Randall Reports

While this isn’t exactly related to Engineering, it does restore my faith in people, and shows how a few tools that we use all the time at work can actually be very handy!

Last Saturday, I was washing my house’s soffits and guttering, using my Raven Telescopic Water Brush - NZ-made, by Raven Products in Auckland.

I must have been a bit over-zealous with tightening one of the plastic extension collars, because it broke. I had to stop part-way through the job, of course.

After thinking for a little while about the futility of fixing things these days, I decided to be a bit cheeky, and see what happens if I see about getting a replacement.

With my digital camera, I took a photo of the broken part. Next, I used Google to find Raven Products and got their website. I then sent an email to their Technical Services Department, wondering about the possibility of getting a replacement, with the photo as an attachment.

Upon checking my messages on Monday night, behold! a reply from Richard Mitchell, Raven Sales and Marketing Manager, sent that morning and asking me to confirm my postal address so that they could send the piece.

I duly replied, giving my address and confessing that now I’ll have to complete the job. I also asked how I could make payment - might a cheque be acceptable?

Come Tuesday night, another reply from Richard, commiserating with me that cleaning the house is the down-side, but also saying to not worry about payment for this one - one of the perks for buying NZ made.

So, what tools have we used?             - digital camera,

                                                            - Internet,

                                                            - Google,

                                                            - email.

What have we learned?                      - these electronic gizmos can be useful,

                                                            - buying NZ-made can be good,

                                                            - most folk we deal with are great.

The following is an article I wrote for an IPENZ website. I thought it might be a great way to start my blogging career, and will let you learn a bit about me and my company…….

Randall and Associates, a mechanical engineering consultancy, employed me after I had completed a BE(Hons) in Mechatronics from Massey University. In the final months of my degree I was job searching and it wasn’t a matter of finding a job, but choosing the one I liked the sound of the most. With Randall and Associates specialising in the heavy vehicle industry and earth moving machinery, I was drawn to this type of consultancy.

When I began, I joined a team designing a fatigue towbar tester. This projects purpose was to mechanically test towbar designs (simulate the life of towbar in hours not years) before they were mass produced. Signal processing, linear displacement, force measurement, hydraulic monitoring and controlling as well as data acquisition and processing were all involved throughout design, manufacture and support for this project.

Other projects include heavy vehicle chassis design, towing connections, truck and trailer bodies, excavator, roller, bulldozer, grader roll over protection structures, cab risers, falling object protection, operator protection, and body protection for the use of general contractors and for the use forestry applications. Theses projects require design by 2D and 3D modelling, finite element analysis and hand calculations. The forwarding of information to clients requires manufacturing drawings to current and relevant standards.

Working for a consultancy allows me to utilise the knowledge obtained at university and the knowledge I am forever learning in the workplace, combined with the latest software packages and the knowledge of my colleagues to provide my clients with the best solution to their engineering problem.

Working in a consultancy allows diversity throughout my career. With Randall and Associates having fewer than 10 employees we have become adaptable to clients needs. This allows us to become multi skilled in our industry and with customers coming up with more and more challenging circumstances, the expectation for designs to meet their needs grows. The variety of tasks enables me to be forever learning, this is shown by the commitment of the management at Randall and Associates by sending myself and other staff on career furthering block courses to stay one step ahead of the opposition.

When Randall and Associates is approached to solve an engineering problem and I become involved in the solution, a degree of satisfaction and accomplishment is achieved when the project is completed. Direct contact with the clients throughout the projects allows no miscommunication and my job becomes more than just engineering but project and time management. For all this my job never becomes stagnant and the rewards for constant customer approval and satisfaction keep the job enjoyable.

Who said engineers are boring & old fashioned?! At Randall & Associates Ltd we’re certainly not boring, nor are we old fashioned - in fact we don’t fit the ‘professional engineering’ stereotype at all! Although it must be noted that sometimes we do see odd socks under those trousers! (Find out what I’m talking about).

Thanks to a wonderful Vision Manawatu course run by internet marketing guru Hamish Clark, we’ve embraced the exciting world of blogging and our staff members will be busy blogging their experiences and opinions of the latest in the world of engineering - and beyond. To get them started I’ve told them they can write a bit about themselves & their hobbies etc., so you never know what you’re going to learn about. Make sure you keep coming back regularly to find out what they are up to, and make sure you add your comments and questions to their posts.