66 | Talk to us today, the feature profile experts Phone: 03 983 5500 waterfordpress.co.nz PROFILE YOUR PROJECT... ENGINEERING Dispatch and Garlick Greymouth firm stands the test of time The Aromahana is a bottom-dropper, 15m long and with a capacity of about 80t of spoil, and it reflects Dispatch and Garlick’s ability to tackle a wide range of engineering projects. The arrival from Scotland of the paddle-wheel tugboat Dispatch at the Port of Greymouth in 1869 led to the founding four years later of the Dispatch Foundry Ltd, since evolved into the country’s oldest engineering firm, Dispatch and Garlick Ltd. Today the company is a well-established player in the general engineering market, with expertise in the dairy industry for which it manufactures its highly successful rotary sheds, along with other items as diverse as gold and coal mining equipment and the new Greymouth port dredging capacity. The dump-barge Aromahana and the digger barge Mawhero II, financed by the Provincial T Hugh de Lacy Growth Fund through the Grey District Council, were delivered last April for maintenance dredging of the harbour. The Aromahana is a bottom-dropper, 15m long and with a capacity of about 80t of spoil, and it reflects Dispatch and Garlick’s ability to tackle a wide range of engineering projects. While most of the company’s currently vigorous demand is generated locally, over the years dairy equipment has been exported from the Greymouth factory to Australia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Denmark, China and the United States. This year saw the completion of 50 and a 54-cow rotary dairy sheds as turnkey solutions for West Coast clients. The company has been through several name changes but has kept that of the tugboat on which founding engineer John Sewell arrived. Sewell’s job was to service the tugboat but he soon found strong enough demand for his engineering skills to start his own company with Scottish friend A.B. Hughes and the leaseholder of the land on which the foundry was built, William Rae. Goldmining from quartz created such huge demand that the company was reformed in 1876 with a capital of £10,000 ($20,000) at five shillings (50c) a share. It kept the name until 1975 when it became Dispatch Engineering, producing mainly log-haulers, air receivers/pressure vessels and gold screens. Twenty years later the company was bought out by the engineering business R.A. Garlick Ltd, which had itself been bought by Dave McMillan and Francis Zampese in 1983. Dispatch Engineering was renamed Dispatch and Garlick to keep alive the memory of the old tugboat, and acknowledge the established clientele that R.A. Garlick Ltd brought to the business. Dispatch and Garlick prospered as the West Coast dairy industry boomed, and within two years the company’s rotary milk platforms were being taken up dairy farmers around New Zealand and overseas. In 2005 a tornado swept in from the southern ocean causing $2m worth of damage to the factory, but it was back in business within a week. Dispatch and Garlic is presently feeling the effects of the Covid pandemic, struggling to meet increasing demand for general engineering work because of a chronic shortage of both qualified staff and supplies of materials. “It’s not uncommon to ring a supplier and find that what you want is on a boat several weeks away, while prices of steel products are going up every few months across the board,” company manager Mike McMillan says. 100% NZ owned Source Supply Service O800 RUSSET Importers & Wholesale Suppliers of: • Geared Motors & Power Transmission Products • Conveyor Belting & Equipment • Industrial Hoses & Fittings • Industrial Products • Conveyor Vulcanising Services Russet Engineering Sales Ltd are pleased to be suppliers for Dispatch and Garlick
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