| 57 CONTRACTING EIS - Automation and Electrical Garage project goes global EIS devises automation, robotics and industrial electrical solutions all over New Zealand from its bases in Canterbury and Southland, and has also delivered projects in Australia, Africa, North America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. T Hugh de Lacy It started out in the garage in 1996, but 25 years later the electrical automation and engineering company EIS has more than 70 people working in two branches, and with connections and clients around the world. EIS has devised automation, robotics and industrial electrical solutions all over New Zealand from its bases in Canterbury and Southland, and has also delivered projects in Australia, Africa, North America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. If the job can be done by a robot, machine or automated process, EIS can do it around a corporate ethos of helping operations to run more safely, reliably and efficiently. Besides its core capabilities of electrical and automation, EIS offers services in machine safety, thermal imaging, hazard areas, and in portable power distribution centres and switch-rooms. It backs these up with compliance testing of electrical equipment, designing instrumentation, and a 24/7 call-out service. “Our ethos is based around whakakotahi – that we’re better together – because we are,” says EIS Business Development Manager Dean Addie. Dean recently handed the general management duties over to Cameron Smellie who will continue to drive EIS into the next 25 years. “I think a business is only as good as the people who are part of the team, and I’m immensely proud and grateful to each of our team members,” Cameron says. The company celebrated its 25th anniversary last April by way of a Zoom event held at both branches, and marked by a limited-edition book describing its rise from a garage operation, through a succession of premises to its present size. Highlights of the book and the company history have been an award-winning waste-water treatment plant in Central Otago, a robotic loading and unloading system in Canada, and the building of the largest wind tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere. EIS has won a slew of business prizes, including being the Supreme Winner of the Westpac Business Excellence Awards in 2013. It followed that up in 2019 by winning the Innovation Award in the same Westpac series, and also was Supreme Winner in the Master Electricians National Excellence Awards of that year. “EIS has launched the careers of many people, survived the Global Financial Crisis and the Covid-19 lockdown, and continues to grow,” Cameron says. Dean doesn’t believe that having a set business plan necessarily always works, “because a lot of the time the world has other plans,” he says. “We’ve had our fair share of challenges and surprises along the way, but the strength of EIS really is down to being modular and nimble when challenges are presented, and having good people taking part in the journey with you,” Dean adds. Along with Steve Heffernan, Dean is the last of the group of founding shareholders still actively involved in the company, and he says the 25th anniversary was a particularly poignant milestone for both of them, no less than for the staff. “Celebrating this kind of milestone gives us all a great sense of pride,” Dean says. “A lot of businesses don’t make it this far.” Delivering automation and electrical projects throughout New Zealand. Christchurch | Invercargill | www.eis.co.nz Experts in industrial engineering and fabrication • Design • Manufacturing Services • Maintenance • Site Services • Project Management • On-site Installation From design to installation, we lead the way on complex, challenging projects in New Zealand and overseas. INVERCARGILL: P: +64 3 214 4969 123 Mersey Street, Invercargill CHRISTCHURCH: P: +64 3 344 3059 1/52 Hickory Place, Islington, Christchurch E: W: www.e-type.co.nz
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