Snap scales up, to open plant in Tāhunanui

Nelson company Snap IT is opening a high-tech manufacturing plant in Tāhunanui, which will lead to more jobs says its founder and chief executive.

Snap Information Technologies has operated in Nelson for almost 20 years and now specialises in creating cameras and accompanying software for fishing vessels.

Founder and chief executive, Chris Rodley, says the company is poised to scale rapidly as the cameras provide an ability for fishermen to “tell a story” to the end customers of their fish, as well as ensuring compliance of regularity issues.

He says Snap IT has recently signed a lease on the old King Salmon building on Beatty St, where they will build a manufacturing plant to build cameras and the other components needed to make them work.

“We have approaching 40 staff in Nelson, and we will be adding more as part of this move. The amount of new people depends on how well we execute over the coming years, but it could be quite significant.”

Chris says there is an opportunity to have cameras on 100,000 fishing vessels across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific over the coming years. Currently, they have cameras on 1200 fishing boats across nine countries and they have offices in Canada, the United States and Ireland.

“We hope that our product will be used to help create sustainable fishermen, a sustainable fisherman creates a sustainable fishery and that’s a good work as we see it. Time Magazine had the ocean as the most important place on earth and so if that’s true, it’s a worthwhile thing to do.”

He says the reason for setting up the plant in Nelson, as opposed to outsourcing to China or another Asian country, is quality.

“There’s a global shift towards building in your own country. America is big on that, there’s a desire to have Made in the USA on products and for that to be true.

“If we care about the quality of the produce and the carbon footprint and we have good people in Nelson, then why not? And when we have a high-value, low volume product, why would we get that made offshore by a company that’s also doing 100,000 for another business per month?

“By doing it ourselves we control everything, if there’s a problem it can be fixed and fixed quickly.”

Snap IT received a $2.5 million loan from the Ministry of Business and Innovation to help it scale up. It also won the Supreme Award at the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce Business Awards earlier this year.