Diversity key to beating recession

Stevenson Engineering in East Tamaki Auckland could well be asking the question ‘what recession’ after diversifying its business over the past three months.   ALAN TITCHALL visits the workshop.

The wide range of engineering services at Stevenson Engineering has just got more diverse. On our most recent visit we find a collection of hand-held weed-eaters and chainsaws being serviced just a few metres from a well-used, heavy duty D7 Caterpillar being overhauled for EnviroWaste Services.

The presence of the lawn mowing equipment is the result of a new servicing deal with Downer EDI Works

“We recently taken on a two-year contract with Downer EDI Works to service and repair their parks and reserve fleet used on their Manukau City Council contract,” says Stevenson Engineering account manager Gary Richmond.

“This involved us taking over seven of their staff who have joined our workshops to service Downer’s 740 items of plant. This deal is a win win for both parties; it has filled in a bit of a gap we had in the past and it saves Works money.”

And council work is very stable, he adds, the grass is always going to grow.

Already one of the largest mechanical repair and industrial maintenance facilities in the country, Stevenson Engineering can now say it’s a true one-stop shop fixing anything from handheld equipment to a 100 tonne dump truck, says Richmond as we tour the facilities.

“In today’s climate things can’t be said to be recession proof, but Stevenson Engineering is moving on. Even our marine division, re-established at Pine Harbour at Beachlands, is also doing very well, so we are now quite a diverse company.”

And we haven’t got around to talking about the new welding machine yet, which is one of the most versatile such facilities in the country.

The year started at Stevenson Engineering with a changing of the guard when Tony Coombe from Turners Auctions took over the reigns as CEO from Peter Dudson who moved to AB Equipment. TCL Isuzu trucks have moved into Stevenson Engineering’s large yard and premises in Lady Ruby Drive East Tamaki Auckland, after the company bought New Zealand’s largest truck dealership last year.

However, the most exciting addition for the company’s 120 staff is a new and very large, automatic welding station costing well over $300,000 and custom-made in the UK by the Welding Alloys Group, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of automatic and semi-automatic welding equipment.

“We spent three years on this project and this is the third and final version of our design,” says engineering manager David Young (pictured below).

“It has been built to order and is designed specifically for cladding and rebuilding applications as a customisable multi-surfacer machine that can handle a versatile number of welding jobs very quickly,” he says.

“We had the machine specifically designed to meet the needs of whatever our customers can throw at us, this includes all open arc, sub-arc and gas shielded welding we can create a complete business around weld reclamation.”

The new welding machine with its multi-welding heads and manipulator that can hold five tonne unsupported, very fast, and is completely automatic. Once programmed at the station, the operator can walk away and work on something else.

“There’s no large labour content cost, which gives us a competitive edge,” says Young.

Stevenson are looking at the ability to clip off one of the welding heads and take it to a site as mobile welder, he adds.

While NZ Steel and its worn rollers is one of the obvious clients to benefit from the new welding set up, Stevenson is also targeting quarrying and mining industry. “We can now offer automated rebuilds and weld cladding of crushing cones, rollers, and equipment of any conical shape,” says Young.

Not far from the welder is a whopping 19 tonne excavator bucket from a Komatsu PC4000 used in the Rotowaro coal pits. A new tooth has been welded on and cracks gouged out re-welded; a process that requires strict temperature control. In future these huge buckets from client HWE Leighton will be reconditioned in a brand new section of the machine shop where two overhead cranes work in tandem – a 10 tonne and five tonne gantry.

In another part of the complex is where the honing and repair work is done on a variety of hydraulic equipment, from underground tunnelling machines from Harkers to dam gate hydraulic cylinders from Genesis Energy’s Benmore dam.

In the truck service area, operated with two shifts from 6am to 12am, contractor’s trucks line up with Isuzu trucks. Seventy percent of work is out sourced.

“We can have trucks serviced and returned to fleet operators in time to be back on the road in the morning,” says mechanical manager Grant Wearing.

The heavy machinery area has a steady line up of machines from Solid Energy, with shells of underground ‘miners’ in various states of rebuild. A miner has just been delivered from Australia and needs one of its cutter head gear boxes check out before heading down to work in the Huntly underground coal mine. It only has one year left of its five year certification so will be back in 12 months for a full rebuild.

“We have experienced a slight turndown in the heavy machinery work,” concedes Wearing. “But that has been replaced with new work and other opportunities. We always have a solutions for every one and that’s what contractors want to hear – we never say no,” he says.

“Quite often we say ‘yes’ and hang the phone up and then work out how we are going to do it. But, fortunately, we have enough intelligent people around the place to come up with ideas and solutions.”