NEW INDUSTRIAL COATINGS FACILITY
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On Friday 18 April VT Fitzroy were pleased to host an Industry Day to view our new Industrial Coatings Facility. The Industrial Coatings Facility is a world class facility consisting of a fully enclosed grit blasting booth, two fully enclosed spray painting booths and associated areas. The grit blasting booth has internal dimensions of 11.55m (L) x 5.59m (W) x 4.4m (H) while the two painting booths are 11.35m x 5.33m x 4.4m. Access to all booths is such as to allow full size workpieces. Within the building is an overhead travelling crane for lifting full size workpieces off transporters. The grit blasting booth uses ISO compliant premium “B” grade garnet. The painting booths allow two painters to work in each booth simultaneously and can be heated to 110C. There is an adjacent undercover preparation area/workshop also with overhead crane and there is an adjoining mixing room and on site dangerous goods storage. |
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Shipbuilder Turned Dream into Business
Peter White-Robinson. VT Fitzroy Director
The 59-year-old owner of Fitzroy Engineering and Fitzroy Yachts was named NZ Engineering Entrepreneur of the Year in Wellington. He is still recovering, he says with a laugh.
White-Robinson's businesses employ about 600 people with a turnover of $90 million - not bad for someone who admits that his first attempt at an engineering qualification met with less than stellar success.
"When I was a child I wanted most of all to go to sea as a sailor or in the merchant navy," he says. "I liked technical things and I liked seeing how things worked."
He walked away from his engineering degree after only a year but still dreamed of big boats and endless oceans so he tried an engineering certificate at polytechnic where he topped his class. "I like numbers," he says when asked what skills have made him a successful entrepreneur. "I do the sudokus every day."
White-Robinson is responsible for creating VT Fitzroy which in 2004 signed a contract with the Royal New Zealand Navy to manage the dockyard at Devonport's naval base. He is also a director of the New Zealand Clean Energy Centre and judge of the world's superyacht contest held annually at Fort Lauderdale, among many other business interests.
Source: The Press, 26 November 2007
VT Fitzroy Chairman Receives Award
Ian Parton – VT Fitzroy Chairman
Auckland engineer Ian Parton was presented the William Pickering Award for Engineering Leadership at the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards last night at TE PAPA, Wellington. The William Pickering Award for Engineering Leadership is the most prestigious of the individual awards, recognising an engineer who has acted as a role model and exceptional leader. The 2007 recipient is Ian Parton.
With an engineering career spanning more than 38 years, Ian has been instrumental in transforming business and export engineering services. Convenor for the NZEE Individual Awards judging panel Steve Gentry said the former Managing Director of Meritec (formerly Worley Consultants) demonstrated leadership and vision to transform the small consultancy into a highly successful international professional engineering services firm. Steve says Ian was also the driving force behind the establishment and success of Worley Consultants’ geotechnical division. In 1996, Meritec received a Trade New Zealand Excellence Award as an exporter of services. Ian also led Trade New Zealand missions to several Asian countries and facilitated others to Eastern Europe.
He is now a Director on a number of governance boards, including that of Industrial Research Ltd (IRL), VT Fitzroy Ltd, Watercare Services Ltd and HTS-110 Ltd, a technology start-up company commercialising superconductor technology.
Calibration Centre Capabilities
The VT Fitzroy Ltd Calibration Centre is the largest and arguably the most technically capable calibration laboratory in the country. The Centre is certified under ISO 9001 to the ISO Laboratory Guide 17025 by IANZ, (International
Accreditation of New Zealand) and has accreditation to cover a wide range of traceable Calibration Standards and parameters, details of which can be found on the Calibration Centre website at www.calibration.co.nz.
Currently the bulk of calibration and repair services undertaken for the Royal New Zealand Navy’s ships and shore bases is channeled via the Naval Stores Depot.
The Calibration Centre is now in the second year of a five year contract with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) to manage the calibration and repair of their electronic test equipment pool. To support this contract two small one man operated calibration. labs or ETEC’s (Electronic Test Equipment Cells) have been established at RNZAF bases Whenuapai and Ohakea.
As a result of the skills and experience developed on avionics test instruments the Cal centre successfully secured and completed a small but difficult calibration and repair job on a radio altimeter for the Australian Air Force. We have since received repeat work in this area and look forward to further opportunities that may arise.
The Cal centre is also the New Zealand authorised service and calibration centre for
Fluke Test Equipment and provides calibration services to NZ industry for a wide range of commercial based electronic and analogue test equipment.