construction headquarters auckland new zealand area served new zealand products roofing products services construction website www.ahiroofing.com ahi roofing is a manufacturer of stone chip coated metal roof tiles based in auckland new zealand and with plants in new zealand united states california hungary and malaysia . 1 the company sells under both the gerard and decra brand names . contents 1 history 1.1 product development 1.2 international market expansion 1.3 international offices 1.4 timeline 2 production 3 references 4 external links history edit product development edit ahi roofing was created when lou fisher produced the world s first steel tile . today ahi roofing does business in over eighty countries worldwide 2 in steel roof tiles . it was a world shortage of oil based paint that began the coated steel tile story . in 1947 many large ironclad buildings in britain were coated with a bituminous emulsion . it proved to be extremely tough and protective adding to the life of the cladding . the first coated metal roofing tiles to be made in new zealand were produced by martile roofing ltd in howick in 1956 and were pressed from an aluminium manganese alloy . they were then coated with high bake enamel . by 1957 l.j. fisher had bought the rights to use the martile profile from a.l.w. martinsen and son ltd and was producing his own tile . part of the condition of the rights purchase was that fisher s four pan tile with its bitumastic emulsion coating was to be made from galvanised steel thereby ensuring a different product . returning to auckland from the uk in 1957 fisher started producing coated and chipped panels from galvanised steel for roofing and cladding . originally the natural stone chips were added to prevent panels sticking together during transportation . however their attractive appearance quickly became a product feature customers demanded . fisher also experimented with crushed shells and bricks before natural stone chips became the top choice for their aesthetics and durability . 3 international market expansion edit ahi expanded sales rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s . it was not until 1990 that a competitor made it to market called metrotile nz ltd with a similar steel tile . ahi s coated steel tiles were the first major innovation in residential roofing for more than thirty years . the new roofing material quickly became the choice of architects and major construction companies throughout new zealand . ahi entered the european market in the 1970s . ahi s earliest acrylic coated tiles have been used in the harsh winters of canada from the 1970s and in scandinavia from the 1980s . the growing success of metal tile technology as an export product resulted in the commissioning of new manufacturing plants under licence in denmark malaysia and the united states by the late 1980s . it was during this period that the company moved to acrylic coating technology for improved chip adhesion and launched the colortile product on the new zealand market . the gerard worldwide operation excluding the united states was purchased by carter holt harvey in 1989 and the coronashake product was launched in 1992 and oberon in 1995 . the company is now owned by fletcher building . 3 international offices edit north america south america oceania europe africa asia canada argentina australia new zealand hungary poland united kingdom france italy united arab emirates republic of china indonesia japan malaysia united arab emirates timeline edit 1940 during world war ii bitumen paint protected iron cladding was used in the uk 1954 lou fisher observed the bitumen coating process . 1957 the first fisher tile was manufactured in auckland . the world s first steel roof tile 1964 10 pan harvey tile was developed . 1967 improved interlocking profile developed . 1960 70 stone chips refined ; overglaze added . 1970s exports to europe licensed manufacture in belgium 1979 and denmark in 1981 . 1980 acrylic coatings introduced improving durability . 1980s exports to asia licensed manufacture in malaysia 1985 . 1989 gerard operations outside usa purchased . 1989 usa plant established corona california 1981 94 export offices in canada 1981 . australia 1989 central europe 1991 persian gulf 1993 japan 1994 hong kong 1998 turkey 1999 slovenia 2000 poland 2001 france 2004 . 1995 zincalume steel substrate replaces galvanized steel further extending product life . 1988 purchased by tasman building products renamed ahi roofing . 2003 purchased by fletcher building . 2005 purchased plant of former licensee in malaysia . 2009 new plant starts to operate in hungary . 4 production edit ahi roofing chip coated pressed metal roofing tiles are made from steel that is manufactured by new zealand steel from black iron sand found on the west coast beaches of the north island . the steel is coated with zinc aluminium alloy zincalume . 5 the main component of the paint system is acrylic resin produced in new zealand . the coatings are water based or water dispersed . the chip used to coat the textured roofing tiles is crushed natural rock quarried in new zealand . references edit gibson anne 12 november 2007 . fletcher closes in on 20m hungary deal . the new zealand herald . retrieved 11 september 2011 . gibson anne 26 march 2009 . first roof tiles emerge from fletcher s new hungary plant . the new zealand herald . retrieved 11 september 2011 . a b kate hill . the history of metal tiles . publication . archived copy . archived from the original on 2008 10 14 . retrieved 2010 03 29 . archived copy . archived from the original on 2010 05 15 . retrieved 2010 03 25 . external links edit ahi roofing europe ahi roofing global metal roofing alliance s photostream retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ahi roofing & oldid 742013569 categories building materials companiescompanies of new zealandnew zealand brands navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 1 october 2016 at 03 45 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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