dryers effectively utilise electricity, with their low/no carbon footprint putting them in an advantageous position.
Drying Solutions is proud to be NZ made and of the high quality products it produces.
It’s proud of the hands-on support it can provide to customers in the form of availability of help, technical support and programming to fit customer requirements.
Drying Solutions is also able to continue developing several versions of the Rexmoi® Dryer and associated equipment. It has worked with a client on developing a hot box that repacks emergency slides, and for another client they’ve successfully developed a cooling tunnel.