Metal Image began operations in a bathroom in semi-suburban street in Mt Eden, Auckland, 1973. Owned by two brothers, Willi and Ken Gailer, Metal Image was established to fill the need for low volume, high quality labels and control panels for Gailer Electronics, whose core business was boutique electronics design and manufacture.
Steady growth saw a shift to larger premises on Auckland's North Shore in 1977, where Metal Image as part of the EMC group of companies was able to expand from the bathroom into a cupboard. The next decade saw continued growth with three full-time employees by late 1988, and ownership in the hands of Willi Gailer. Sales began to increase rapidly - our cupboard was quickly running out of space.
We shifted to our current premises in Albany in 1998, taking up half the total site. Aside from some particularly nasty fashion, the 90's ushered in a progressive change of ownership to Andrew Robbie, concluding mid 2004. Automation in the form of a purpose built guillotine now known as ‘The Jezebel’ and then later an entirely new plate processing system helped keep pace with growth.
The sudden passing of Willi Gailer, company founder, electro-audiophile and fly fisherman extraordinaire, in December 2004 left the small team at Metal Image in a state of shock for some time, but also it left us with a legacy of honest, good service and a general attention to detail - attributes which form the cornerstone of Metal Image today.
With our current staff of around nine we have put the long planned doubling of factory space behind us, along with the other distractions of 2009. We are looking forward to the challenges of a new decade with exciting new technologies and new products which add to our essence, our purpose, our value proposition, the guts of it if you will...