Unlike natural grass, TigerTurf grass doesn’t make itself. The TigerTurf team behind the TigerTurf grass are a dedicated, highly trained and experienced team of people who know how to make the best quality synthetic grass in the world.
The factory manufactures over 40 different surfaces for a range of sports and recreational activities. A field or Multi-Sports surface is produced base from a “roll plan” which stipulates how many rolls are needed and layout required for each roll.
TigerTurf’s Auckland plant has multiple tufters producing a range of different short and long pile surfaces and has the capacity to produce over 2,000,000m2 of turf per annum.
When “creeling up” to produce a new carpet, the team starts with threading the yarn through tubes to between 250 and 800 needles with up to three or four different coloured yarns. Many of the playing lines are tufted into the TigerTurf surface requiring the exact right thread goes through the exact right needle.
The yarn is then tufted into a specially produced backing cloth while little knives cut the loops at the specified height to create the blades of grass.
Throughout this process, quality checks are made to ensure every aspect of the manufacture meets TigerTurf’s high-quality standards. Any glitches (they do sometimes happen) are quickly identified and rectified.
The freshly manufactured rolls of grass are then moved to the backing machine where a latex compound is applied to the back of the grass, binding the looped threads to the backing and providing durability and stability to the turf. The roll carries on through the temperature-controlled oven to set the latex and, if required, perforate the final surface to ensure it is water permeable.
TigerTurf maintains a very flat, non-hierarchical organisational structure. Our people are encouraged to take ownership of their respective responsibilities including product quality, health and safety, production processes and technological improvements.
Over 30% of our employees have been with the company for over ten years, several over 20 years, which is testimony to the positive, inclusive culture fostered at TigerTurf.
Although TigerTurf is a global company, we are very active in our local communities. We are involved with clubs and federations that use our products; we train, play and coach on our products. Our employees have a passion for our products and services; their pride is evident in every department and every position within the business.