The business has acquired a patch of land in the middle of its horseshoe-shaped site from Moray Council for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will increase the size of the Forres site area by 25%.
James Jones has noticed a significant uplift in the I-joist market since May, which initially caused a lengthening of lead times for its JJI-Joist.
Shifts were increased from July to three shifts a day, seven days a week to deal with the demand, resulting in lead times returning to normal and allowing the division to respond directly to demand, which the company said remained “very robust” going into the autumn period.
The company plans to develop its new parcel of land, formerly an electronic factory which has been empty for several years. A new finger-jointing line is planned to increase finger-jointing capacity and alleviate production bottlenecks.
“The acquisition of the extra land will now give us the opportunity we need to expand our manufacturing capacities to meet what we believe will be sustained demand from the housing market over the next few years,” said Brian Robertson, timber systems general manager.
“We are currently in active dialogue with a number of leading finger-jointing and I-joist equipment suppliers.”
James Jones estimates it has almost 40% of the UK I-joist market.
