Engineer spots gaping gap in market

Jason Carter says the company is going from strength to strength.

Tauranga-based project management company Fabworx was set up by director Jason Carter when he saw a need in the market for skilled people to get up and running - or complete within tight deadlines - a range of construction and heavy industry projects.

"I saw a gap for competent project management supervision," said Mr Carter, who originally trained as an aircraft engineer in the New Zealand Air Force.

"We've got a reputation for being able to complete and get things done, so we've built on that. There's high demand for people who deliver results."

After leaving the air force, Mr Carter worked for a number of companies, including engineering specialists Page Macrae, then joined structural steel company Morgan Steel, where he worked on projects including the Gate Pa shopping mall.

"I realised that there was work out there for projects, left Morgan Steel and created my own company," he said. "We're still in our infancy, but we've been going from strength to strength and have got work stacked up for the year."

Fabworx offered a range of services, from project management and the supply of engineering labour, through to rigging and crane work.

The company had a core crew and access to a larger staff of skilled supervisors and workers.

"I contract to companies to either manage the project, or provide a team with supervised labour," he said.

Jason Hughes, who heads Hutec Engineering, which had worked with Fabworx, said: "There's not many companies around that offer the service Jason provides, in terms of attitude and from a project management and site service safety perspective."

Fabworx was now providing work for up to 60 people at a time to complete short-term contracts all over the country, including recent work on the Geothermal Steam Line project in Taupo, GSL power stations, and maintenance work on pulp and paper mills.

Fabworx had also begun venturing into Australia. The company had already done one project there and would soon be working on the shutdown for maintenance of a major Australian Paper pulp and paper mill in Melbourne.

The pulp and paper mill shutdown work was intense and required the mill to be shut down for 10 days to meet statutory safety obligations.

Mr Hughes' company Hutec had contracted Fabworx to work with it on the mill shutdown project.

"It's intense work that needs focus," said Mr Hughes.

"You're talking about huge downtime costs for the owners. You scope out a project, set up all the safety documentation, then take a crew in and manage the work front.

"It's a comprehensive shutdown and you have to make the work happen within the time frame."

Mr Hughes said there was no room for errors or shortcuts with such projects. "The work needs to be done quickly, but safely. The ability to effectively complete work and generate outside-of-the-box solutions is extremely important, and Jason and his team have certainly delivered."