| 61 If there’s engineering work to be done near Winton in Southland, chances are Bulleid Engineering can take care of it. Over 23 years the firm has developed a broad range of services spanning transport, agriculture and forestry, repairing and building equipment from tractors, silage wagons, ploughs and mowers to grapples and diggers. “We started off with definitely a lot of agricultural work, fixing the ploughs and rakes and mowers and all that kind of farm equipment,” says owner, Marque Hindle. As the years went on, work branched out more into the transport and forestry, he says. Today, its capabilities extend to custom-building equipment, and the team has built a five-axle trailer from scratch. “We’ve done a whole lot of tipping decks and drop side of decks for various people as well. At the moment, we’re doing an excavator for the bush, and I’ve got another one coming in next month,” Marque says. “It’s usually about two and a half months’ work in each one for us.” The firm works in with local contractors where it can. “We do a quite a bit of work with Gill Repairs doing LT400 certification welding. Any of the LT 400s we can sort it out with them and get the truck back on the road for a design engineer and get all the proper paperwork done so they can get COFs.” Marque says relationships are what the business is built on and he has developed strong ties with some of the bigger operators in the district. One client is Linton Contracting, which carries out large-scale earthworks projects, including roading. “We do a lot of their more bulk trucks and stock units if they have any issues.” For another client, Ferris Logging, Bulleid takes care of all their service requirements. ENGINEERING Bulleid Engineering 100%SOUTHLAND OWNED AND OPERATED www.ewl.co.nz | 03 218 7263 | 93 Clyde Street, Invercargill Proud to Support Bulleid Engineering WHEN SOUTHLAND THINK EWL. BREAKS STUFF, Welding equipment and consumables, hydraulic hoses & fittings, and general engineering supplies. www.precisionprofile.co.nz | sales@precisionprofile.co.nz | 03 477 7277 | 12 Birch St. Dunedin Otago’s Plate Cutting Specialist Now Laser Cutting Mild Steel • Stainless Steel • Aluminium FREIGHT T T Rosa Watson Services in demand in Winton The firm has developed a broad range of services spanning transport, agriculture and forestry, repairing and building equipment from tractors, silage wagons, ploughs and mowers to grapples and diggers. “If they’ve got a grapple or broken or they need some something made or whatever. We can help them out with that.” “We do a lot of maintenance on (their) logging trucks.” Local firms also provide plenty of work, repairing grapples and excavators. “It’s quite a bit out there if people want to work. There’s plenty of work,” Marque says. And out-of-town firms, such as logging companies, may call in when heading through Winton. “If they’ve got a grapple or broken or they need some something made or whatever. We can help them out with that.” The Bulleid team of five includes two ticketed welders, and every two years Marque takes on a new apprentice and also brings in students through the Gateway programme at the local high school. The workshop includes a 20m x 12m bunk bay and another three bays that are 20m x 12m again, kitted out with lathes, mill machine welders, aluminium welders, MIG welders, and a range of mid welders. Rather than over-capitalising in expensive large machinery, such as presses and CNCs, Marque outsources a lot of work to firms outside of the area. “I have a good relationship with certain companies that I can send them drawings (and) get profiles back within days without stocking a huge amount of plate or huge amount of gear “That keeps my costs down, so my labour charge-out rate is low, purely because I don’t have those huge overheads or big debt with big gear, but I still can turn over the jobs because I have a good relationship with companies that do have that gear,” he says. “I can usually get things produced and manufactured with CNCs, profiles, any of those companies within days.” He can go as far as Dunedin, Invercargill and Christchurch for profiling to get a neat and presentable, professional-looking job on things like chain wear plates, chain hangers and digger cabs. “It’s much easier to farm a lot of that stuff out than actually have that huge machine sitting there for a couple of uses a week,” Marque says. He says Winton is a busy area, and is steadily growing. To give back to the community, he does jobs around Winton Primary School, which was a vital support for him when he lost his wife to cancer while their children were students at the school. “I very much appreciated what the school did, helping me.” Looking ahead, he says at the age of 58 he is not looking to expand the business “I would probably like us to stay as I am for a few more years and hopefully train someone up to have a go at running a business.”
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