66 | ENGINEERING E-Quip Engineering Engineering quality, safe solutions Kim Newth E-Quip Engineering’s services include steel fabrication and installation (above) and the manfacture of tough Hardox steel rock buckets (below). Truck Scan Tool | Industrial Auto Electrical servicing & Air Conditioning More than Auto Electrical - No job too big or small! RBDevlinAutoElectrical Ltd 22 Leonard Street, Greymouth 03 768 5680 / 021 331 402 Since the late 1990s, E-Quip Engineering has led the way on providing professional engineering services to meet the needs of industry on the West Coast and beyond. Company founder Peter Haddock says E-Quip Engineering has its roots in the mining sector, having started out with a focus on general maintenance for mining erations. That soon evolved into a broader maintenance service for other plant and equipment, along with steel fabrication and specialist engineering construction services. The workshop team was ably led by Lee Swinburn for many years before he stepped up as managing director. Lee has led the business now for the past 15 years. E-Quip Engineering has made a huge contribution to safety in New Zealand. The workshop team makes rollover protection frames for excavator cabs, known as ROPS frames. While some new excavators have built-in tip over protection, many older machines do not. The team still receives many orders for these frames from all over the country. “We’ve made close to one thousand of them now, many of them going into forestry applications,” says Peter. “There are multiple roles that require this type of rollover protection.” E-Quip Engineering has a fully equipped machine workshop and a skilled team who undertake a wide range of general maintenance for local industry, including sawmills. Contractors value E-Quip Engineering’s wide range of hard-wearing pins and bushes for excavators, which link moving parts and are vital to keeping machines running. For those involved with rock digging work, E-Quip Engineering also makes tough Hardox steel rock buckets that are ideal for the job. Their team can undertake fieldwork repairs and maintenance on plant and machinery, if required. Customers include energy companies like Trustpower, where contracts involve maintenance work on dams and other structures. As well, Lee and his team carry out a lot of structural steel work for both residential and commercial construction. Recent projects include Westfleet Seafoods and the new West Coast Vets clinic in Greymouth. As well they fabricate and install structural steel for seismic strengthening of buildings to protect structures from earthquake risks. E-Quip Engineering recently carried out steel beam work for a major bridge replacement project in the district, the $5.8m William Stewart Bridge project that was successfully completed in February 2022, four months ahead of schedule. Within the company’s 25-strong staff team are apprentices going through their training. Lee says the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs has been a welcome boost with its focus on youth employment. He says, “It has been really successful on the Coast and is helping to bring young people through by giving them the right tools and support.” Supporting the mining industry – including gold, coal and green minerals - with quality engineering solutions remains a key focus for E-Quip Engineering, which manufactures gold recovery equipment. In conjunction with Minequip NZ, this equipment has been exported to a number of countries around the world, including Mongolia, Africa, Australia and Papua New Guinea. “We also do a lot of repair and maintenance work for the mining sector. It’s a large part of our business and the industry remains very active on the West Coast. A lot of the technology we use today needs gold and rare earth minerals. As well, coal is still needed by our dairy companies and growers all around the South Island.” Yet another specialist service offered from the E-Quip Engineering workshop is hydraulic ram servicing and re-building. Even though tourism fell away during the pandemic, primary industries have continued to flourish on the West Coast. Peter says business like theirs feel very lucky to have had the support of their primary industries throughout Covid-19. Along with farming, fishing and forestry are providing good regional employment and growth opportunities.
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