News of the Weld

For more news from R&H Engineering, check us out here: http://www.randhengineering.co.nz/news/

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Credit Where Credit’s Due

There’s a cartoon series, originally by Jeff McNelly (of “Doonsbury” fame) called “Pluggers”, which celebrates all those silent and unspoken people who actually make the world go round. And as a company full of engineering specialists, our guys certainly fall into this category.

Our guys spend hours in our workshop making sure other people’s jobs are perfect. And they rarely ever get a mention, let alone a pat on the back.

So we were very proud when one of our key clients – Glidepath – took time out to share their “day in the sun” with us. It seems the Auckland Airport Development team were particularly impressed with the job they’d done on the Domestic Screening facility, which we had contributed to.

Not only did Glidepath say thank you to R&H for their contribution, but they took special care to thank all of our core team members who were involved in the job.

I’ve never been more proud of my “Pluggers” and join glidepath in highlighting their contribution. Here’s what Glidepath had to say:

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Simon and the team for the extraordinary effort not only on the Domestic Screening project but all work at AIAL in 2016. This was a genuine team effort that R & H Engineering were a significant part of. Any success here must be shared with yourselves as a key installation supplier to Glidepath.

As always Salis was fantastic but a special thank you to Devon and Rickus who in my opinion were “MVP’s” and are certainly welcome back on any of our sites. I think Simon may have been onsite also from time to time.

Again, your ongoing support and performance are greatly appreciated by me personally and Glidepath. We look forward to continuing our relationship in 2017.

Thank you Glidepath for making our guys feel special. You’ve made my day, and I’m sure you’ve made the day for the whole team.

R&H Engineering are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce engineering projects on time and budget. Our sophisticated plant coupled with our extensive manufacturing experience in agriculture, architecture, construction, stainless steel and even outdoor furniture, we are confident that we can deliver superior engineering projects, of any size.

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Merry Christmas!!!

Here’s wishing all our friends, families, staff, clients and suppliers a fantastic festive season. We hope you had a great 2016, and we can't wait to see you in 2017 Kind regards, Julie, Sim, Tim and the R&H Engineering Team

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The shape of things to come…

The past 12 months have seen a significant increase in productivity and professional service at R&H Engineering.

Our growth spurt started with our move to our spacious new fabricating plant at Highbrook, which gave us the capacity to take on larger scale work. Importantly, apart from increased floorspace, this new venue expanded our inward and outward goods handling, and enabled us to take on assembly work for Glidepath, whereby we assembled 30 truckloads of baggage conveyors over 3 months (we installed them on location too)!

The move was also impetus for us to secure ISO 9001 accreditation (which has just been renewed for another 12 months). And now it’s time to significantly upgrade our plant.

The first piece of new equipment arrived last month. It’s a new heavy duty folding machine which will significantly increase the scope and quantity of work we can handle.

Previously we could fold one metre of 6 mm plate – anything larger had to be jobbed out. But the extra bed length on our new machine enables us to do longer folds, which is ideal for items such as flashings and façade work. Given the greater V-block distances, coupled with the tonnage to fold entire sheets, we can take on a much broader spectrum of work, including third party work for other engineering firms.

Right now we’re in the process of leveling and calibrating the machine, and training staff on the safe operating procedures. We expect to it to be operational early in the new year, at which time we’ll be looking for a new home for our existing press, which has served us admirably for the past 10 years. If you’re interested in acquiring this, please give me a call at the numbers below.

R&H Engineering are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce engineering projects on time and budget.

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Engineering Our Own Success

R&H Engineering once again recognised for Quality and Consistency

In August 2015, R&H Engineering first achieved ISO9001 rating, and it’s business stepped up a gear. This marked a change in strategic positioning for the business, as it evolved from a generic supplier of mechanical components to a professionally staffed and managed engineering facility providing industry endorsed precision engineering services for small and big businesses alike.

Over the last year R&H has continued to consolidate on the products and services it provides, and this month is proud to announce that our ISO9001 rating has been ratified for another year.

Julie Light, MD of R&H Engineering says “Having ISO rating has opened our doors to major multinational businesses such as German aviation engineering firm Glidepath, who we have worked with extensively in the ongoing development of Auckland Airport. And we also mark among our clients several heavy motor vehicle dealerships who utilize our services to provide after-market modifications for clients. “

This adds another level of complexity to the business which is better known for it’s structural steelwork on buildings and bridges around Auckland and beyond.

  R&H Engineering    are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce engineering projects on time and budget.  

   Our sophisticated plant coupled with our extensive manufacturing experience in agriculture, architecture, construction, stainless steel and even outdoor furniture, we are confident that we can deliver superior engineering projects, of any size.  

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Stepping Out

There’s nothing simple about the stainless finish on this upmarket condomimium

Not so long ago we were called in to revitalise an up-market condominium project in the Bay of Islands. Given it’s location near the sea, and its upmarket status, the façade of the building, was to be machine crafted from stainless steel in our Auckland factory and shipped to the site for installation by our trained engineers.

The job called for an intricate exterior plumbing system in stainless steel adorning the angled and stepped façade. It was the defining feature of the multi-tiered building, and had to be perfect.

What sounds like a simple plumbing job is in fact incredibly complex.

The curved balconies each had a stainless steel fascia plate arcing from side to side. And mounted to this were the balustrades and twin-sized or single sized rainheads (depending on proximity to other balconies), venting into the latticework of downpipes which step down the sloping pillars.  To ensure that finished product was perfect the angles, lengths, depths and radii of each join had to be precisely machined. There was not a right angle to be seen, and this called for some complex mathematics.

 Armed with architects illustrations and a theodolite, R&H visited the site and took meticulous measurements down to the last millimeter. Then, with pages of notes, we returned to the factory to render 3-D drawings for each and every angle and seam.

This job was complicated enough due to the site’s isolation. We were three hours from Auckland, and at least an hour and a half from the nearest building supplies outlet. Every last nail had to be provided for and packed before we left the factory. There was simply ZERO room for error.

But to complicate the job further, we reported to four site managers, representing the council, individual property owners, the body corporate and the architects. So planning went back and forth for 3-4 weeks before agreement was reached and construction could begin. What we expected to be around 30 hours work had ballooned out to 200 hours as almost every fitting and component was separately scrutinized.

Bearing in mind the first rule of construction… “measure twice, cut once” we made one last trip up north to double check our drawings before the R&H pilgrimage of engineers could begin.

The rest of the story is pretty mundane, Our experienced staff had indeed done their homework, and the installation went without a hitch. The finished job looks fantastic.

It’s bittersweet knowing that only a few will ever stand back and admire the hours of craftsmanship that went into the stainless fascia. For the vast majority it’s merely a rather attractive way of keeping their balconies dry.

R&H Engineering are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce engineering projects on time and budget. Our sophisticated plant coupled with our extensive manufacturing experience in agriculture, architecture, construction, stainless steel and even outdoor furniture, we are confident that we can deliver superior engineering projects, of any size.

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Right on the Glidepath.

Fabricating off-site lead to shorter time on site, and better quality finish.

One of the most satisfying aspects of our job is that, while we’re often a key part of big projects, our work goes pretty much unnoticed by the project managers. We’re like the air you breathe – so long as you have enough, and the quality is good, you won’t even stop to think about where it comes from.

The reason we’re almost invisible is because almost all of our precision engineering jobs are fabricated in our factory. If the installation is complicated, then you might find our guys on site tweaking it or advising the principal contractors. But more often than not the complex measurements, cutting, welding and testing has already been completed prior to delivery, and we’re nowhere to be seen.

To illustrate this, let’s take a look at one of our bigger projects over the last couple of months.

When Glidepath were commissioned to install the new baggage handling systems at Auckland Airport, they called on R&H to help speed the processes up. We’re not talking about the flimsy baggage carousels you see as a passenger, but rather the massive heavy-duty conveyors that are used to transfer the airline containers from the aircraft to the baggage halls.

While the tasks required for assembly were quite routine for R&H’s Engineers, it was the sheer size and volume of these assemblies that makes this a complex job. In all, we had to build 153 frames, complete with 3,500 2m long rollers, which meant that for the next two months our factory became a production line.

This was as much a test of logistics as it was of our manufacturing capability. Although we have ample storage area, there’s not quite enough space to fit out an airport, so we employed a “just-in-time” process with a constant stream of trucks bringing crates of components in one door, and leaving through the other laden with the previous days production of fully assembled frames.

Our task was to uncrate the components, assemble each of the 137 frames, and fit and calibrate 23 rollers to each. Once complete and tested the finished assemblies were stacked ready for the delivery cycle the following day.

We needed to pump out eight frames a day, to keep ahead of the installation crews, and for most of the time, we had a couple of days inventory ready to go. And just to make the job a little more complicated, it spanned the Christmas holiday period providing us with a host of human resources issues we had to overcome just to stay on track.

We’re finished now and, other than monitoring progress, we barely heard from the client. So we know the installation went like clockwork. I expect the project managers barely even realized the ant-farm of activity going on a few kilometers away at R&H.

To look at it another way we were like a jumbo jet bringing it’s precious cargo in to land at a busy airport. We barely heard from the tower because we were ‘on glidepath’ all the way in.

R&H Engineering are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce engineering projects on time and budget.

Our sophisticated plant coupled with our extensive manufacturing experience in agriculture, architecture, construction, stainless steel and even outdoor furniture, we are confident that we can deliver superior engineering projects, of any size.

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Shaping the Landscape

Precision fabrication and vehicle modifications

Who do you turn to when you need a non-standard vehicle for your specific business requirements? If you’re making do with something that’s not built for the job at hand, then maybe you need to talk to the lads at R&H.

Precision engineering and auto detailing is the core of our business. We not only take care of the fabrication, but we also finish the vehicles to showroom standards, so you’d never know the truck didn’t roll off the production line looking the way it does.

We regularly modify vehicles for a number of clients including Recreational Services, a rapidly growing parks contractor responsible for maintaining much of NZ’s public space. As their business expands, their need for specialist vehicles grows too.

With the intention of standardizing their fleet as much as possible, Recreational Services use a Mitsubishi Fuzo ‘cab & chassis’, and contract R&H to modify these to suit a range of specific purposes.  

We’re responsible for receiving the new trucks, taking off the bits they don’t need, and fitting them out for whichever purpose they’re designated. We’ve built tip trucks, facilities trucks, transporter trucks and specialist toolboxes for almost every job requirement.

As you can see, we’ve recently handed over a batch of transporter trucks, complete with aluminium loading ramps and built-in toolboxes to secure items when the trucks are parked.

If your vehicles could benefit from modification to suit a particular purpose, give us a call. We’d be happy to make suggestions to help you with the process.

R&H Engineering are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce engineering projects on time and budget.

Our sophisticated plant coupled with our extensive manufacturing experience in agriculture, architecture, construction, stainless steel and even outdoor furniture, we are confident that we can deliver superior engineering projects, of any size.

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Small Wonders

Why even the smallest jobs are important to us.

Sometimes it’s the simplest things in life that give us the greatest satisfaction. Normally, our teams are working on complex, precise commercial jobs, like the roof structure for the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial toilet block or the façade of St Kentigern’s new admissions block. But every now and then our clients’ needs are less complex.

At R&H, even a simple gate is something we are very proud of. Take, for instance, this brief to build and install a custom gate on the back yard of this commercial building. Both the skin and the frame that supports it are aligned perfectly with the top of the wall. The skin is cut from a single sheet of steel (adding to the integrity and the aesthetics of the door). It’s factory-welded (ensuring uniformity and precision) and treble sprayed, with primer, rust protection, and top coat. The frame has a single diagonal strut to stabilize the structure, and prevent distortion, and runs on a seamless stainless steel track which should not pit or corrode ensure lasting smooth runnings. The brackets mounting the gate to the wall were also custom-made to support and enhance the gate, and the running gear is heavy duty rubber, with an <x> year guarantee. Our engineers delivered and installed the door, to ensure that it functioned smoothly and without any unforeseen impediments.

So while it won’t get as many “ooh’s and aah’s” as, say, the façade we did for St Kentigern’s College (above), it has had just as much care and attention during manufacturing and assembly as any job which bears the R&H name.

R&H Engineering are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce bespoke engineering solutions for industry and construction. With our extensive manufacturing experience in agriculture, architecture, construction, stainless steel and even outdoor furniture, we are confident that we can deliver superior engineering projects, of any size, on time and on budget.

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Savage Truth.

We were pretty honoured to be asked to provide the roof to the new ablutions block at the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial Park in Auckland.

It’s one of the prettiest spots in a very pretty city, and the view across the city is breathtaking. It’s also one of the most contentious sites, having been the focal point of much of the Maori Land Rights protests in the 70’s.

The upgrade of the facilities was therefore a very delicate matter, and our role was to create a stunning low profile roof that drew from the natural beauty of the site and blended in. It also had to be 100% watertight, as it was designed as a massive funnel to collect rainwater off the roof.

No problem! We had just moved into a fantastic new facility in Highbrook, and we had the resources to fabricate the entire structure in house, allowing for much more precise engineering than would be possible welding this up on site.

Like most of our precision jobs, the finished structure would simply be trucked to the site where it would be winched into place and fixed in place.

The job was completed well ahead of the scheduled delivery date, and we were feeling pretty happy with everything… until the truck arrived, and we realized we were not going to be able to get the loaded truck through the doorway. The roof fitted, but the truck couldn’t negotiate the forecourt with it on.

A split second of panic ensued as we visualized cutting holes in the walls of our brand new facility. But pretty quickly we realized that access through the (rarely used) back door was less restricted, and with a little bit of creative maneuvering we had the job loaded and dispatched.

The roof is now proudly installed atop the ablutions block overlooking Auckland City and the Harbour.

 R&H Engineering are general engineers with substantial capacity and the ability to design and produce bespoke engineering solutions for industry and construction. With our extensive manufacturing experience in agriculture, architecture, construction, stainless steel and even outdoor furniture, we are confident that we can deliver superior engineering projects, of any size, on time and on budget.

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Something worth STAIR-ing at.

The Waiheke Island community proudly opened it’s new Public Library in July 2014. It was four times the size of it’s predecessor, and had many design elements drawn upon local iwi traditions. When the plans called for an elevated treehouse right in the middle of the project, R&H Engineering were called on to build a flowing spiral staircase. Our photos show the staircase under construction, but there’s some great images of the finished product at the website of Pacific Environments Architects.