After much research I have found a work around. The problem consisted of 2 elements.
1) The Samba share was experiencing problems with file permissions with random mac written files. A cron job was required to chown and chmod these files.
2) MacOS is unable to search network drives! So I employed a app called "Easyfind" https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11076/easyfind on all Macs in the building. This enables the Mac users to search the network drives.