52 | History of innovation Cullimore Engineering was a winner at the 2024 ANZ Business of the Year Awards, Ashburton District. ENGINEERING Cullimore Engineering T T Rosa Watson A history of “outside of the box” innovation and solutions saw Ashburton’s Cullimore Engineering gain major success at at the 2024 ANZ Business of the Year Awards, Ashburton. The company was a finalist in three categories, with managing director Sam Cullimore winning the emerging business leader category, and the company taking out the excellence in technology and innovation category, as well as receiving the highly commended award in manufacturing. Cullimore Engineering has been operating in the district for more than 40 years and has been behind several innovations including a machine built for ANZCO Foods that removes the tendons from the hock. The collagen extracted from it can be used for medical work. They also developed a truck mounted earth rod driver unit, used by Marlborough Lines, to drive steel rods in the ground to earth to the power network. The unit can rotate to 180 degrees with full radio remote control. Other versions have been manufactured for Electricity Ashburton, Lemacon, PowerNet (Invercargill) and NetCon (Timaru). Sam said the success at the awards had been a pleasant surprise, and an acknowledgement of the company’s work. “You get used to what you do every day, so it becomes quite normal. Obviously when people don’t see it every day, they look at it differently,” The evening had showcased the amount of talent the district held, he said. The company employs 10 staff that are supported by stateof-the-art machinery, fabrication and fitting equipment in a modern workshop. Machinery includes three CNC lathes, two CNC vertical machining centres a CNC horizontal borer, five centre lathes, a manual vertical lathe, a manual horizontal borer and manual milling machines, a 3D printer, collaborative robot and grinding capabilities. Its fabrications capacity includes welders, welding tables, saws, punch and shears. “Technology changes fairly rapidly, so we are always looking at where we need to invest,” Sam said. “My father (founder Ian Cullimore) has always been looking at that technological side. He got really good at adopting that sort of technology.” Ian was one of the company founders that started the business 44 years ago. After starting his trade in engine reconditioning, Ian decided to start an engineering workshop. There was work in irrigation in the 1980s and he built tractor cabs, which were not common at the time. Then came work building chairlifts for global ski lift firm Doppelmayr. Today the majority of the work is a combination of production contracts, custom design and builds, and repairs and maintenance. Clients include Talleys, ANZCO and Hemp NZ. Terra Cat is one of their largest customers. “So, there’s different areas that we work in for different clients.” Handling the three to five-tonne Terra Cat caterpillars was not something many others could offer. “There’s a couple of five-tonne overhead cranes for handling the big gear.” The future was looking good for the company by embracing new technological advancements, he said. PUT ALL THE PIECES TOGETHER, OKUMA JUST MAKES SENSE NEW ZEALAND’S MOST POPULAR DOUBLE COLUMN MACHINING CENTRES Ph: 09 570 7025 www.okuma.nz
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