COVER STORY
Engineered wood experts Universal Plywoods proudly provided it's unique timber offering to the University of Pretoria’s Future
Africa Institute campus.
Wood for thought
With specialised wood as its forte, Universal Plywoods take
high-end engineered timber products to the next level.
By Universal Plywoods | Photos by Universal Plywoods
U
niversal Plywoods is not your run-of-the-mill timber
company – since its inception just over a decade ago,
it has rapidly grown into a specialised engineered
wood business in South Africa, providing unique solutions
and tailormade products at reasonable prices.
Sitting down with Brad Anderson, co-founder, owner and
managing director of Universal Plywoods, one has the
opportunity to soak up as much information as possible –
not only about the overall timber industry, but namely the
highly specialised wood products that the world has to
offer. With over 26 years of experience in the timber world
under his belt, Anderson is a wood whizz.
With engineered timber products sourced globally for
every application, Universal Plywoods provides technical
abilities and custom specifications to assist clients. The
company also offers Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC)
machining and laminating.
Universal Plywoods is home to several warehouses
located around South Africa, including Johannesburg,
Durban and Bloemfontein. The team will soon open a new
warehouse in Cape Town. The company’s biggest clients, to
name a few, include Aveng Grinaker-LTA, Volkswagen,
Group Five, University of Pretoria, among many others.
“We are a unique timber company in the sense that we
comprise of several big businesses that import wood and
boast the essential funding and resources to do so. In South
Africa we have limited timber resources, which is namely
commercial wood, or forested timber, such as Eucalyptus
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and South African pine, which is one of the cheapest lower-
grade timber products in the world.
“We saw a gap in the market and realised that no-one
locally is specialising in engineered plywood, which boasts
an extensive number of different applications. After
relentless investigation into engineered wood products, we
began to import from across the globe, starting off with
engineered plywood specifically.”
THE PROOF IS IN THE PLYWOOD
Having started the business with his wife Ingrid about 12
years ago from their home, Anderson notes that Universal
Plywoods now boasts close to 50 staff members and
imports wood, namely plywood – hence the company name.
“Plywood is our main product which is imported from
various parts of the world including Finland, Russia,
Bulgaria, Estonia, South America, South East Asia, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Vietnam and more. We also deal in Africa,
including countries such as Mozambique, Botswana,
Namibia, Seychelles and Mauritius. With importing, one
needs substantial capital coupled with essential resources
– something which we are fortunate to have,”
explains Anderson.
Versatile, resilient and attractive, plywood is a rewarding
material. It’s made from a minimum of three veneer layers
that are cross-glued together, which gives plywood
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